NATIONAL BANK: FIRST BILL.
This was the great measure of the session, and the great object of
the whig party, and the one without which all other measures would
be deemed to be incomplete, and the victorious election itself
little better than a defeat. Though kept out of view as an issue
during the canvass, it was known to every member of the party to be
the alpha and omega of the contest, and the crowning consummation
of ten years labor in favor of a national bank. It was kept in the
background for a reason perfectly understood. Both General Harrison
and Mr. Tyler had been ultra against a national bank while members
of the democratic party: they had both, as members of the House of
Representatives voted in a small minority in favor of issuing a writ
of _scire facias_ against the late Bank of the United States soon
after it was chartered; and this could be quoted in the parts of
the country where a bank was unpopular. At the same time the party
was perfectly satisfied with their present sentiments, and wanted
no discussion which might scare off anti-bank men without doing
any good on their own side. The bank, then, was the great measure
of the session--the great cause of the called session--and as such
taken by Mr. Clay into his own care from the first day. He submitted
a schedule of measures for the consideration of the body, and for
acting on which he said it might be understood the extraordinary
session was convoked; he moved for a select committee to report a
bill, of which committee he was of course to be chairman: and he
moved a call upon the Secretary of the Treasury (Mr. Ewing) for
the plan of a bank. It was furnished accordingly, and studiously
contrived so as to avoid the President's objections, and save his
consistency--a point upon which he was exceedingly sensitive.
The bill of the select committee was modelled upon it. Even the
title was made ridiculous to please the President, though not as
much so as he wished. He objected to the name of bank, either in
the title or the body of the charter, and proposed to style it
"The Fiscal Institute;" and afterwards the "Fiscal Agent;" and
finally the "Fiscal Corporation." Mr. Clay and his friends could
not stand these titles; but finding the President tenacious on the
title of the bill, and having all the properties of all sorts of
banks--discount--deposit--circulation--exchange--all in the plan so
studiously contrived, they yielded to the word Fiscal--rejecting
each of its proposed addenda--and substituted bank. The title of the
instrument then ran thus: "A Bill to incorporate the subscribers
to the Fiscal Bank of the United States." Thus entitled, and thus
arranged out of doors, it was brought into the Senate, not to be
perfected by the collective legislative wisdom of the body, but to
be carried through the forms of legislation, without alteration
except from its friends, and made into law. The deliberative power
of the body had nothing to do with it. Registration of what had been
agreed upon was its only office. The democratic members resisted
strenuously in order to make the measure odious. Successful
resistance was impossible, and a repeal of the act at a subsequent
Congress was the only hope--a veto not being then dreamed of.
Repeal, therefore, was taken as the watchword, and formal notice of
it proclaimed in successive speeches, that all subscribers to the
bank should be warned in time, and deprived of the plea of innocence
when the repeal should be moved. Mr. Allen, of Ohio, besides an
argument in favor of the right of this repeal, produced a resolve
from the House Journal of 1819, in which General Harrison, then
a member of that body, voted with others for a resolve directing
the Judiciary Committee to report a bill to repeal the then
United States Bank charter--not to inquire into the expediency of
repealing, but to repeal absolutely.
The bill was passed through both Houses--in the Senate by a close
vote, 26 to 23--in the House by a better majority, 128 to 98.
This was the sixth of August. All was considered finished by the
democracy, and a future repeal their only alternative. Suddenly
light began to dawn upon them. Rumors came that President Tyler
would disapprove the act; which, in fact he did: but with such
expressions of readiness to approve another bill which should be
free from the objections which he named, as still to keep his party
together, and to prevent the explosion of his cabinet. But it made
an explosion elsewhere. Mr. Clay was not of a temper to be balked
in a measure so dear to his heart without giving expression to his
dissatisfaction; and did so in the debate on the veto message; and
in terms to assert that Mr. Tyler had violated his faith to the whig
party, and had been led off from them by new associations. He said:
"On the 4th of April last, the lamented Harrison, the President
of the United States, paid the debt of nature. President Tyler,
who, as Vice-President, succeeded to the duties of that office,
arrived in the city of Washington on the 6th of that month. He
found the whole metropolis wrapt in gloom, every heart filled
with sorrow and sadness, every eye streaming with tears, and
the surrounding hills yet flinging back the echo of the bells
which were tolled on that melancholy occasion. On entering
the Presidential mansion he contemplated the pale body of his
predecessor stretched before him, and clothed in the black
habiliments of death. At that solemn moment, I have no doubt
that the heart of President Tyler was overflowing with mingled
emotions of grief, of patriotism and gratitude--above all, of
gratitude to that country by a majority of whose suffrages,
bestowed at the preceding November, he then stood the most
distinguished, the most elevated, the most honored of all living
whigs of the United States.
"It was under these circumstances, and in this probable state of
mind, that President Tyler, on the 10th day of the same month
of April, voluntary promulgated an address to the people of the
United States. That address was in the nature of a coronation
oath, which the chief of the State, in other countries, and
under other forms, takes upon ascending the throne. It referred
to the solemn obligations, and the profound sense of duty under
which the new President entered upon the high trust which had
devolved upon him, by the joint acts of the people and of
Providence, and it stated the principles and delineated the
policy by which he would be governed in his exalted station. It
was emphatically a whig address from beginning to end--every
inch of it was whig, and was patriotic.
"In that address the President, in respect to the subject-matter
embraced in the present bill, held the following conclusive and
emphatic language: 'I shall promptly give my sanction to any
constitutional measure which, originating in Congress, shall
have for its object the restoration of a sound circulating
medium, so essentially necessary to give confidence in all
the transactions of life, to secure to industry its just and
adequate rewards, and to re-establish the public prosperity.
In deciding upon the adaptation of any such measure to the end
proposed, as well as its conformity to the Constitution, I shall
resort to the fathers of the great republican school for advice
and instruction, to be drawn from their sage views of our system
of government, and the light of their ever glorious example.'
"To this clause in the address of the President, I believe but
one interpretation was given throughout this whole country,
by friend and foe, by whig and democrat, and by the presses
of both parties. It was by every man with whom I conversed on
the subject at the time of its appearance, or of whom I have
since inquired, construed to mean that the President intended
to occupy the Madison ground, and to regard the question of
the power to establish a national bank as immovably settled.
And I think I may confidently appeal to the Senate, and to the
country, to sustain the fact that this was the contemporaneous
and unanimous judgment of the public. Reverting back to the
period of the promulgation of the address, could any other
construction have been given to its language? What is it? 'I
shall promptly give my sanction to any constitutional measure
which, originating in Congress,' shall have certain defined
objects in view. He concedes the vital importance of a sound
circulating medium to industry and to the public prosperity. He
concedes that its origin must be in Congress. And, to prevent
any inference from the qualification, which he prefixes to
the measure, being interpreted to mean that a United States
Bank was unconstitutional, he declares that, in deciding on
the adaptation of the measure to the end proposed, and its
conformity to the constitution, he will resort to the fathers of
the great Republican school. And who were they? If the Father
of his country is to be excluded, are Madison (the father of
the constitution), Jefferson, Monroe, Gerry, Gallatin, and the
long list of Republicans who acted with them, not to be regarded
as among those fathers? But President Tyler declares not only
that he should appeal to them for advice and instruction, but
to the light of their ever glorious example. What example? What
other meaning could have been possibly applied to the phrase,
than that he intended to refer to what had been done during the
administrations of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe?
"Entertaining this opinion of the address, I came to Washington,
at the commencement of the session, with the most confident
and buoyant hopes that the Whigs would be able to carry all
their prominent measures, and especially a Bank of the United
States, by far that one of the greatest immediate importance.
I anticipated nothing but cordial co-operation between the two
departments of government; and I reflected with pleasure that
I should find at the head of the Executive branch, a personal
and political friend, whom I had long and intimately known,
and highly esteemed. It will not be my fault if our amicable
relations should unhappily cease, in consequence of any
difference of opinion between us on this occasion. The President
has been always perfectly familiar with my opinion on this bank
question.
"Upon the opening of the session, but especially on the receipt
of the plan of a national bank, as proposed by the Secretary
of the Treasury, fears were excited that the President had
been misunderstood in his address, and that he had not waived
but adhered to his constitutional scruples. Under these
circumstances it was hoped that, by the indulgence of a mutual
spirit of compromise and concession, a bank, competent to fulfil
the expectations and satisfy the wants of the people, might be
established.
"Under the influence of that spirit, the Senate and the House
agreed, 1st, as to the name of the proposed bank. I confess,
sir, that there was something exceedingly _outré_ and revolting
to my ears in the term 'Fiscal Bank;' but I thought, 'What
is there in a name? A rose, by any other name, would smell
as sweet.' Looking, therefore, rather to the utility of the
substantial faculties than to the name of the contemplated
institution, we consented to that which was proposed."
In his veto message Mr. Tyler fell back upon his early opinions
against the constitutionality of a national bank, so often and
so publicly expressed; and recurring to these early opinions he
now declared that it would be a crime and an infamy in him to sign
the bill which had been presented to him. In this sense he thus
expressed himself:
"Entertaining the opinions alluded to, and having taken this
oath, the Senate and the country will see that I could not give
my sanction to a measure of the character described without
surrendering all claim to the respect of honorable men--all
confidence on the part of the people--all self-respect--all
regard for moral and religious obligations; without an
observance of which no government can be prosperous, and no
people can be happy. It would be to commit a _crime_ which I
would not wilfully commit to gain any earthly reward, and which
would _justly_ subject me to the ridicule and scorn of all
virtuous men."
Mr. Clay found these expressions of self-condemnation entirely too
strong, showing too much sensibility in a President to personal
considerations--laying too much stress upon early opinions--ignoring
too completely later opinions--and not sufficiently deferring to
those fathers of the government to whom, in his inaugural address,
he had promised to look for advice and instruction, both as to the
constitutionality of a bank, and its adaptation to the public wants.
And he thus animadverted on the passage:
"I must think, and hope I may be allowed to say, with profound
deference to the Chief Magistrate, that it appears to me he has
viewed with too lively sensibility the personal consequences
to himself of his approval of the bill; and that, surrendering
himself to a vivid imagination, he has depicted them in much too
glowing and exaggerated colors, and that it would have been most
happy if he had looked more to the deplorable consequences of
a veto upon the hopes, the interests, and the happiness of his
country. Does it follow that a magistrate who yields his private
judgment to the concurring authority of numerous decisions,
repeatedly and deliberately pronounced, after the lapse of
long intervals, by all the departments of government, and by
all parties, incurs the dreadful penalties described by the
President? Can any man be disgraced and dishonored who yields
his private opinion to the judgment of the nation? In this case,
the country (I mean a majority), Congress, and, according to
common fame, an unanimous cabinet, were all united in favor of
the bill. Should any man feel himself humbled and degraded in
yielding to the conjoint force of such high authority? Does
any man, who at one period of his life shall have expressed
a particular opinion, and at a subsequent period shall act
upon the opposite opinion, expose himself to the terrible
consequences which have been portrayed by the President? How
is it with the judge, in the case by no means rare, who bows
to the authority of repeated precedents, settling a particular
question, whilst in his private judgment the law was otherwise?
How is it with that numerous class of public men in this
country, and with the two great parties that have divided it,
who, at different periods, have maintained and acted on opposite
opinions in respect to this very bank question?
"How is it with James Madison, the father of the
constitution--that great man whose services to his country
placed him only second to Washington--whose virtues and purity
in private life--whose patriotism, intelligence, and wisdom
in public councils, stand unsurpassed? He was a member of the
national convention that formed, and of the Virginia convention
that adopted the constitution. No man understood it better
than he did. He was opposed in 1791 to the establishment of
the Bank of the United States upon constitutional ground; and
in 1816 he approved and signed the charter of the late Bank of
the United States. It is a part of the secret history connected
with the first Bank, that James Madison had, at the instance of
General Washington, prepared a veto for him in the contingency
of his rejection of the bill. Thus stood James Madison when,
in 1815, he applied the veto to a bill to charter a bank upon
considerations of expediency, but with a clear and express
admission of the existence of a constitutional power in Congress
to charter one. In 1816, the bill which was then presented to
him being free from the objections applicable to that of the
previous year, he sanctioned and signed it. Did James Madison
surrender 'all claim to the respect of honorable men--all
confidence on the part of the people--all self-respect--all
regard for moral and religious obligations?' Did the pure,
the virtuous, the gifted James Madison, by his sanction and
signature to the charter of the late Bank of the United States,
commit a crime which justly subjected him 'to the ridicule and
scorn of all virtuous men?'"
But in view of these strong personal consequences to his (Mr.
Tyler's) own character in the event of signing the bill, Mr.
Clay pointed out a course which the President might have taken
which would have saved his consistency--conformed to the
constitution--fulfilled his obligations to the party that elected
him--and permitted the establishment of that sound currency, and
that relief from the public distress, which his inaugural address,
and his message to Congress, and his veto message, all so earnestly
declared to be necessary. It was to have let the bill lie in his
hands without approval or disapproval: in which case it would have
become a law without any act of his. The constitution had made
provision for the case in that clause in which it declares that--"If
any bill shall not be returned by the President within ten days
(Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the
same shall be a law, in like manner as if he had signed it, unless
the Congress by their adjournment prevent its return; in which case
it shall not be a law." In this case there was no danger of Congress
adjourning before the lapse of the ten days; and Mr. Clay adverted
to this course as the one, under his embarrassing circumstances the
President ought to have adopted, and saved both his consistency and
faith to his party. He urged it as a proper course--saying:
"And why should not President Tyler have suffered the bill
to become a law without his signature? Without meaning the
slightest possible disrespect to him (nothing is further from
my heart than the exhibition of any such feeling towards that
distinguished citizen, long my personal friend), it cannot be
forgotten that he came into his present office under peculiar
circumstances. The people did not foresee the contingency which
has happened. They voted for him as Vice-President. They did
not, therefore, scrutinize his opinions with the care which
they probably ought to have done, and would have done, if they
could have looked into futurity. If the present state of the
fact could have been anticipated--if at Harrisburg, or at the
polls, it had been foreseen that General Harrison would die in
one short month after the commencement of his administration;
that Vice-President Tyler would be elevated to the presidential
chair; that a bill, passed by decisive majorities of the first
whig Congress, chartering a national bank, would be presented
for his sanction; and that he would veto the bill, do I hazard
any thing when I express the conviction that he would not have
received a solitary vote in the nominating convention, nor one
solitary electoral vote in any State in the Union?"
Not having taken this course with the bill, Mr. Clay pointed out
a third one, suggested by the conduct of the President himself
under analogous circumstances, and which, while preserving his
self-respect, would accomplish all the objects in view by the
party which elected him, by simply removing the obstacle which
stood between them and the object of their hopes; it was to resign
the presidency. For this contingency--that of neither President
nor Vice-President--the constitution had also made provision in
declaring--"In case of the removal of the President from office,
or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the
powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on
the Vice-President; and the Congress may by law provide for the
case of the removal, death, resignation, or inability both of the
President and Vice-President, declaring what officer shall then act
as President; and such officer shall act accordingly, until the
disability be removed, or a President shall be elected." Congress
had acted under this injunction and had devolved the duties of
President, first on the president of the Senate _pro tempore_; and
if no such temporary president, then on the speaker of the House
of Representatives; and requiring a new election to be held on the
first Wednesday of the ensuing December if there was time before it
for a notification of two months; and if not, then the new election
to take place (if the vacant term had not expired on the third day
of March after they happened) on the like Wednesday of the next
ensuing month of December. Here was provision made for the case, and
the new election might have been held in less than four months--the
temporary president of the Senate, Mr. Southard, acting as President
in the mean time. The legal path was then clear for Mr. Tyler's
resignation, and Mr. Clay thus enforced the propriety of that step
upon him:
"But, sir, there was still a third alternative, to which
I allude not because I mean to intimate that it should be
embraced, but because I am reminded of it by a memorable event
in the life of President Tyler. It will be recollected that,
after the Senate had passed the resolution declaring the removal
of the deposits from the Bank of the United States to have been
derogatory from the constitution and laws of the United States,
for which resolution President (then senator) Tyler had voted,
the General Assembly of Virginia instructed the senators from
that State to vote for the expunging of that resolution. Senator
Tyler declined voting in conformity with that instruction, and
resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States. This he
did because he could not conform, and did not think it right
to go counter to the wishes of those who had placed him in the
Senate. If, when the people of Virginia, or the General Assembly
of Virginia, were his only constituency, he would not set up
his own particular opinion in opposition to theirs, what ought
to be the rule of his conduct when the people of twenty-six
States--a whole nation--compose his constituency? Is the will
of the constituency of one State to be respected, and that of
twenty-six to be wholly disregarded? Is obedience due only to
the single State of Virginia? The President admits that the Bank
question deeply agitated, and continues to agitate, the nation.
It is incontestable that it was the great, absorbing, and
controlling question, in all our recent divisions and exertions.
I am firmly convinced, and it is my deliberate judgment, that an
immense majority, not less than two-thirds of the nation, desire
such an institution. All doubts in this respect ought to be
dispelled by the recent decisions of the two Houses of Congress.
I speak of them as evidence of popular opinion. In the House of
Representatives, the majority was 131 to 100. If the House had
been full, and but for the modification of the 16th fundamental
condition, there would have been a probable majority of 47. Is
it to be believed that this large majority of the immediate
representatives of the people, fresh from amongst them, and to
whom the President seemed inclined, in his opening message, to
refer this very question, have mistaken the wishes of their
constituents?"
The acting President did not feel it to be his duty to resign,
although it may be the judgment of history (after seeing the
expositions of his secretaries at the resignation of their places
consequent upon a second veto to a second bank act), that he ought
to have done so. In his veto message he seemed to leave the way
open for his approval of a charter free from the exceptions he had
taken; and rumor was positive in asserting that he was then engaged
in arranging with some friends the details of a bill which he could
approve. In allusion to this rumor, Mr. Clay remarked:
"On a former occasion I stated that, in the event of an
unfortunate difference of opinion between the legislative
and executive departments, the point of difference might be
developed, and it would be then seen whether they could be
brought to coincide in any measure corresponding with the public
hopes and expectations. I regret that the President has not,
in this message, favored us with a more clear and explicit
exhibition of his views. It is sufficiently manifest that he
is decidedly opposed to the establishment of a new Bank of the
United States formed after two old models. I think it is fairly
to be inferred that the plan of the Secretary of the Treasury
could not have received his sanction. He is opposed to the
passage of the bill which he has returned; but whether he would
give his approbation to any bank, and, if any, what sort of a
bank, is not absolutely clear. I think it may be collected from
the message, with the aid of information derived through other
sources, that the President would concur in the establishment of
a bank whose operations should be limited to dealing in bills
of exchange to deposits, and to the supply of a circulation,
excluding the power of discounting promissory notes. And I
understand that some of our friends are now considering the
practicability of arranging and passing a bill in conformity
with the views of President Tyler. Whilst I regret that I can
take no active part in such an experiment, and must reserve to
myself the right of determining whether I can or cannot vote
for such a bill after I see it in its matured form, I assure my
friends that they shall find no obstacle or impediment in me. On
the contrary, I say to them, go on: God speed you in any measure
which will serve the country, and preserve or restore harmony
and concert between the departments of government. An executive
veto of a Bank of the United States, after the sad experience
of late years, is an event which was not anticipated by the
political friends of the President; certainly not by me. But it
has come upon us with tremendous weight, and amidst the greatest
excitement within and without the metropolis. The question now
is, what shall be done? What, under this most embarrassing and
unexpected state of things, will our constituents expect of
us? What is required by the duty and the dignity of Congress?
I repeat that if, after a careful examination of the executive
message, a bank can be devised which will afford any remedy to
existing evils, and secure the President's approbation, let
the project of such a bank be presented. It shall encounter no
opposition, if it should receive no support, from me."
The speech of Mr. Clay brought out Mr. Rives in defence of the
President, who commenced with saying:
"He came to the Senate that morning to give a silent vote on
the bill, and he should have contented himself with doing so
but for the observations which had fallen from the senator from
Kentucky in respect to the conduct of the President of the
United States. Mr. R. had hoped the senator would have confined
himself strictly to the merits of the question before the
Senate. He told us, said Mr. R., that the question was this: the
President having returned the bill for a fiscal bank with his
exceptions thereto, the bill was such an one as ought to pass by
the constitutional majority of two-thirds; and thus become a law
of the land. Now what was the real issue before the Senate? Was
it not the naked question between the bill and the objections
to it, as compared with each other? I really had hoped that the
honorable senator, after announcing to us the issue in this
very proper manner, would have confined his observations to
it alone; and if he had done so I should not have troubled the
Senate with a single word. But what has been the course of the
honorable senator? I do not reproach him with it. He, no doubt,
felt it necessary, in order to vindicate his own position before
the country, to inculpate the course taken by the President: and
accordingly about two-thirds of his speech, howsoever qualified
by expressions of personal kindness and respect, were taken up
in a solemn arraignment of the President of the United States.
Most of the allegations put forth by the senator seem to arrange
themselves under the general charge of perfidy--of faithlessness
to his party, and to the people."
Mr. Rives went on to defend the President at all points, declaring
the question of a bank was not an issue in the election--repelling
the imputation of perfidy--scouting the suggestions of resignation
and of pocketing the bill to let it become law--arguing that
General Harrison himself would have disapproved the same bill
if he had lived and it had been presented to him. In support
of this opinion he referred to the General's early opposition
to the national bank of 1816, and to his written answer given
during the canvass--"that he would not give his sanction to a
Bank of the United States, unless by the failure of all other
expedients, it should be demonstrated to be necessary to carry on
the operations of government; and unless there should be a general
and unequivocal manifestation of the will of the Union in favor
of such an institution; and then only as a fiscal, and not as a
commercial bank." But this authentic declaration seemed to prove
the contrary of that for which it was quoted. It contained two
conditions, on the happening of which General Harrison would sign
a bank charter--first, the failure of all other plans for carrying
on the financial operations of the government; and, secondly, the
manifestation of public opinion in favor of it. That the first
of these conditions had been fulfilled was well shown by Mr.
Rives himself in the concluding passages of his speech where he
said: "All previous systems have been rejected and condemned--the
sub-treasury--the pet banks--an old-fashioned Bank of the United
States--a new-fashioned fiscal agent." The second condition was
fulfilled in the presidential election in the success of the whig
party, whose first object was a bank; and in the election of members
of the House and the Senate, where the majorities were in favor of a
bank. The conditions were fulfilled then on which General Harrison
was to approve a bank charter; and the writer of this View has no
doubt that he would have given his signature to a usual bank charter
if he had lived; and from an obligatory sense of duty, and with no
more dishonor than Mr. Madison had incurred in signing the act for
the second bank charter after having been the great opponent of
the first one; and for which signing, as for no act of his life,
was dishonor imputed to him. The writer of this View believes that
General Harrison would have signed a fair bank charter, and under
its proper name; and he believes it, not from words spoken between
them, but from public manifestations, seen by every body. 1. His
own declaration, stating the conditions on which he would do it;
and which conditions were fulfilled. 2. The fact that he was the
presidential candidate of the party which was emphatically the bank
party. 3. The selection of his cabinet, every member of which was
in favor of a national bank. 4. The declaration of Mr. Clay at the
head of the list of measures proposed by him for the consideration
of Congress at its extra session, in which a national bank was
included; and which measures he stated were probably those for which
the extraordinary session had been convened by President Harrison--a
point on which Mr. Clay must be admitted to be well informed, for he
was the well reputed adviser of President Harrison on the occasion.
Mr. Clay rejoined to Mr. Rives, and became more close and pointed
in his personal remarks upon Mr. Tyler's conduct, commencing with
Mr. Rives' lodgment in the "half-way house," _i.e._ the pet bank
system--which was supposed to have been a camping station in the
transition from the democratic to the whig camp. He began thus:
"I have no desire, said he, to prolong this unpleasant
discussion, but I must say that I heard with great surprise
and regret the closing remark, especially, of the honorable
gentleman from Virginia, as, indeed, I did many of those which
preceded it. That gentleman stands in a peculiar situation. I
found him several years ago in the half-way house, where he
seems afraid to remain, and from which he is yet unwilling to
go. I had thought, after the thorough riddling which the roof
of the house had received in the breaking up of the pet bank
system, he would have fled somewhere else for refuge; but, there
he still stands, solitary and alone, shivering and pelted by
the pitiless storm. The sub-treasury is repealed--the pet bank
system is abandoned--the United States Bank bill is vetoed--and
now, when there is as complete and perfect a reunion of the
purse and the sword in the hands of the executive as ever there
was under General Jackson or Mr. Van Buren, the senator is for
doing nothing."
There was a whisper at this time that Mr. Tyler had an inner circle
of advisers, some democratic and some whig, and most of whom had
sojourned in the "half-way house," and who were more confidential
and influential with the President than the members of his cabinet.
To this Mr. Clay caustically adverted.
"Although the honorable senator professes not to know the
opinions of the President, it certainly does turn out in the
sequel that there is a most remarkable coincidence between those
opinions and his own; and he has, on the present occasion,
defended the motives and the course of the President with all
the solicitude and all the fervent zeal of a member of his
privy council. There is a rumor abroad that a cabal exists--a
new sort of kitchen cabinet--whose object is the dissolution
of the regular cabinet--the dissolution of the whig party--the
dispersion of Congress, without accomplishing any of the great
purposes of the extra session--and a total change, in fact, in
the whole face of our political affairs. I hope, and I persuade
myself, that the honorable senator is not, cannot be, one of the
component members of such a cabal; but I must say that there has
been displayed by the honorable senator to-day a predisposition,
astonishing and inexplicable, to misconceive almost all of what
I have said, and a perseverance, after repeated corrections, in
misunderstanding--for I will not charge him with wilfully and
intentionally misrepresenting--the whole spirit and character of
the address which, as a man of honor and as a senator, I felt
myself bound in duty to make to this body."
There was also a rumor of a design to make a third party, of which
Mr. Tyler was to be the head; and, as part of the scheme, to make a
quarrel between Mr. Tyler and Mr. Clay, in which Mr. Clay was to be
made the aggressor; and he brought this rumor to the notice of Mr.
Rives, repelling the part which inculpated himself, and leaving the
rest for Mr. Rives to answer.
"Why, sir, what possible, what conceivable motive can I have
to quarrel with the President, or to break up the whig party?
What earthly motive can impel me to wish for any other result
than that that party shall remain in perfect harmony, undivided,
and shall move undismayed, boldly, and unitedly forward to the
accomplishment of the all-important public objects which it has
avowed to be its aim? What imaginable interest or feeling can I
have other than the success, the triumph, the glory of the whig
party? But that there may be designs and purposes on the part of
certain other individuals to place me in inimical relations with
the President, and to represent me as personally opposed to him,
I can well imagine--individuals who are beating up for recruits,
and endeavoring to form a third party, with materials so scanty
as to be wholly insufficient to compose a decent corporal's
guard. I fear there are such individuals, though I do not charge
the senator as being himself one of them. What a spectacle has
been presented to this nation during this entire session of
Congress! That of the cherished and confidential friends of John
Tyler, persons who boast and claim to be _par excellence_, his
exclusive and genuine friends, being the bitter, systematic,
determined, uncompromising opponents of every leading measure
of John Tyler's administration! Was there ever before such an
example presented, in this or any other age, in this or any
other country? I have myself known the President too long, and
cherished towards him too sincere a friendship, to allow my
feelings to be affected or alienated by any thing which has
passed here to-day. If the President chooses--which I am sure
he cannot, unless falsehood has been whispered into his ears or
poison poured into his heart--to detach himself from me, I shall
deeply regret it, for the sake of our common friendship and our
common country. I now repeat, what I before said, that, of all
the measures of relief which the American people have called
upon us for, that of a National Bank and a sound and uniform
currency has been the most loudly and importunately demanded."
Mr. Clay reiterated his assertion that bank, or no bank, was the
great issue of the presidential canvass wherever he was, let what
else might have been the issue in Virginia, where Mr. Rives led for
General Harrison.
"The senator says that the question of a Bank was not the issue
made before the people at the late election. I can say, for one,
my own conviction is diametrically the contrary. What may have
been the character of the canvass in Virginia, I will not say;
probably gentlemen on both sides were, every where, governed in
some degree by considerations of local policy. What issues may
therefore have been presented to the people of Virginia, either
above or below tide water, I am not prepared to say. The great
error, however, of the honorable senator, is in thinking that
the sentiments of a particular party in Virginia are always a
fair exponent of the sentiments of the whole Union. I can tell
the senator, that, wherever I was--in the great valley of the
Mississippi, in Kentucky, in Tennessee, in Maryland--in all the
circles in which I moved, every where, 'Bank or no Bank' was the
great, the leading, the vital question."
In conclusion, Mr Clay apostrophized himself in a powerful
peroration as not having moral courage enough (though he claimed as
much as fell to the share of most men) to make himself an obstacle
to the success of a great measure for the public good; in which the
allusion to Mr. Tyler and his veto was too palpable to miss the
apprehension of any person.
"The senator says that, if placed in like circumstances, I
would have been the last man to avoid putting a direct veto
upon the bill, had it met my disapprobation; and he does me
the honor to attribute to me high qualities of stern and
unbending intrepidity. I hope that in all that relates to
personal firmness--all that concerns a just appreciation of
the insignificance of human life--whatever may be attempted
to threaten or alarm a soul not easily swayed by opposition,
or awed or intimidated by menace--a stout heart and a steady
eye, that can survey, unmoved and undaunted, any mere personal
perils that assail this poor transient, perishing frame--I
may, without disparagement, compare with other men. But there
is a sort of courage which, I frankly confess it, I do not
possess--a boldness to which I dare not aspire--a valor which
I cannot covet. I cannot lay myself down in the way of the
welfare and happiness of my country. That I cannot, I have not
the courage to do. I cannot interpose the power with which I may
be invested--a power conferred not for my personal benefit, not
for my aggrandizement, but for my country's good--to check her
onward march to greatness and glory. I have not courage enough,
I am too cowardly for that. I would not, I dare not, in the
exercise of such a trust, lie down, and place my body across
the path that leads my country to prosperity and happiness.
This is a sort of courage widely different from that which a
man may display in his private conduct and personal relations.
Personal or private courage is totally distinct from that higher
and nobler courage, which prompts the patriot to offer himself
a voluntary sacrifice to his country's good. Apprehensions of
the imputation of the want of firmness sometimes impel us to
perform rash and inconsiderate acts. It is the greatest courage
to be able to bear the imputation of the want of courage. But
pride, vanity, egotism, so unamiable and offensive in private
life, are vices which partake of the character of crimes in
the conduct of public affairs. The unfortunate victim of these
passions cannot see beyond the little, petty, contemptible
circle of his own personal interests. All his thoughts are
withdrawn from his country, and concentrated on his consistency,
his firmness, himself. The high, the exalted, the sublime
emotions of a patriotism, which, soaring towards Heaven, rises
far above all mean, low, or selfish things, and is absorbed
by one soul-transporting thought of the good and the glory of
one's country, are never felt in his impenetrable bosom. That
patriotism which, catching its inspiration from the immortal
God, and leaving at an immeasurable distance below, all lesser,
grovelling, personal interests and feelings, animates and
prompts to deeds of self-sacrifice, of valor, of devotion, and
of death itself--that is public virtue--that is the noblest, the
sublimest of all public virtues!"
Mr. Rives replied to Mr. Clay, and with respect to the imputed
cabal, the privy council, and his own zealous defence of Mr. Tyler,
said:
"The senator has indulged his fancy in regard to a certain
cabal, which he says it is alleged by rumor (an authority he
seems prone to quote of late) has been formed for the wicked
purpose of breaking up the regular cabinet, and dissolving the
whig party. Though the senator is pleased to acquit me of being
a member of the supposed cabal, he says he should infer, from
the zeal and promptitude with which I have come forward to
defend the motives and conduct of the President, that I was at
least a member of his privy council! I thank God, Mr. President,
that in his gracious goodness he has been pleased to give me a
heart to repel injustice and to defend the innocent, without
being laid under any special engagement, as a privy councillor
or otherwise, to do justice to my fellow-man; and if there be
any gentleman who cannot find in the consciousness of his own
bosom a satisfactory explanation of so natural an impulse, I,
for one, envy him neither his temperament nor his philosophy. If
Mr. Tyler, instead of being a distinguished citizen of my own
State, and filling at this moment, a station of the most painful
responsibility, which entitles him to a candid interpretation of
his official acts at the hands of all his countrymen, had been
a total stranger, unknown to me in the relations of private or
political friendship, I should yet have felt myself irresistibly
impelled by the common sympathies of humanity to undertake his
defence, to the best of my poor ability, when I have seen him
this day so powerfully assailed for an act, as I verily believe,
of conscientious devotion to the constitution of his country and
the sacred obligation of his high trust."
With respect to the half-way house, Mr. Rives admitted his sojourn
there, and claimed a sometime companionship in it with the senator
from Kentucky, just escaped from the lordly mansion, gaudy without,
but rotten and rat-eaten within (the Bank of the United States);
and glad to shelter in this humble but comfortable stopping place.
"The senator from Kentucky says he found me several years ago
in this half-way house, which, after the thorough riddling the
roof had received in the breaking up of the pet bank system, he
had supposed I would have abandoned. How could I find it in my
heart, Mr. President, to abandon it when I found the honorable
senator from Kentucky (even after what he calls the riddling of
the roof) so anxious to take refuge in it from the ruins of his
own condemned and repudiated system, and where he actually took
refuge for four long years, as I have already stated. When I
first had the honor to meet the honorable senator in this body,
I found him not occupying the humble but comfortable half-way
house, which has given him shelter from the storm for the last
four years, but a more lordly mansion, gaudy to look upon, but
altogether unsafe to inhabit; old, decayed, rat-eaten, which has
since tumbled to the ground with its own rottenness, devoted to
destruction alike by the indignation of man and the wrath of
heaven. Yet the honorable senator, unmindful of the past, and
heedless of the warnings of the present, which are still ringing
in his ears, will hear of nothing but the instant reconstruction
of this devoted edifice."
Mr. Rives returned to the imputed cabal, washed his hands of it
entirely, and abjured all desire for a cabinet office, or any public
station, except a seat in the Senate: thus:
"I owe it to myself, Mr. President, before I close, to say one
or two words in regard to this gorgon of a cabal, which the
senator tells us, upon the authority of dame Rumor, has been
formed to break up the cabinet, to dissolve the whig party, and
to form a new or third party. Although the senator was pleased
to acquit me of being a member of this supposed cabal, he yet
seemed to have some lurking jealousies and suspicions in his
mind on the subject. I will tell the honorable senator, then,
that I know of no such cabal, and I should really think that
I was the last man that ought to be suspected of any wish or
design to form a new or third party. I have shown myself at all
times restive under mere party influence and control from any
quarter. All party, in my humble judgment, tends, in its modern
degeneracy, to tyranny, and is attended with serious hazard of
sacrificing an honest sense of duty, and the great interests
of the country, to an arbitrary lead, directed by other aims.
I desire, therefore, to take upon myself no new party bonds,
while I am anxious to fulfil, to the fullest extent that a sense
of duty to the country will permit, every honorable engagement
implied in existing ones. In regard to the breaking up of the
cabinet, I had hoped that I was as far above the suspicion of
having any personal interest in such an event as any man. I
have never sought office, but have often declined it; and will
now give the honorable senator from Kentucky a full quit-claim
and release of all cabinet pretensions now and for ever. He may
rest satisfied that he will never see me in any cabinet, under
this or any other administration. During the brief remnant of my
public life, the measure of my ambition will be filled by the
humble, but honest part I may be permitted to take on this floor
in consultations for the common good."
Mr. Rives finished with informing Mr. Clay of a rumor which he had
heard--the rumor of a dictatorship installed in the capitol, seeking
to govern the country, and to intimidate the President, and to bend
every thing to its own will, thus:
"Having disposed of this rumor of a cabal, to the satisfaction,
I trust, of the honorable senator, I will tell him of another
rumor I have heard, which, I trust, may be equally destitute
of foundation. Rumor is busy in alleging that there is an
organized dictatorship, in permanent session in this capitol,
seeking to control the whole action of the government, in both
the legislative and executive branches, and sending deputation
after deputation to the President of the United States to teach
him his duty, and bring him to terms. I do not vouch for the
correctness of this rumor. I humbly hope it may not be true; but
if it should unfortunately be so, I will say that it is fraught
with far more danger to the regular and salutary action of our
balanced constitution, and to the liberties of the people, than
any secret cabal that ever has existed or ever will exist."
The allusion, of course, was to Mr. Clay, who promptly disavowed
all knowledge of this imputed dictatorship. In this interlude
between Mr. Clay and Mr. Rives, both members of the same party,
the democratic senators took no part; and the subject was dropped,
to be followed by a little conversational debate, of kindred
interest, growing out of it, between Mr. Archer of Virginia, and Mr.
Clay--which appears thus in the Register of Debates:
"Mr. ARCHER, in rising on the present occasion, did not intend
to enter into a discussion on the subject of the President's
message. He thought enough had been said on the subject by the
two senators who had preceded him, and was disposed, for his
part, to let the question be taken without any more debate. His
object in rising was to call the attention of the senator from
Kentucky to a certain portion of his remarks, in which he hoped
the senator, upon reflection, would see that the language used
by him had been too harsh. His honorable friend from Kentucky
had taken occasion to apply some very harsh observations to
the conduct of certain persons who he supposed had instigated
the President of the United States in the course he had taken
in regard to the bill for chartering the Fiscal Bank of the
United States. The honorable senator took occasion to disclaim
any allusion to his colleague [Mr. RIVES], and he would say
beforehand that he knew the honorable senator would except him
also.
"Mr. CLAY said, certainly, sir!"
This was not a parliamentary disclaimer, but a disclaimer from the
heart, and was all that Mr. Archer could ask on his own account; but
he was a man of generous spirit as well as of high sense of honor,
and taking up the case of his colleagues in the House, who seemed
to be implicated, and could not appear in the chamber and ask for
a disclaimer, Mr. Archer generously did so for them; but without
getting what he asked for. The Register says:
"Mr. _Archer_. He would say, however, that the remarks of the
senator, harsh as they were, might well be construed as having
allusion to his colleagues in the other House. He (Mr. A.)
discharged no more than the duty which he knew his honorable
colleagues in the other House would discharge towards him were
an offensive allusion supposed to be made to him where he could
not defend himself, to ask of the honorable senator to make some
disclaimer as regarded them.
"Mr. _Clay_ here said, no, no.
"Mr. ARCHER. The words of the senator were: 'A low, vulgar,
and profligate cabal;' which the senator also designated as
a kitchen cabinet, had surrounded the President, and were
endeavoring to turn out the present cabinet. Now, who would the
public suppose to be that low and infamous cabal? Would the
people of the United States suppose it to be composed of any
other than those who were sent here by the people to represent
them in Congress? He asked the senator from Kentucky to say, in
that spirit of candor and frankness which always characterized
him, who he meant by that cabal, and to disclaim any allusion
to his colleagues in the other House, as he had done for his
colleague and himself in this body.
"Mr. CLAY said, if the honorable senator would make an inquiry
of him, and stop at the inquiry, without going on to make an
argument, he would answer him. He had said this and he would
repeat it, and make no disclaimer--that certain gentlemen,
professing to be the friends, _par excellence_, of the President
of the United States, had put themselves in opposition to all
the leading measures of his administration. He said that rumor
stated that a cabal was formed, for the purpose of breaking down
the present cabinet and forming a new one; and that that cabal
did not amount to enough to make a corporal's guard. He did not
say who they were; but he spoke of rumor only. Now, he would ask
his friend from Virginia [Mr. ARCHER] if he never heard of that
rumor? If the gentleman would tell him that he never heard of
that rumor, it would give him some claims to an answer.
"Mr. ARCHER confessed that he had heard of such a rumor, but he
never heard of any evidence to support it.
"Mr. CLAY. I repeat it here, in the face of the country, that
there are persons who call themselves, _par excellence_, the
friends of John Tyler, and yet oppose all the leading measures
of the administration of John Tyler. I will say that the
gentleman himself is not of that cabal, and that his colleague
is not. Farther than that, this deponent saith not, and will not
say.
"Mr. ARCHER. The gentleman has not adverted to the extreme
harshness of the language he employed when he was first up,
and he would appeal to gentlemen present for the correctness
of the version he (Mr. A.) had given of it. The gentleman said
there was a cabal formed--a vile kitchen cabinet--low and
infamous, who surrounded the President and instigated him to
the course he had taken. That was the language employed by the
honorable senator. Now suppose language such as this had been
used in the other branch of the national legislature, which
might be supposed to refer to him (Mr. A.) where he had not
an opportunity of defending himself; what would be the course
of his colleagues there? The course of those high-minded and
honorable men there toward him, would be similar to that he had
taken in regard to them.
"Mr. CLAY. Mr. President, did I say one word about the
colleagues of the gentleman? I said there was a cabal formed for
the purpose of breaking down the present cabinet, and that that
cabal did not number a corporal's guard; but I did not say who
that cabal was, and do not mean to be interrogated. Any member
on this floor has a right to ask me if I alluded to him; but
nobody else has. I spoke of rumor only.
"Mr. ARCHER said a few words, but he was not heard distinctly
enough to be reported.
"Mr. CLAY. I said no such thing. I said there was a rumor--that
public fame had stated that there was a cabal formed for the
purpose of removing the cabinet, and I ask the gentleman if he
has not heard of that rumor?
"Mr. ARCHER, after some remarks too low to be heard in the
gallery, said it was not the words the gentleman had quoted
to which he referred. It was the remark of the gentleman that
there was a low and infamous cabal--a vile kitchen cabinet--and
the gentleman knew that to his view there could not be a more
odious phrase used than kitchen cabinet--and that it was these
expressions that he wished an explanation of.
"Mr. BERRIEN said it was the concurrent opinion of all the
senators around him, that the senator from Kentucky had spoken
of the cabal as a rumor, and as not coming within his own
knowledge. He hoped the senator would understand him in rising
to make this explanation.
"Mr. ARCHER said he was glad to hear the disclaimer made by the
gentleman from Georgia, and he would therefore sit down, under
the conviction that the gentleman from Kentucky had made no such
blow at his colleagues of the other House, as he had supposed."
Mr. Clay could not disclaim for the Virginia members of the
House--that is to say, for all those members. Rumor was too loud
with respect to some of them to allow him to do that. He rested upon
the rumor; and public opinion justified him in doing so. He named
no one, nor was it necessary. They soon named themselves by the
virulence with which they attacked him.
The vote was taken on the bill over again, as required by the
constitution, and so far from receiving a two-thirds vote, it barely
escaped defeat by a simple majority. The vote was 24 to 24; and the
yeas and nays were:
"YEAS--Messrs. Barrow, Bates, Bayard, Berrien, Choate, Clay
of Kentucky, Dixon, Evans, Graham, Henderson, Huntington,
Kerr, Mangum, Merrick, Miller, Morehead, Porter, Prentiss,
Preston, Simmons, Smith of Indiana, Southard, Tallmadge, White,
Woodbridge.
"NAYS--Messrs. Allen, Archer, Benton, Buchanan, Calhoun, Clay
of Alabama, Clayton, Cuthbert, Fulton, King, Linn, McRoberts,
Mouton, Nicholson, Pierce, Rives, Sevier, Sturgeon, Tappan,
Walker, Williams, Woodbury, Wright, Young."
The rejection of the bank bill gave great vexation to one side, and
equal exultation to the other. Hisses resounded from the galleries
of the Senate: the President was outraged in his house, in the
night, by the language and conduct of a disorderly crowd assembled
about it. Mr. Woodbury moved an inquiry into the extent of these two
disturbances, and their authors; and a committee was proposed to be
charged with the inquiry: but the perpetrators were found to be of
too low an order to be pursued, and the proceeding was dropped. Some
manifestations of joy or sorrow took place, however, by actors of
high order, and went into the parliamentary debates. Some senators
deemed it proper to make a complimentary visit to Mr. Tyler, on the
night of the reception of the veto message, and to manifest their
satisfaction at the service which he had rendered in arresting the
bank charter; and it so happened that this complimentary visit took
place on the same night on which the President's house had been
beset and outraged. It was doubtless a very consolatory compliment
to the President, then sorely assailed by his late whig friends;
and very proper on the part of those who paid it, though there were
senators who declined to join in it--among others, the writer of
this View, though sharing the exultation of his party. On the other
hand the chagrin of the whig party was profound, and especially that
of Mr. Clay, its chief--too frank and impetuous to restrain his
feelings, and often giving vent to them--generally bitterly, but
sometimes playfully. An occasion for a display of the latter kind
was found in the occasion of this complimentary visit of democratic
senators to the President, and in the offering of Mr. Woodbury's
resolution of inquiry into the disturbances; and he amusingly
availed himself of it in a brief speech, of which some extracts are
here given:
"An honorable senator from New Hampshire [Mr. WOODBURY] proposed
some days ago a resolution of inquiry into certain disturbances
which are said to have occurred at the presidential mansion on
the night of the memorable 16th of August last. If any such
proceedings did occur, they were certainly very wrong and highly
culpable. The chief magistrate, whoever he may be, should be
treated by every good citizen with all becoming respect, if not
for his personal character, on account of the exalted office
he holds for and from the people. And I will here say, that I
read with great pleasure the acts and resolutions of an early
meeting, promptly held by the orderly and respectable citizens
of this metropolis, in reference to, and in condemnation of,
those disturbances. But, if the resolution had been adopted, I
had intended to move for the appointment of a select committee,
and that the honorable senator from New Hampshire himself should
be placed at the head of it, with a majority of his friends. And
will tell you why, Mr. President. I did hear that about eight or
nine o'clock on that same night of the famous 16th of August,
there was an irruption on the President's house of the whole
loco foco party in Congress; and I did not know but that the
alleged disorders might have grown out of or had some connection
with that fact. I understand that the whole party were there.
No spectacle, I am sure, could have been more supremely
amusing and ridiculous. If I could have been in a position in
which, without being seen, I could have witnessed that most
extraordinary reunion, I should have had an enjoyment which no
dramatic performance could possibly communicate. I think that
I can now see the principal _dramatis personæ_ who figured in
the scene. There stood the grave and distinguished senator from
South Carolina--
["Mr. CALHOUN here instantly rose, and earnestly insisted on
explaining; but Mr. CLAY refused to be interrupted or to yield
the floor.]
"Mr. CLAY. There, I say, I can imagine stood the senator from
South Carolina--tall, careworn, with furrowed brow, haggard, and
intensely gazing, looking as if he were dissecting the last and
newest abstraction which sprung from metaphysician's brain, and
muttering to himself, in half-uttered sounds, 'This is indeed
a real crisis!' Then there was the senator from Alabama [Mr.
KING], standing upright and gracefully, as if he were ready to
settle in the most authoritative manner any question of order,
or of etiquette, that might possibly arise between the high
assembled parties on that new and unprecedented occasion. Not
far off stood the honorable senators from Arkansas and from
Missouri [Mr. SEVIER and Mr. BENTON], the latter looking at the
senator from South Carolina, with an indignant curl on his lip
and scorn in his eye, and pointing his finger with contempt
towards that senator [Mr. CALHOUN], whilst he said, or rather
seemed to say, 'He call himself a statesman! why, he has never
even produced a decent humbug!'
["Mr. BENTON. The senator from Missouri was not there."]
Mr. Clay had doubtless been informed that the senator from Missouri
was one of the senatorial procession that night, and the readiness
with which he gave his remarks an imaginative turn with respect to
him, and the facility with which he went on with his scene, were
instances of that versatility of genius, and presence of mind, of
which his parliamentary life was so full, and which generally gave
him the advantage in sharp encounters. Though refusing to permit
explanations from Mr. Calhoun, he readily accepted the correction
from Mr. Benton--(probably because neither Mr. Benton, nor his
immediate friends, were suspected of any attempt to alienate Mr.
Tyler from his whig friends)--and continued his remarks, with great
apparent good humor, and certainly to the amusement of all except
the immediate objects of his attention.
"Mr. CLAY. I stand corrected; I was only imagining what you
would have said if you had been there. Then there stood the
senator from Georgia [Mr. CUTHBERT], conning over in his mind
on what point he should make his next attack upon the senator
from Kentucky. On yonder ottoman reclined the other senator
from Missouri on my left [Mr. LINN], indulging, with smiles
on his face, in pleasing meditations on the rise, growth, and
future power of his new colony of Oregon. The honorable senator
from Pennsylvania [Mr. BUCHANAN], I presume, stood forward as
spokesman for his whole party; and, although I cannot pretend to
imitate his well-known eloquence, I beg leave to make an humble
essay towards what I presume to have been the kind of speech
delivered by him on that august occasion:
"May it please your Excellency: A number of your present
political friends, late your political opponents, in company
with myself, have come to deposit at your Excellency's feet the
evidences of our loyalty and devotion; and they have done me the
honor to make me the organ of their sentiments and feelings.
We are here more particularly to present to your Excellency
our grateful and most cordial congratulations on your rescue
of the country from a flagrant and alarming violation of the
constitution, by the creation of a Bank of the United States;
and also our profound acknowledgments for the veto, by which
you have illustrated the wisdom of your administration, and so
greatly honored yourself. And we would dwell particularly on
the unanswerable reasons and cogent arguments with which the
notification of the act to the legislature had been accompanied.
We had been, ourselves, struggling for days and weeks to arrest
the passage of the bill, and to prevent the creation of the
monster to which it gives birth. We had expended all our logic,
exerted all our ability, employed all our eloquence; but in
spite of all our utmost efforts, the friends of your Excellency
in the Senate and House of Representatives proved too strong for
us. And we have now come most heartily to thank your Excellency,
that you have accomplished for us that against your friends,
which we, with our most strenuous exertions, were unable to
achieve."
After this pleasant impersonation of the Pennsylvania senator, Mr.
Clay went on with his own remarks.
"I hope the senator will view with indulgence this effort to
represent him, although I am but too sensible how far it falls
short of the merits of the original. At all events he will
feel that there is not a greater error than was committed by
the stenographer of the Intelligencer the other day, when he
put into my mouth a part of the honorable senator's speech. I
hope the honorable senators on the other side of the chamber
will pardon me for having conceived it possible that, amidst
the popping of champagne, the intoxication of their joy, the
ecstasy of their glorification, they might have been the parties
who created a disturbance, of which they never could have been
guilty had they waited for their '_sober second thoughts_.'
I have no doubt the very learned ex-Secretary of the Treasury,
who conducted that department with such distinguished ability,
and such happy results to the country, and who now has such a
profound abhorrence of all the taxes on tea and coffee, though,
in his own official reports, he so distinctly recommended them,
would, if appointed chairman of the committee, have conducted
the investigation with that industry which so eminently
distinguishes him; and would have favored the Senate with a
report, marked with all his accustomed precision and ability,
and with the most perfect lucid clearness."
Mr. Buchanan, who had been made the principal figure in Mr. Clay's
imaginary scene, took his satisfaction on the spot, and balanced the
account by the description of another night scene, at the east end
of the avenue, not entirely imaginary if Dame Rumor may be credited
on one side of the question, as well as on the other. He said:
"The honorable senator has, with great power of humor, and much
felicity of description, drawn for us a picture of the scene
which he supposes to have been presented at the President's
house on the ever-memorable evening of the veto. It was a happy
effort; but, unfortunately, it was but a fancy sketch--at least
so far as I am concerned. I was not there at all upon the
occasion. But, I ask, what scenes were enacted on that eventful
night at this end of the avenue? The senator would have no cause
to complain if I should attempt, in humble imitation of him,
to present a picture, true to the life, of the proceedings of
himself and his friends. Amidst the dark and lowering clouds of
that never-to-be-forgotten night, a caucus assembled in one of
the apartments of this gloomy building, and sat in melancholy
conclave, deploring the unhappy fate of the whig party. Some
rose, and advocated vengeance; 'their voice was still for war.'
Others, more moderate, sought to repress the ardent zeal of
their fiery compatriots, and advised to peace and prudence.
It was finally concluded that, instead of making open war
upon Captain Tyler, they should resort to stratagem, and, in
the elegant language of one of their number, that they should
endeavor 'to head' him. The question was earnestly debated by
what means they could best accomplish this purpose; and it was
resolved to try the effect of the 'Fiscality' now before us.
Unfortunately for the success of the scheme, 'Captain Tyler' was
forewarned and forearmed, by means of a private and confidential
letter, addressed by mistake to a Virginia coffee-house. It is
by means like this that 'enterprises of great pith and moment'
often fail. But so desperately intent are the whig party still
on the creation of a bank, that one of my friends on this side
of the House told me that a bank they would have, though its
exchanges should be made in bacon hams, and its currency be
small patatoes."
Other senators took the imaginary scene, in which they had been
made to act parts, in perfect good temper; and thus the debate on
the first Fiscal Bank charter was brought to a conclusion with more
amicability than it had been conducted with.
In the course of the consideration of this bill in the Senate, a
vote took place which showed to what degree the belief of corrupt
practices between the old bank and members of Congress had taken
place. A motion was made by Mr. Walker to amend the Fiscal Bank bill
so as to prevent any member of Congress from borrowing money from
that institution. The motion was resisted by Mr. Clay, and supported
by democratic senators on the grounds of the corruptions already
practised, and of which repetitions might be expected. Mr. Pierce,
of New Hampshire, spoke most fully in favor of the motion, and said:
"It was idle--if it were not offensive, he would say absurd--for
gentlemen to discourse here upon the _incorruptibility_ of
members of Congress. They were like other men--and no better,
he believed no worse. They were subject to like passions,
influenced by like motives, and capable of being reached by
similar _appliances_. History affirmed it. The experience of
past years afforded humiliating evidence of the fact. Were
we wiser than our fathers? Wiser than the most sagacious and
patriotic assemblage of men that the world ever saw? Wiser
than the framers of the constitution? What protection did they
provide for the country against the _corruptibility_ of members
of Congress? Why, that no member should hold any office, however
humble, which should be created, or the emoluments of which
should be increased, during his term of service. How could
the influence of a petty office be compared with that of the
large _bank accommodations_ which had been granted and would be
granted again? And yet they were to be told, that in proposing
this guard for the whole people, they were fixing an ignominious
brand upon themselves and their associates. It seemed to him,
that such remarks could hardly be serious; but whether sincere
or otherwise, they were not legislating for themselves--not
legislating for _individuals_--and he felt no apprehension
that the mass, whose rights and interests were involved, would
consider themselves aggrieved by such a _brand_.
"The senator from Pennsylvania [Mr. BUCHANAN] while pressing
his unanswerable argument in favor of the provision, remarked,
that should this bill become a law, no member of Congress
'having a proper sense of delicacy and honor,' with the
question of _repeal_ before him, could accept a loan from the
Bank. That question of 'delicacy and honor' was one to which
he (Mr. P.) did not choose now to address himself. He would,
however, be guided by the light of experience, and he would
take leave to say, that that light made the path before him,
upon this proposition, perfectly luminous. By no vote of his
should a provision be stricken from this bill, the omission
of which would tend to establish a corrupt and corrupting
influence--secret and intangible--in the very bosom of the two
Houses whose province and duty it would be to pass upon that
great question of _repeal_. What had taken place was liable to
occur again. Those who were now here and those who would succeed
to their places, were not more virtuous, not more secure from
the approach of venality, not more elevated above the influence
of _certain appliances_, than their predecessors. Well, what did
history teach in relation to the course of members of Congress
during that most extraordinary struggle between the Bank and the
people for supremacy, which convulsed the whole continent from
1831 to 1834?
"He rose chiefly to advert to that page of history, and whether
noticed here or not, it would be noticed by his constituents,
who, with their children, had an infinitely higher stake in this
absorbing question than members of Congress, politicians, or
bankers.
"He read from the bank report presented to the Senate in
1834, by the present President of the United States, 'Senate
Documents, second session, twenty-third Congress,' p. 320.
From that document it appeared that in 1831 there was loaned
to fifty-nine members of Congress, the sum of three hundred
and twenty-two thousand one hundred and ninety-nine dollars.
In 1832, the year when the bank charter was arrested by the
veto of that stern old man who occupied the house and hearts
of his countrymen, there was loaned to fifty-four members of
Congress, the sum of four hundred and seventy-eight thousand and
sixty-nine dollars. In 1833, the memorable panic year, there was
loaned to fifty-eight members, three hundred and seventy-four
thousand seven hundred and sixty-six dollars. In 1834, hope
began to decline with the Bank, and so, also, did its line of
discounts to members of Congress; but even in that year the loan
to fifty-two members amounted to two hundred and thirty-eight
thousand five hundred and eighty-six dollars.
"Thus in four years of unparalleled political excitement,
growing out of a struggle with the people for the mastery,
did that institution grant accommodations to two hundred and
twenty-three of the people's representatives, amounting to the
vast sum of one million four hundred and thirteen thousand six
hundred and twenty dollars. He presented no argument on these
facts. He would regard it not merely as supererogation, but an
insult to the intelligence of his countrymen. A tribunal of
higher authority than the executive and Congress combined, would
pass upon the question of 'delicacy and honor,' started by the
senator from Pennsylvania, and it would also decide whether in
the bank to loan was dangerous or otherwise. He indulged no
fears as to the decision of the tribunal in the last resort--the
sovereign people."
Mr. Clay remarked that the greater part of these loans were made
to members opposed to the bank. Mr. Buchanan answered, no doubt of
that. A significant smile went through the chamber, with inquiries
whether any one had remained opposed? The yeas and nays were called
upon the question--and it was carried; the two Virginia senators,
Messrs. Archer and Rives, and Mr. Preston, a Virginian by birth,
voting with the democracy, and making the vote 25 yeas to 24 nays.
The yeas were: Messrs. Allen, Archer, Benton, Buchanan, Calhoun,
Clay of Alabama, Cuthbert, Fulton, King, Linn, McRoberts, Mouton,
Nicholson, Pierce, Preston, Rives, Sevier, Smith of Connecticut,
Sturgeon, Tappan, Walker, Williams, Woodbury, Wright and Young. The
nays were: Messrs. Barrow, Bates, Berrien, Choate, Clay of Kentucky,
Clayton, Dixon, Evans, Graham, Henderson, Huntingdon, Leeds Kerr,
Mangum, Merrick, Miller, Morehead, Phelps, Porter, Simmons, Smith
of Indiana, Southard, Tallmadge, White, Woodbridge. This vote,
after the grounds on which the question was put, was considered an
explicit senatorial condemnation of the bank for corrupt practices
with members of Congress.