CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
3 1924 092 903 909 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924092903909 
 
FaiiLtedlr/ James "Worrell 
 
 &— 
 
 %/iyr-" 
 
 :l'iiGh; u S !)ISTRTi]T G'TflRT ftTYTRGiNI'V 
 
® 
 
 THE 
 
 LETTERS AND TIMES 
 
 THE TTLEES. 
 
 LYON G. TTLEE. 
 
 " An honest man is still an unmoved rook, 
 Wash'd whiter, but not shaken with the shock." 
 
 DamnporVs Oity Night-Oap. 
 
 IS. TWO VOLUMES. 
 
 YOL. I. 
 
 EICHMOND, VA. : 
 
 Whittet & Sheppeeson, Cob. Tenth & Main Stbeets. 
 1884. 
 
/r^y^' 
 
 Copyright 
 
 BY 
 
 Lyon G. Tylee. 
 
 1884. 
 
 Printed by 
 
 Whittet & Shkfpehson, 
 
 Richmond, Yn, 
 
 Bound by 
 
 Jenkins & Walthall, 
 
 Richmond, Ya. 
 
"OLD DOM IN ION," 
 
 THE LOVING MOTHEB OF STATES AND STATESMEN, 
 
 THIS WORK, 
 
 CONTAINING IN ITS PAGES AN IMPERrBCT ACCOUNT OF THE CAKBEES OF TWO 
 
 OF HEB SONS, 
 IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED BT 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 THE author submits this work to the public with the greatest 
 diffidence. For the many errors and imperfections that it 
 may contain he must find his safety in the indulgence of the 
 reader. He is well aware of the boldness of his enterprise, since, 
 though writing as a biographer, he has been constrained to review 
 the general history of the country through an interval of nearly a 
 hundred years, and amid scenes of vast and absorbing importance. 
 At nearly all the marked periods of our history as a nation, from 
 the devolution to the war between the States, in 1861, the one or 
 the other of the two chief characters of this work took an im- 
 portant and conspicuous part in public affairs. 
 
 Considering the wide-spread destruction which befell property 
 of all kinds in the South during the late unhappy conflict of arms, the 
 author believes that he has much cause to congratulate himseK 
 upon the important original matter which he has collected from 
 various sources. Through this means he is enabled to present to 
 the reader, in a new and interesting light, many of the great ques- 
 tions of public policy, such as the Missouri Compromise, the Bank 
 Question, the Ashburton Treaty, the Annexation of Texas, the 
 Oregon Boundary, the Peace Convention, etc., etc. 
 
 The second volume will succeed the first as soon as it can be is- 
 sued from the press. 
 
 Cordial thanks are due for courtesies of various kinds and de- 
 grees, received from Hon. H. W. Flournoy, Secretary of the Com- 
 monwealth ; Chai-les Poindexter, State Librarian ; Col. Sherwin Mc- 
 Eae; Mrs. Cynthia Tucker Coleman, of Williamsburg, Yirginia; 
 
Tl PREFACE. 
 
 Mr. C. p. Greenough, of Boston; Mr. John N. Gushing, of New- 
 buryport, Mass. ; Miss Ella Tazewell, of Norfolk, Va. ; Mrs. Anne 
 Munford, of Richmond, Virginia; Mr. Theodore F. Dwight, De- 
 partment of Archives, Washington; Col. John S. Cunningham, 
 U. S. Navy Pay Director ; Alexander Rutherf oord ; Col. D. L. Gar- 
 diner, Thomas Smith, of Gloucester county, Ya. ; Hon. Wyndham 
 Robertson, Hon. William Wirt Henry, Dr. Sam Waggaman, Mrs. 
 St. George Tucker, Dr. John R. Page, Miss Ellen Roy, Mrs. 
 Mary Sams; Mr. E. W. Tyler, of Boston; Mr. W. W. Wilkins; 
 New Hamphire Historical Society; New England Historic and 
 Genealogic Society ; Mr. R. A. Brock, corresponding secretary 
 of the Yirginia Historical Society ; Mrs. Robert Tyler, Mrs. Bettie 
 Drew ; John Tyler, Jr. ; Gen. James McDonald, of the Industrial 
 South ; Mr. C. C. Clarke, etc. etc. 
 
 LYON G. TYLER. 
 
 Richmond, Virginia, September 18, 1884. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. 
 
 Portrait of John Tyler, Sr., as Judge op the United States Dis- 
 trict Court, Frontispiece. 
 Portrait of John Tyler as Governor of Virginia, p. 339. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 1607—1776." 
 Address of John Tyler at Jamestown, May 13, 1857, on the Two Hundred 
 and Fiftieth Anniversary of the First English Settlement in America, 1 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 1747—1778. 
 Tyler Genealogy. — Wat Tyler's Rebellion. — Estimate of Wat's Character 
 by President Tyler, a Reputed Descendant. — Henry Tyler, First Ameri- 
 can Ancestor.— Middle Plantation. — Sons of Henry Tyler: Henry, 
 John and Daniel. — Career of Henry Tyler, Jr. — His Children: John, 
 Francis and Henry. — Children of the First Named. — John Tyler, 
 Marshal of the Vice-Admiralty Court. — His Issue. — John Tyler, 
 Patriot of the Revolution. — His Youth. — Robert Carter Nicholas. — 
 Thomas Jefferson. — Patrick Henry. — John Tyler moves to Charles City 
 County. — Marries Mary Armistead. — Organizes a. Military Company. 
 — Appointed Judge of the Admiralty. — Defeated for the State Senate. 
 — Elected to the House of Delegates, 35 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1778—1784. 
 Mr. Tyler in the State Legislature. — The States the Centres of Political 
 Activity. — The Currency. — Revenue Under the Colonial Regime. — 
 Paper Money.— Mr. Tyler Draws the Last Bill for Paper Money. — The 
 Year 1780. — Mr. Tyler Elected to the Council. — Invasion of Arnold. — 
 La Fayette and Cornwallis.— The Legislature Flees from Charlottes- 
 ville. — Anecdote. — Friendship Between Mr. Tyler and Mr. Henry. — 
 The Five Per Cent. Impost. — Mr. Tyler's Report on the North Carolina 
 Boundary. — Jefferson Defence His Administration. — Surrender of 
 Cornwallis. — Mr. Tyler Elected Speaker. — Edmund Pendleton, George 
 Wythe, Benjamin Harrison, Richard Henry Lee. — Negotiations for 
 Peace. — Mr. Tyler Defeats Lee for Speaker. — Trade. — Restrictions. — 
 Tories. — Mr. Tyler Leads the Opposition to England. — The Impost 
 Law Re-enacted, 68 
 
VIU CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1784—1786. 
 Agitation Over Trade. — Meeting of the Legislature in May, 1784. — Re- 
 solutions on the State and Federal Finances. — Compulsory Process Re- 
 commended. — Anecdote. — British Debts. — Henry and Tyler Lead the 
 Opposition to the Treaty. — History of the British Debts. — Other Ques- 
 tions in the Fall of 1784. — The Bill to Prevent Fillibustering. — State 
 and National Finances Again. — Mr. Tyler Proposes to Authorize 
 Amendments of the Confederation by less than a Unanimous Vote. 
 — Adjournment of the Legislature. — The Regulation of Trade. — North 
 and South During the War and After It. — Contest Between Harrison 
 and Tyler for the House of Delegates. — Tyler Defeats Harrison. — 
 Contest for the Speaker's Chair. — Harrison Defeats Tyler. — Debate on 
 the Regulation of Trade. — Mr. Tyler's Alternative Proposition. — 
 Elected Judge of the Admiralty Court. — Tyler Revives His Alternative 
 Proposition for a Convention of the States. — Its Passage on the Last 
 Day of the Session. — Posthumous Claim of Madison, 10& 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 1786—1788. 
 Last Session of Mr. Tyler in the Legislature. — Taxes and Paper Money. 
 —Mr. Tyler's Bill Against Dividing the State. — Re-election of Henry 
 as Governor.— The Convention at Annapolis. — The Old Confederation. 
 — Its Merits aad Defects. — Federal Convention of 1787. — Virginia 
 Convention of 1788. — Speech of Mr. Tyler.— Adoption of the Constitu- 
 tion by Virginia, with Amendments. — Slave Trade in the Federal Con- 
 vention. — In the Virginia Convention. — Noble Speech of Tyler Against 
 Madison.— Slavery in Virginia Until 1832.— Bill of John Tyler to 
 Abolish the Slave Trade in the District of Columbia, 13& 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 1788-1800. 
 Rule of the Federalists.— Stock-jobbing, Extortion and Usury. — Decay 
 of Virginia Tobacco.— William Grayson's Letters from the First Con- 
 gress.— Resistance of Virginia to the Federalists.— Victory of the Re- 
 publicans.— Mr. Tyler in the Judiciary of the State.— The Judiciary 
 Question.— Opinion of Judge Tyler in Kamper vs. Hawkins. — Kent's 
 and Story's Extraordinary Omission. — Henry's Death, 159i 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1800—1808. 
 
 Mr. Tyler as Judge of the General Court.— Greenway.— Patrick Henry 
 
 and Wat Tyler.— Deaths of Mrs. Tyler and Anne Contesse Semple.— 
 
 Popularity of Judge Tyler.— John Tyler, Second Son of Judge Tyler. 
 
 —Anecdotes of His Childhood.— Enters College.— Letters of His Father 
 
CONTENTS. ix 
 
 on Expatriation. — Graduates at Seventeen. — Studies Law. — Corres- 
 pondence of Judge Tyler with President Jefferson, 18& 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 1808—1810. 
 British Outrages on American Commerce. — Judge Tyler Elected Gover- 
 nor. — His Letter of Acceptance. — Jefferson's Letter of Congratulation. 
 — " Richmond and its Memories." — Madison President. — Brskine'* 
 Treaty. — Letter to Madison. — Erskine Disavowed. — Visit of Mr. Jeffer- 
 son to Richmond. — "The Two Plum-Puddings." — Bold Message of 
 Governor Tyler. — Further Letters to Madison. — Education in Virginia. 
 — Governor Tyler on Schools. — He Rouses the Legislature to Action. — 
 The Literary Fund Instituted, 214 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 1810—1813. 
 Letters to Mr. Jefferson. — Governor Tyler's Second Annual Message. — 
 Re-elected Governor a Third Time. — Governor Tyler's Address. — 
 Resignation. — Appointed Judge United States District Court. — Letter 
 to Madison. — Case of Livingston vs. Jefferson. — Chief-Justice Marshall 
 and Judge Tyler. — Judge Tyler on the Common Law. — His Intense 
 Americanism. — Extract from his Second Annual Message. — Corres- 
 pondence with Jefferson. — War Declared. — First Prize Case. — Illness 
 of Judge Tyler. — Death. — Resolution of the Legislature. — Obituary by 
 Judge Roane. — Tribute of His Son. — Note on the Portrait and Physi- 
 cal Appearance of Judge Tyler, 244 
 
 CHAPTER IS. 
 1811—1819. 
 Will of Judge Tyler. — Mons-Sacer. — John Tyler at the Bar and in the 
 Legislature. — Remarkable Success. — Elected to the Legislature at 
 Twenty-one. — Andrew Stevenson. — Mr. Tyler's Resolutions Censuring 
 Messrs. Giles and Brent. — Leigh's Substitute. — Marriage of Mr. Tyler 
 to Letitia Christian. Letters of Mr. Tyler to Dr. Curtis. — Marriage 
 of Christiana Tyler. — The British Invade Virginia. — Mr. Tyler Captain 
 of a Company of Riflemen. — Elected to the Legislature for Five Suc- 
 cessive Years. — Elected to the Council at Twenty-five. — His Eloquence. 
 — Anecdotes. — Elected to Congress at Twenty-six Over Andrew Steven- 
 son. — Public Sentiment at the Time. — New Federalism. — A Discussion 
 on State Sovereignty. — Reception of Mr. Tyler by Madison. — His 
 Speech on the Compensation Bill. — Internal Improvements. — Canvass 
 with Stevenson. — Mr. Tyler Re-elected to the Fifteenth Congress. — 
 South American Independence. — Internal Improvements. — Bankrupt 
 Bill. — Second Session Fifteenth Congress. — Bank Committee. — Mr. 
 Tyler Advocates the Issuance of a Scire Facias Against the Bank. — 
 Session Closes, 271 
 
•S CONTENTS. 
 
 ' CHAPTER X. 
 1819—1821. 
 ■Woodburn. — Mr. Tyler Ee-eleoted for a Third Term Without Opposi- 
 tion. — The Missouri Question. — Lust of Sectional Aggrandizement 
 Traced to the Mississippi Controversy. — Mr. Tyler on the Arkansas 
 Bill. — The Missouri Question in the House and Senate. — Eufus King. 
 — Mr. Tyler's Letter. — His Speech on the Mi.ssouri Question. — The 
 Senate Yields and Assents to a " Compromise." — The Compromise 
 Reprobated by both Northern and Southern Members of the House. — 
 A Conference had, and the House Yields. — Inequality of the Compro- 
 mise. — A Measure Destructive to the South. — Errors of Calhoun. — The 
 .Terms of the Texas Treaty, in 1845, not an Endorsement of the Mis- 
 souri Compromise. — Letter of Mr. Tyler on the Subject. — His Dialogue 
 with Colonel John B. Baldwin. — The Missouri Question in 1821. — Mr. 
 Tyler's Letter to Tazewell.— The Tariff in 1820.— Mr. Tyler's Reply 
 to Baldwin, of Pennsylvania. — Thomas Rutherfoord's Richmond Me- 
 morial. Defense by Mr. Tyler. — Letter to John Eutherfoord. — Mr. 
 Tyler Declines a New Election 307 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 1821—1827. 
 3Ir. Tyler in Private Life.— Re-elected to the House of Delegates. — Takes 
 the Lead in that Body.— Presidential Candidates. — Mr. Tyler's Report in 
 Favor of Mr. Crawford.— His Resolutions at the Caucus Meeting of the 
 General Assembly.— Speech in Favor of Robert Douthat.— Contest 
 between Tyler and Tazewell for the Senate.— Mr. Tyler's Speech in 
 Behalf of William and Mary.— Defeats Floyd for Governor.— His Ad- 
 ministration of State Affairs. — Delivers Commodore Warrington a 
 Sword.— Oration on Jefferson.— Mr. Tyler's Message.— Schools.— In- 
 ternal Improvements.— Mr. Tyler's Popularity.— Testimony of George 
 Wythe Muuford. — Review of the Presidential Election in 1824.— Ac- 
 cidental Election of Adams.— Charge of Bargain and Corruption. — 
 Not Credited by Mr. Tyler.— His Letter to Clay.— Adams' Message.— 
 His Federalism.— His Downfall.— John Randolph's Attack.— Mr. Ty- 
 ler's Course.— Nominated Against Randolph.— His Election.— Violent 
 Assault upon Mr. Tyler.— " The Winchester Paragraph."— Firmness 
 of Mr. Tyler.— Letter of C. W. Gooch.— Statement of Mr. Tyler.— 
 His Victory.- Resigns the Chief Magistracy of Virginia.— Dinner to 
 Senator Tyler.— His Remarks and Toast, 339 
 
 CHAPTER XII. "^ 
 
 1827—1828. 
 Formation of the Democratic Party.— Letters of Mr. Tyler to Ruther- 
 foord and Curtis.— Meeting of Congress in December, 1827.— Mr. 
 Stevenson Elected Speaker.— Further Letters to Rutherfoord and Cur- 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 -tis.— Tariff Agitation.— The Tariff of 1828.— Letters on the Tariff, 
 etc.— The Cumberland Road.— Mr. Tyler's Reply to Mr. Smith, of 
 Maryland.— Other Speeches of Mr. Tyler.— William Tyler Elected to 
 the House of Delegates.— State Convention Called.— Mr. Tyler's Let- 
 ters to his Daughter Mary, 374 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 1828—1832. 
 Presidential Canvass of 1828. — Adams' Defeat. — His Character. — Jack- 
 son's Cabinet. — Calhoun and Van Buren. — Constitutional Convention 
 in Virginia. — Contest Between the East and West. — Mr. Tyler's 
 Speech. — Letter on the Basis Question. — Adoption of the Amended 
 'Constitution. — Mr. Tyler Resumes his Seat in Congress. — Origin of the 
 " Spoils System." — Jackson's Nominations. — Mr. Tyler's Letter to Dr. 
 ■Curtis. — He Votes Against the Editors. — The Maysville Road Bill. — 
 Letter to Tazewell. — Mr. Tyler's MotioD in Behalf of the Virginia State 
 Line in the Revolution. — Removes to Gloucester County in the Recess. 
 — Second Session of the Twenty-first Congress. — The Turkish Mis- 
 sion. — Course of Tazewell and Tyler. — Rupture Between Jackson and 
 ■Calhoun. — Van Buren's Nomination as Minister to England and Rejec- 
 tion. — Mr. Tyler's Letters to his Daughter, 393 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1832—1833. 
 Eeview of the Tariff Question.— The Tariff in 1789, in 1816, in 1820, in 1824, 
 in 1828.— The Tariff of 1832.— Speech of Clay.— Reply of Mr. Tyler.— 
 Commendations of Marshall and Madison. — Discontent of the South. — 
 Nullification. — Resignation of Tazewell. — Mr. Tyler's Letter to Taze- 
 well. — Ordinance of Nullification. — Rives Elected in Tazewell's Place. 
 — The Proclamation. — Verplanck's Bill. — Tyler to Tazewell. — ^Agita- 
 tion in Virginia. — Efforts to Defeat Mr. Tyler's Re-election.— Report 
 of the Committee on Federal Relations — John H. Pleasants to Mr. 
 Tyler. — Floyd's Message. ■ — B. W. Leigh Commissioner to South Caro- 
 lina. — Mr. Tyler's Election Postponed. — His Speech Against the Force 
 Bill.— James McDowell. — Re-election of Mr. Tyler. — Mr. Tyler brings 
 about the Compromise. — Vote upon the Force Bill. — The Compromise 
 Adopted. — Rejoicings of the South.— Dinner to Mr. Tyler at Glouces- 
 ter Court-house.- Mr. Tyler's Eulogy on Clay, in 1860, 431 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 1833—1834. 
 Disruption of the Democratic Party. — Usurpations of Jackson. — The Re- 
 moval of the Deposits. — Summary of the Bank Question. — Review of 
 Mr. Tyler's Course as to the Bank. — Agitation over the Removal of 
 the Deposits.— Formation of the Whig Party.— Origin of the Term 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 " Whig."— Session of 1833-4.— Mr. Tyler to Tazewell.— To Gilmer.— 
 Debates in Congress.— Resignation of Rives. — Letters to Tazewell. — 
 Report of the Committee on Finance.- Speech of Mr. Tyler.— Corres- 
 pondence ^^9' 
 
 CHAPTER XV I. 
 
 1834—1835. 
 Mr. Tyler as a Member of the Finance Committee.— Nomination of Bank 
 Directors.— Senate Rejects Them.— Renominated.— Report of Mr. 
 Tyler— Letters to Tazewell.— The Mission to England.- Course of Mr. 
 Tyler on Stevenson's Nomination. — On Taney's and Gwin's.— His 
 Letter to Tazewell.— His Course on the Mission to England at the Suc- 
 ceeding Session. — Adjournment of Congress in June, 1834. — Mr. Tyler's 
 Labors on the Finance Committee Daring the Recess. — His Report on 
 the Bank in December, 1834. — Collision with Benton. — Death of 
 Thomas Tyler Bouldin. — Assault on Jackson.— Letters of Mr. Tyler. 
 — Elected President pro tern, of the Senate, 494-- 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 1835—1836. 
 Distractions in the Whig Party. — Politics in Virginia, " Leigh or no 
 Leigh." — Benton's Expunging Resolution. — Judge White made the 
 Presidental Nominee of the State-Rights Whigs. — Mr. Tyler's Letter 
 to Col. Smith. — Nominated as Vice-President in Maryland. — Granger, 
 the Anti-Masonic Candidate for the Vice-Presidency. — Clay's Machina- 
 tions to Defeat Mr. Tyler in Ohio. — Letters of John G. Miller and 
 Robert Ware. — Resolutions of Instruction in the Virginia House of 
 Delegates. — Offer of a Judgeship to Mr. Tyler. — Conflicting Advice. — 
 Letters. — Passage of the Resolutions of Instruction. — Resignation of 
 Mr. Tyler.— Leigh's Refusal to Resign 513^ 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 1836—1838. 
 The French Treaty at Mr. Tyler's Last Session, and Jackson's Bungling 
 Statesmanship. — Public Dinner to Mr. Tyler on his Resignation. — 
 Comments of Mr. Ritchie. — Results of the Election in the Fall of 1836. 
 — The Whig Defeat. — Mr. Tyler at Home. — Lines on Leaving Wash- 
 ington. — Anecdotes of Mr. Tyler's Tact. — Home Letters, 539' 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 1837-1839. 
 Van Buren's Administration.— Seventh Anniversary of the Virginia Colo- 
 nization Society.— Mr. Tyler Elected President.— His Course on the 
 Slavery Question.— His Clause in the District Code for the Abolition of 
 the Slave-Trade.— Speech on the Penal Code for the District.— Slavery 
 Agitation in 1835.— Mr. Tyler's Speech at Gloucester Court-house.— 
 
CONTENTS. XIU 
 
 ■Opposes Calhoun's Motion to Eeject the Abolition Petitions.— His Res- 
 olutions on Slavery in the District of Columbia. — Report as Chairman 
 of the District Committee. — Address at Yorktown. — Address before 
 the Literary Society of Randolph Macon College. — Takes His Seat in 
 the House of Delegates, January, 1839. — Review of Van Buren's Ad- 
 ministration. — Crisis of 1837. — Extra Session. — Independent Treasury. 
 — Calhoun Leaves the Opposition. — Preston's Letter. — Contest Between 
 Mr. Tyler and Rives. — Clay's Treachery. — Harrisburg Convention. — 
 Harrison and Tyler Nominated. — Clay, the State-Rights Candidate.— 
 Bank, Tariff, and Internal Improvements Obsolete Questions — Clay's 
 Commitments to White, to Tyler, to Wise, and to Tucker. — Clay's Let- 
 ter to Tucker 566 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 1839-1840. 
 "JRecord and Sentiment of the Whig Party on the Bank Question. — The 
 Whig Party in Virginia.— Addresses of 1835, '36, '39, '40.— The Bank 
 an " Obsolete Question.'' — Whig Views Out of Virginia. — Webster, 
 Ewing, and Others. — The Newspapers, National Intelligencer, Log 
 Cabin, etc. — Views of Whig Congressmen. — Mr. Tyler in the Canvass. — 
 Letter to the Whigs of Louisville. — Letter to the Democrats of Pitts- 
 burg, Pa. — To the Democrats of Steubenville, Ohio. — To the Democrats 
 of Henricn, Va. — To the Whigs of Norfolk. — Letter from Mr. Ridgway. 
 — Von Hoist Quoted. — Letter of S. F. Chapman. — Democratic Conven- 
 tion.— R. M. Johnson Nominated for Vice-President.- — Election of 
 1840. — Unprecedented Excitement. — Great Whig Victory. — The Loco- 
 Focos. — Democratic Corruption. — Reform 603 
 
EERATA. 
 
 On page 28, in the 31st line, for " waged" read " raged." 
 
 On page 64, in the 22d line, for " 5th of May" read " 15th of May."" 
 
 On page 171, in the 23d line, for "Elliot" read " Ellsworth." 
 
MEMORANDUM OF LEADING DATES, ETC., 
 
 THE LIFE OE JOHN TYLER, SR. 
 
 1747, February 28, Born in James City County. Son of John Tyler, Mar- 
 shal of the Colonial Vice-admiralty Court, and Anne Contesse, his 
 wife. 
 
 1754, Enters the Grrammar School of William and Mary College. 
 
 1772, Moves to Charles City County and practises law. 
 
 1774, Organizes a military company. 
 
 1776, July, appointed by ordinance of the convention Judge of the Admiralty.. 
 Marries Mary Armistead. 
 
 1778, Elected a member of the House of Delegates. 
 
 1780, December, elected by the Legislature a member of the Council of 
 
 State. 
 
 1781, November^ — 1785, Speaker of the House of Delegates. 
 1781, Draws the last bill for paper money in Virginia. 
 
 1784, Moves to amend the Articles of Confederation with the consent of 
 
 twelve States. 
 
 1785, Secures the passage of a resolution to convoke an Assembly of Dele- 
 
 gates from the States at Annapolis. 
 1785, December, elected Judge of the Admiralty Court. 
 1788, June, Member of the Virginia Convention of 1788. 
 1788-1808, Judge of the General Court of Virginia. 
 1793, November, Opinion in the case oi Kamper vs. Hawkins, affirming the 
 
 power of the courts to overrule any legislative act conflicting with 
 
 the Constitution. 
 1804, Appointed Visitor of William and Mary College. 
 1808-1811, Governor of Virginia. 
 
 1809, Secures the establishment of the "Literary Fund." 
 1812-1813, Judge of United States District Court for Virginia. 
 
 1812, August, Passes upon the first prize case in the war ol 1812. 
 
 1813, January 6, Dies at his residence Greenway, in Charles City County, Vir- 
 
 ginia. 
 
LEHERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 ESTTRODUCTOEY CHAPTEE. 
 
 1G07-1776. 
 
 " Here the Old World first met the New. Here the white m.-in first met the red, for settle- 
 ment and colonization Here the white man first wielded the axe to cut the first tree for 
 the first log cabin. Here the fimt Ing cabin was built lor the first village. Here the first 
 Tillage rose to be fhf first State capHnl. Here was the first capital of our empire of States, 
 — here was the very foundation of .1 nation of freemin, which has stretched Its dominion 
 and its millions across the coniinent to the shores of another ocean! Go to the Pacific 
 •now, to measure this progression and power of a great people .' !"— Hknuy A, Wise. 
 
 Address or John Tyler at J.^mestown, May 13, IS.iT, on the Two Hundeed 
 AND Fiftieth Anniteesaky of the Fiest English Settlement in Ameeic a. ' , 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Jamestown Society : 
 
 ICONGEATULATE you on the success which has crowned 
 your efforts. You have founded a society which, I trust, is 
 •destined to no early or premature decay. Virginia lias been 
 .awakened by your summons, and her patriotic sons and daughters 
 are here to greet you. It is fitting that it should be so. The 
 memory of a glorious ancestry should be kept bright in the recol- 
 
 ' There have been only three celebrations at its site of the anniversary of the 
 •settlement of Jamestown. The first was in 1807, on the two hundredth anniver^ 
 .sary ; the second in 1822, on the two hundred and fifteenth anniversary ; and the 
 third in 18ii7, on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary. The first two were 
 ■called "jubilees," and were comparatively local in their character, the orators and 
 poets of the occasions being students of William and Mary. In 18.54, the James- 
 town Society was organized by the adoption of a constitution and the electiDn of 
 Thomas Kitchie president. Having determined to celebrate on a more august 
 scale than had been done this great epoch in the history of the world, they invited, 
 in ] 857, ex-President Tyler to deliver an oration and James Barron Hope a poem, 
 ■on the anniversary of that year. The invitations were accepted by these gentle^ 
 men, and the introductory chapter of this work contains the address of Mr. Tyler, 
 read before an audience of some eight thousand persons, numbering, among 
 others, the Governor of the State, the military companies, and many distin- 
 guished personages from Virginia and elsewhere. — {Editor.'] 
 1 
 
2 LETTEKS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 lections of their posterity, and their noble daring in the cause of 
 civilization, and brave resolves in favor of freedom, should be re-» 
 counted from generation to generation. Your society is designed 
 to be the connecting link between the past and that mighty future: 
 which is yet to be. If there ever were men worthy to be held in 
 remembrance, they were those who settled this now flourishing 
 country, and incorporated with its very soil the principles of 
 human right. What wonderful results have arisen f i-om that event 
 which we have met here to celebrate? A small body of men 
 planted on this spot the seed of a mighty empire. It sprang up,, 
 its growth at first sickly and often near perishing ; but finally it. 
 grew and flourished, until at this day millions of the human, 
 family shelter under its branches, and its leaves are watered by 
 the dews of two oceans. To me you have assigned the task of 
 opening the records of the past, and of tracing the developments 
 of this great adventure. I can do no more than furnish brief 
 sketches of the most promment actors and acts which spread over 
 centuries, and I shall do so without an effort to clothe them in a. 
 drapery which is either rhetorical or artificial. 
 
 The reign of Elizabeth had ended by her death in 1603. Her- 
 efforts to colonize America, under the lead of Sir Walter Ealeigh — 
 a name illustrious in history — had, after several adventures, disas- 
 trously failed, and the despondency consequent upon those failures- 
 had rendered almost torpid upon the subject the great mind of 
 England. Fifteen years had elapsed, and no effort had been made- 
 to rekindle the enthusiasm which had characterized the antecedent, 
 period. A single voice was at last heard, addressing itself to the 
 nobles and gentry, and urging the vast importance to England and. 
 the world of colonizing the country which the Virgin Queen had 
 called Virginia, and which embraced all the region lying between 
 the thirty-fourth and forty-fifth degrees of north latitude, with its 
 unlimited and undefined western boundary. It was the voice of 
 Bartholomew Gosnold. Some attention was given to his repre- 
 sentations and urgent solicitations; yet the prospect of success, 
 was gloomy and rayless until one, the report of whose heroic dar- 
 ing and bold adventures in other lands had preceded him, made 
 his appearance in London, and united with Gosnold in urging the 
 enterprise. That man was John Smith. Gosnold had visited the- 
 coast of Virginia more than once, and he, doubtless, failed not to- 
 
ADDRESS AT JAMESTOWN. 3 
 
 speak of its beautiful scenery, its magnificent forests, and its fer- 
 tile soil. Smith united in his person and bearing grace and refine- 
 ment, and policy and forethought, with a courage which no dan- 
 ger could appall, and a resolution which no difficulties could sub- 
 due. His broad experience in the active affairs of the world, and 
 his extraordinary faculty of extricating himself from situations of 
 extreme peril, together with the romantic turn manifested by him 
 from an early period of life, gave to his representations more than 
 ordinary force, and designated him as one whose connection with 
 such an adventure was of incalculable value. Others soon united 
 with Gosnold and Smith in urging the enterprise, and resorted to 
 every legitimate argument to forward it. The devout and pious 
 Christian was told that a new and more expanded theatre than had 
 before presented itself was opened to missionary labors. Before 
 the capitalist, desirous of making a profitable investment of sur- 
 plus capital, was spread out temptingly the profits that would ulti- 
 mately most surely arise from the investment : and to the patriot 
 was represented the glory of extending the English name and 
 language and dominion over regions of almost boundless extent. 
 These arguments had the desired effect. A company was soon 
 organized, at the head of which was placed Sir Thomas Smith, one 
 of the able councillors of Elizabeth's time, and a charter duly 
 granted by King James I. ; and on the 19th of December, 1606, 
 two ships — the one of one hundred tons and the other of forty — 
 and a pinnace of twenty tons, with their living freight, accompa- 
 nied by the tears of some and the cheers of others, set sail from 
 Blackwall for this terra incognita. And now they are afloat upon 
 the wild waves of the Atlantic — those small ships and that little 
 pinnace, surpassed in tonnage by the vessels that hourly pass and 
 repass this spot upon some coasting voyage, or in the traffic of the 
 bay and rivers, the adventurers, in all, one hundred men. Mea- 
 sured by the magnitude of the enterprise and its dangers, how 
 contemptible, small, and inadequate do these means to meet it 
 appear to have been. The hazards of the sea ; a country of vast 
 extent, inhabited by warlike tribes of a different race ; a wilder- 
 ness in which no ray of civilization was to be found ; a new world 
 to be reclaimed from its long night of barbarism and deep gloom ; 
 and that little fleet and those hundred men were to be the pioneers 
 of such an enterprise ! As if to mark "the madness of the hour,'" 
 
4 LETTERS AND TlilES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 there was at work, amid a small number of those adventurers, a 
 spirit of malevolence and ill-will, directed against the man who, 
 if human agency could accomplish it, was ultimately to save them 
 from starvation' and death. What a commentary on the infirmity 
 of poor human nature is exhibited in this fact ! But good Master 
 Hunt was with them to admonish and reprove; and there went 
 forth at the rising and setting of the sun, over the wide waste of 
 waters, the voice of prayer, lulling into repose the spirit of unwise 
 contention, and ascending to the throne of the Creator. Those 
 prayers were heard, and when the little pinnace of twenty tons, " the 
 captain being ignorant of the coast, and the mariners having lost 
 their reckoning by three clays," was in the act of abandoning the 
 voyage and returning to England, a tempest snatched her from 
 the hands of captain and crew, and drove lier upon her destined 
 way within tlie Capes ; and thus on this day, two hundred and fifty 
 years ago, those tempest-tost vessels swung c^uietly on their anchors 
 in yonder stream, and that body of adventurers landed on this 
 beach and prepared to .make it the place of their abode. 
 
 The log cabin is built, its covering of reeds ; and the fortification, 
 made of logs and brush, to guard against sui-prise from a savage 
 foe, is hastily constructed. Now, after the lapse of centuries, we, 
 their descendants and successors, come here to revisit their graves, 
 and to tread the soil which is hallowed by their sufferings and 
 was often watered by their tears. What though all be now changed ? 
 What though, in place of the unbroken forest, boundless fields 
 covered with luxuriant crops everywhere abound? What though 
 the fort and hastily constructed breastwork, and the red man to 
 restrain whose assaults they were erected, have long since passed 
 away ? What though no trace of the city, reared by the hands of 
 that " noble army of martyrs " in the cause of civilization, remains, 
 save yon broken steeple, and that small brick house beyond, which 
 has been preserved by successive proprietors for plantation pur- 
 poses, but whose vaults constituted the powder magazine of other 
 days and the prison house of Opechancanough, that most subtle 
 chieftain of the Indian tribe? What though what was then a 
 peninsula is now changed into an island, by a stream whicli, as 
 late as fifty years ago, was so narrow as to have presented no im- 
 pediment in the way of free access to the land, but which is now 
 broad and deep enough to float either of the vessels that brought 
 
ADDEESS AT JAMESTOWN. 
 
 over the first emigrants; and what though the waters now cover 
 a large portion of what in early days was firm land, on which 
 numerous habitations stood? What if the inscriptions on the 
 monuments erected over the dead be rendered illegible by time, 
 and the monuments themselves be in fragments ; yet is there a 
 glory encircling those i-uins, and arising from the earth on Avhich 
 those, adventurers trod, which decay cannot reach, and which the 
 lapse of centuries can only make more imposing. We are here to 
 do them reverence, and in the silent homage of the heart to utter 
 thanksgiving and praise to our Heavenly Parent for the great 
 benefits which, under His good providence, their hardy and suc- 
 cessful adventures have conferred upon us and upon the world. 
 
 I need not dwell upon the hazards encountered by the early set- 
 tlers, or the narrow escapes of the colony from entire destruction. 
 The red and white man stood face to face, and the last was re- 
 garded by the first as a daring intruder and a deadly enemy. The 
 contest between them was a contest of life and death. Unlike 
 the Indians of Peru, who approached the Spaniards with awe 
 and reverence as superior beings, the Indians here looked upon 
 the settlers with aversion, and made war upon them without loss 
 of time. But a still more formidable enemy clung around and 
 about them, and preyed upon their fiesh and consumed the mar- 
 row of their bones. Hunger, gaunt and terrible, wasted them 
 away and brought on disease and death. In one year from the 
 time of their landing their numbers were reduced from one hun- 
 dred to thirty-eight ; and they, too, would have perished, but for 
 timely supplies of corn which Smith had procured by prosecuting 
 a traffic full of danger with the Indians. Among those who per- 
 ished was Bartholomew Gosnold, the originator of tlie expedition. 
 We may be permitted to regret that he did not live long enough 
 to see even the first glimmering of success in that adventure he 
 had been the earliest to advocate. The fertile earth remained un- 
 cultivated, except by the few ; while the many passed their lives 
 in idleness, and, contributing nothing to the public stores, looked 
 thither only for their daily bread. The charter, which had been 
 granted by King James to the Company, required that the product 
 of the united labor of the emigrants should be brought into the 
 public stores, and that each and all should draw their supplies 
 from thence. For nearly five years was this provision enforced. 
 
6 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 and during that time, with the exception of the short period of 
 Smith's administration, naught but evil ensued. It is difficult to 
 conceive a state of things more propitious to the theory of com- 
 munism or socialism, and yet the failure was most signal and aw- 
 ful. A productive soil invited cultivation, while rapidly dimin- 
 ishing stores admonished to industry and labor, and yet the large 
 majority listlessly folded their arms in idleness and followed the 
 example of the sluggard. In this they were encouraged by the 
 censurable course of those who were in office over them. They 
 kept the control over the supplies, and feasted sumptuously, while 
 others had doled out to them a pint of damaged wheat or barley. 
 As if to aggravate their sufferings, a fire consumed their dwellings 
 in the depth of a severe winter, and left them exposed to the life- 
 chilling blast. Smith's fortunate return from an exploring expe- 
 dition, bringing supplies of corn, saved the poor remnant of the 
 first settlers from perishing. How extraordinary and almost mir- 
 aculous is often the influence exerted by one man over the con- 
 duet of others ! All that was indolent in the natures of the colo- 
 nists seemed to pass away upon his return ; every one went steadily 
 to work to repair the damages occasioned by the fire, and the town 
 soon arose from its ashes. The church was substantially rebuilt, 
 and better houses took the place of those destroyed. He had been 
 denied his place in the council by the wretched men who had 
 borne sway, but the spirit of the many was in open revolt. The 
 bad rulers were expelled by the popular voice, and Smith installed 
 in the presidency ; and this was the first instance of popular revolt 
 against tyrannical misrule which occurred in our annals. While 
 the presidency was filled by Smith, to use the language of the his- 
 torian, "peace was firmly established with all the people of Pow- 
 hatan." The consequence of which was the introduction of plenty 
 and the removal of discontent ; works of public utility progressed 
 with rapidity, whilst the interior economy of the establishment 
 was regulated by a spirit of discipline and integrity which pro- 
 mised the most beneficial consequences. How rapidly was this con- 
 dition of things altered upon his retiring from the presidency and 
 returning to England ! — all fell again into disorder, and in a short 
 time the numbers of the settlers, which had been augmented to 
 five hundred, were reduced to sixty, and they half -starved and 
 miserable. 
 
ADDEESS AT JAMESTOWN. 7 
 
 I need not remind you that these wretched survivors resolved 
 to abandon the country, and under the command of Sir Thomas 
 Gates and Sir George Somers, who had been wrecked on " the 
 Bermudas" in the Sea Venture, which incident gave birth to Shak- 
 ^peare's play of The Tempest, they bade, as they supposed, a final 
 adieu to Virginia, where they had buried so many of their com- 
 rades, and where they themselves had experienced so much of 
 suffering. But it was ordained by the Higher Power that this 
 should not be. Every sail was set, and every heart was filled 
 ■with joy at what was considered an escape from death, when Lord 
 Delaware, with well appointed ships, more than three hundred 
 •emigrants, and abundant supplies, met them in the river, off Mul- 
 berry Island, and induced their return to Jamestown. 
 
 It deserves to be mentioned that Lord Delaware was the first 
 who bore the title of Governor. He assumed a style of display 
 but little suited to the condition of the colony. In a town whose 
 buildings were covered with clap-boards and Indian mats, he 
 maintained a state which would not have disgraced the sovereigns 
 of England. Yet his rule was wise, energetic and beneficial. 
 
 A morning of more promise was now to dawn upon the colony. 
 A new charter had been granted by the king, and, under Sir 
 Thomas Dale, lands were assigned to each person who chose to 
 cultivate them, and their profits inured to the industrious culti- 
 vator, for his exclusive benefit, under easy stipulations and condi- 
 tions. William Spencer and Thomas Barrett, two of the original 
 settlers, whose names are familiar to the inhabitants of this county 
 at this day, were the first who went forth to cultivate the lands, 
 and were speedily followed by others ; and from that moment we 
 hear no more of "the starving times," as tlie year succeeding 
 Smith's departure for England had been universally termed. 
 
 A profound peace prevailed with the aborigines, who, for 
 moderate wages, rendered the settler aid in clearing and cultivat- 
 ing his land. From this period the permanent existence of the 
 colony may be dated. The dreams in which some had so freely 
 indulged, of the precious metals, gave way to the safe and rational 
 conclusion that substantial independence was to be acquired more 
 readily by cultivating the land than by indulging in Utopian 
 visions of mines of gold or mountains of precious stones. And 
 now the woodman's axe awakened echoes in the dense forest, 
 
8 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 which had shimbered since the great flood. The humble but 
 comfortable dwelling house, which was destined to become the 
 seat of unbounded hospitality, arose on the shores of the rivers j 
 and in the bosom of the wilderness new plantations and hundreds 
 were established. 
 
 Large donations were made of lands for the endowment of a 
 college, proposed to be located at a new town, called Henrico;, 
 and considerable gifts of money for the education and civilization 
 of the savages were freely made; and emigr^non was invited by 
 voluntary donations of flfty-acre freeholds to all who would settle 
 and cultivate them. 
 
 The effect of this wise regulation, together with the facility of 
 acquiring larger tracts of land for moderate prices, soon made 
 itself apparent in large additions to the population. In 1616, 
 when Governor Dale returned to England, the population was. 
 less than four hundred. Six years afterwards it had increased to 
 more than four thousand. One thousand arrived shortly after his^ 
 return, bringing with them an abundant supply of provisions and 
 all other necessaries. 
 
 It is true that no slight drawback to these important changes 
 in the policy of the company existed in the substitution of martial 
 law in place of those noble heritages which had been secured to 
 every Englishman by tlie charter at Kunnemede ; but during the 
 excellent administration of Governor Dale, the arbitrary code was. 
 rarely ever enforced. Unhappily, he was succeeded by Capt. 
 Argall, who had rendered considerable service by expelling the 
 French from the territory of Maine, which fell within the char- 
 tered limits of Yirginia, and had caused the Dutch, who had 
 settled at New York, to acknowledge the authority of the Virginia 
 Company. His rule over the colony was tyrannical; and the au- 
 thority, which was almost harmless in the hands of Governor Dale, 
 became an engine of despotism in his. He had, however, to deal 
 with a people who could be better governed by leniency tlian by 
 force; and a representation made to the Company in London 
 not only led to his recall, but to the recognition of the rights 
 of the inhabitants as free-born Englishmen; and, among others,, 
 their right to participate in the management of their own af- 
 fairs. 
 
 And now, on the 30th July, 1619, for the first time that such a 
 
ADDRESS AT JAMESTOAVN. 9' 
 
 thing had occurred on the American continent, under a call from 
 Governor Yeardley, there came up to Jamestown, from every 
 town, hundred and plantation, representatives of the people, elected 
 by their free suffrages, to deliberate in a grand assembly with the 
 governo" and council upon the affairs of the colony, and to assume 
 those high functions and exercise those important rights of self- 
 government which, through all time thereafter, their successors 
 asserted and maintained. "\Ve may well imagine the proud emo- 
 tions which swelled the bosoms of all at this important event ; more 
 especially may we conceive the intensity of delight with which an 
 old settler observed each burgess as he alighted at the door of the 
 City Hotel to obtain accommodation for the night. 
 
 When the morning of the day on which the General Assembly 
 was to meet arrived, and the two hells from yon old steeple sum- 
 moned the inhabitants of Jamestown to prayer, how devoutly each 
 and all returned their thanks to the Supreme Ruler of the xvai- 
 verse, for the signal mercies he had manifested to them through 
 all their trials. There was his excellency the Governor, with his 
 household, in the pew which Lord Delaware had caused to be 
 neatly fitted up for himself and his success.or. In another sat the 
 honorable members of the privy council of State for the colony of 
 Y^irginia, while the burgesses were seen in the several pews with 
 their old acquaintances of the city. The church, with all its in- 
 terior workmanship, was built of cedar. Good Master Hunt no- 
 longer lived, but his place was worthily supplied, and the vaulted 
 roof echoed with anthems of praise and thanksgiving. A people 
 in miniature had in twelve years sprung into existence, and their 
 representatives had come from plantations, some as distant as an 
 hundred miles, to assist in deliberations affecting the public good. 
 With what pleasure should I unfold to your view the journals of" 
 that assembly if they were within my reach ; but they are not on 
 this side of the Atlantic. I have been informed by an esteemed 
 friend ' that they have been seen in the State paper office at Lon- 
 don, where doubtless they now are. From the same source L 
 learn that the ancestor of Thomas Jefferson was a member of that 
 
 ' Hugli B. Grigsby, Esq. The record of the proceedings of this first General 
 Assembly of Virginia, in the form of a Report from the Speaker, John Pory, was 
 discovered by Mr. Bancroft, and published by the New York Historical Society 
 during, the year of this address, (lSf>1).—[Editor.~\ 
 
10 LETTERS AifD TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 _first assembly, as his illustrious descendant was of the last, a century 
 and-a-half later, which sat under foreign sway. 
 
 An accession of vast importance to the colony was soon after 
 made. Without the smiles of woman, the wilderness would be- 
 come more wild, — the thorns and brambles of life more keen and 
 piercing. With her, as man's companion, those thorns bear roses ; 
 those brambles are often turned into blessings. Some time before, 
 Anne Burrass had led Mr. Layden captive, and that lovely forest 
 maiden, Pocahontas, the personification of romance, had stood be- 
 fore the hymeneal altar with Mr. John Eolfe ; many of the 
 wealthiest inhabitants had brought over their families; but still 
 there was left a large number of bachelors, about whose homes no 
 pleasant sound of woman's voice was heard. Sir Edwin Sandys, 
 who had succeeded Sir Thomas Smith as treasurer of the Com- 
 pany, provided passage for ' twelve hundred and sixty-one new 
 emigrants, "among whom were ninety agreeable young women," 
 poor but respectable, who became wives to the planters, and gave 
 permanence and strength to the colony. 
 
 The year 1619 witnessed also two other events of no slight im- 
 portance to the country and to the human race. The first was the 
 settlement of Plymouth, in what was called by the original charter 
 North Virginia, of emigrants, under authority of the Virginia 
 Company, which settlement, at an after day, was destined to play 
 a conspicuous part in the great drama of politics, and whose pre- 
 sent and future course is so intimately interwoven with the destiny 
 of the proudest republic that the world has ever known, which its 
 bravery and wisdom so greatly aided to establish ; the second, the 
 landing at this place of twenty negroes from Africa, from Dutch 
 vessels. In the course of time the shipping interests of old Eng- 
 land and New England entered actively into the trade, and all the 
 then colonies became African slave marts. It was ascertained, 
 however, after full experience, that the labor of the black man 
 could only be profitably employed in a warm climate, and in a 
 strictly speaking agricultural country. Hence the owners and 
 proprietors of the colder transferred to the warmer climate a large 
 majority of that class of laborers, and added vastly to their num- 
 ber by direct importations from Africa. Having by an export 
 from their own soil, the process of more than a centm-y, diminished 
 the number still left among them to a comparative handful, they 
 
ADDRESS AT JAMESTOWN. 11 
 
 issued, after the power appertained to them as States, edicts of 
 ■emancipation, not, in most instances, in favor of slaves then in ex- 
 istence, but of an unborn offspring. . . Yirginia never had a 
 mercantile marine of much moment, and it may well be doubted 
 whether a Virginia ship ever did visit the coast of Africa for pur- 
 poses of the slave trade. Our forefathers bought from those who 
 had, and bought under perpetual protests' through their general 
 assemblies. . . 
 
 We have hurriedly passed over twelve years of history. "We 
 iave seen the colony struggling for existence, and saved from 
 perishing by occurrences which bear the impress of providential 
 interposition. At one moment we have seen the settlers wasted 
 by famine and disease from one hundred to thirty-eight ; at 
 another, from five hundred to sixty ; and that small remnant afloat 
 upon the waters, with all canvas spread, to leave for ever a coun- 
 try which had been so fruitful of suffering and distress, and how 
 providentially they were arrested by the arrival of a fleet with 
 new emigrants and abundant supplies. We have seen communism 
 give place to separate proprietorship, and from that moment we 
 iave noted the happy change in the condition of things — the set- 
 tlement of numerous farms and plantations, and great accessions, 
 by immigration, to the number of settlers. The General Assembly 
 ias also, for the first time, been convened, and an organized govern- 
 ment put into operation. Tobacco had already become the staple 
 of Yirginia, and constituted the basis of domestic traffic and com- 
 mercial exchange. Notwithstanding the efforts made in England 
 to discontinue its culture, James I. having employed his own pen 
 to write it down, its culture was extended, and the demand for it 
 rapidly increased. It was hoped that the raising of silk would be 
 found to supersede it, and accordingly every inducement was held 
 out for its production. For a season many planters adopted it; 
 one is said to have planted and had growing seventy thousand 
 mulberry trees, and King Charles I. afterwards appeared at court 
 dressed in a full suit of Virginia silk. But neither bounties, nor 
 threats, nor rewards could sustain it in competition with a weed, the 
 use of which was becoming daily more extensively in demand in 
 the markets of the world. Tobacco, through foreign exchanges, 
 
 ' Virginia as a colony passed upwards of twenty-three acts forbidding the slave 
 trade, but they were negatived by the crown. 
 
13 LETTEKS AKD TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 lay at the foundation of most of the comforts, and all the luxu- 
 ries of the inhabitants; and when, as was the case shortly after- 
 wards, houses of inspection were established, the certificates of 
 deposit at these houses, called tobacco notes, became the standard 
 of value and the circulating medium of the country — a greatly 
 better one than we have often seen in our day. It would seem, 
 sometimes, as if its production had been regulated by the same 
 principles and for the same purposes which govern in the case of 
 the banking institutions of the present day. Whenever the quan- 
 tity of tobacco grown became excessive, the ensuing year wit- 
 nessed a curtailment of the production ; and sometimes, when the 
 article had depreciated' very much in value, so as to leave in fact, 
 no profit, the culture for the ensuing year was entirely prohibited. 
 Thus the law of supply and demand, which more or less enters 
 into all the traffic of life, was consulted with more than ordinary 
 care in the article of tobacco. I cannot avoid mentioning in this 
 connection, that Smollett, in his continuation of Hume, declares 
 tobacco to have been the chief foundation in Europe of the pub- 
 lic credit of these States in their revolutionary contest. James- 
 town had become a place of note, and ships from many countries 
 came hither to obtain their supplies of tobacco and other articles, 
 bringing in exchange foreign productions. Many of the inhabi- 
 tants had been educated at Oxford or Cambridge, and claimed 
 descent and close alliance with the oldest peers of England. One 
 is almost surprised, in looking over the lists of emigrants, to find 
 that up to 1620, tliere were among the number thirty-four noble- 
 men, of the highest and most ancient families of the English 
 peerage, and one hundred and twenty-eight knights-baronet and 
 three ladies, distinguished in their day for their elegance and ac- 
 complishments — Mary, Countess of Shrewsbury ; Lady Gray, and 
 the Lady Conway. "When to this is superadded the fact that very 
 many of the other emigrants were persons of wealth, cultivation 
 and refinement, and familiar with science in all her departments,, 
 it is not going too far to say that the society of Jamestown, at 
 that early day, might enter into a legitimate comparison with that 
 of our more populous cities of the present. Philosophy wove her 
 wreath of oak, and the brow of poetry was encircled by its wreath 
 of laurel. At a period somewhat- later, this was manifested in 
 the publication of a translation by George Sandys, who was trea- 
 
ADDRESS AT JAMESTOWN. 13 
 
 •surer of the colony, of Ovid's Metamorphoses and a part of the 
 ^neid, whom Dryden pronounced the best versifier of the age ; 
 and Pope, in his notes to the Iliad, declared that English poetry 
 owed much of its beauty to his translations. He has left also a 
 collection of Psalms, which the poet Montgomery has more re- 
 -cently pronounced the most poetical in the English language. I 
 cannot avoid repeating his dedication of his work to Charles I. : 
 ■"I had hoped," he says, "to present his Majesty with a rich and 
 well-peopled kingdom ; but as things have turned out, I have been 
 only able to bring from thence myself and this composition, which 
 needeth more than a single denization. For it is doubly a stranger, 
 being spruug from an ancient Koman stock, and bred up in the 
 new world, of the rudeness of which it could but participate, es- 
 pecially as it was produced amid wars and tumults instead of under 
 the kindly and peaceful influence of the Muses." I know of the 
 •existence of but one copy of this work in this country, and that is 
 in the valuable library of a private and highly intellectual citizen 
 •of Norfolk.' 
 
 One of the controlling reasons which had led many to unite in 
 the formation of tlie London Company was the generous and 
 praiseworthy object to spread the truths of the Christian religion 
 •over benighted regions through the conversion of the aborigines 
 of America. For this purpose a professorship had been estab- 
 lished in the college founded at Henrico, and large contributions 
 had been made towards its endowment by the Company and by 
 individuals. Many Indian children attended for the purposes of 
 instruction ; and the inhabitants on their farms united in their 
 efforts, by offices of kindness to the Indians, who were admitted 
 freely to companionship in their houses, to turn them from their 
 idols ; but neither the lectures of the learned professors or the ad- 
 monitions of the planters, had any other than a partial effect. 
 Their idol Ogee was still the object of their worship and the burial- 
 places of their tribes their only temples; and such has been the 
 •character of that strange and doomed race to the present day. 
 ■Occasionally and rarely was any convert made. Pocahontas was 
 a Christian in feeling and conduct before thp Bible had been 
 opened to her, and she therefore found in its teachings a con- 
 geniality with her mind and heart, and readily imbibed them. 
 
 • Hugh B. Grigsby, Esq. 
 
14 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 Such, too, I doubt not, was the nature of Chanco, a convert who- 
 resided with Richai-d Pace. To that single convert is to be as- 
 cribed the salvation of the colony from utter annihilation in 1622, 
 and the benefit thus rendered by him to the cause of Christianity 
 and civilization was beyond all price. I need not recount the in- 
 cidents which preceded the terrible 22nd of March of that year. 
 The colonists reposed in a state of fancied but profound security,. 
 Peace had existed for some time, and the savages were admitted 
 freely into their dwellings. Powhatan had died four years before.. 
 and had been succeeded in actual power by Opeehancanough.. 
 He saw the country of his fathers overrun and settled by the- 
 white race, and resolved upon their destruction. Never was 
 duplicity more perfect or stratagem more profound, than that re- 
 sorted to by this wily chief. For two years he was engaged in ar- 
 ranging and systematizing his plans. No man ever evinced in a 
 higher degree the power of combination. He had to bring into 
 his views seventy different tribes, and to order the movement of 
 each, that the blow should be struck everywhere, not only on the 
 same day, but at the same hour, and yet all was silent as the grave,, 
 and no word or act betrayed the dark secret. It was after night- 
 fall of the 21st of March, at an hour too late to save all, that 
 Chanco, who had been ordered to kill Pace, his benefactor, and 
 whose hand revolted from the deed, communicated to Pace the 
 horrible conspiracy. Filled with alarm and terrified at the start- 
 ling disclosure. Pace hastened to Jamestown, which he reached in 
 time to save and to enable the authorities to put on their guard 
 many of the settlements and plantations ; and so the missionary had 
 his labors rewarded in the security from destruction of two thou- 
 sand five hundred Christian people. How inscrutable are the- 
 ways of Providence, and yet how full of mercy and wisdom ! 
 
 The contest between privilege and prerogative had its com- 
 mencement in the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; she had most un- 
 wisely granted monopolies in every branch of industry. The con- 
 sequence was a greatly augmented price for all the necessaries of 
 life. The spirit of determined resistance blazed out on the part 
 of the people, and was reflected by Parliament. That sagacious 
 queen, however, came readily to the conclusion, that the only way 
 to quiet the discontent was by acquiescence in the wishes of her 
 subjects ; and, in her speech to Parliament, she thanked them for 
 
ADDRESS AT JAMESTOAVN. 15- 
 
 the care of the public interest, and gave her approval to what they 
 had done. Her popularity was greatly increased by this course,, 
 and her reign terminated amid the regrets of all. But she was 
 succeeded by James I., who was a bigoted believer in the divine 
 right of kings, and who stretched his prerogative to its greatest 
 tension. A pedagogue and a tyrant, he was the opposite in all 
 things to his illustrious predecessor. Without the possession of a 
 single statesman-like trait, he fancied himself competent to re- 
 gulate the affairs of the colony. The Company resisted his eifort& 
 at interference with a proper spirit, and resolved to build up in 
 Virginia a fabric of government resting on the basis of popular 
 rights. They, therefore, proceeded to draw up for Yirginia a 
 frame of government, which, considering that the doctrines of 
 popular sovereignty were then in their infancy, may be regarded 
 as having no parallel in the previous history of the world. I can 
 only glance at it. A general assembly was directed to be an- 
 nually holden, based on the principle of free suffrage ; which, with 
 the governor and council, should have united sway over the affairs 
 of the colony ; everything to be decided by a majority vote. The 
 trial by jury was ordained and established, and'other provisions in- 
 corporated of much importance. ' The very excesses into which 
 James and his successor ran, and the bitter contests in which they 
 were perpetually engaged with their parliaments and people, 
 caused a rapid growth of free principle in England ; which, finding 
 a reflex in the Virginia Company, caused to flow into the colony 
 an increased stream of emigration, bearing upon its waves the 
 same principles which found a congenial home in the untamed 
 wilderness. This was fully manifested in the enactments and re- 
 solutions of the General Assembly which met at Jamestown in 
 1624. A brief review of the incidents which preceded the call of 
 that assembly may not prove uninteresting. 
 
 A contest had sprung up between the King and the Company in 
 London, in which at first the King manifested a mild and forbear- 
 ing spirit, seeking thereby to accomplish his object, which was a 
 surrender of the charter. But the Company pursued its own 
 
 ' From this has been derived the forms of government which have been adopted 
 by each of the States composing this Union ; the senate being substituted for the 
 council, and formed into a separate house ; and the governor being at the head of 
 the executive, which is formed into a department of itself. 
 
16 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 course, irrespective of the wishes of the sovereign. The King, 
 tlierefore, asked an unconditional surrender of the charter, which 
 being indignantly refused, he resolved upon its abrogation, and 
 ordered his attorney-general to adopt the proceeding by quo war- 
 ranto for that purpose ; and it suffices to say that he found fit in- 
 ;strument8 for the exercise of his tyranny in a tame and servile 
 court, who, against justice, and in the absence of all accredited 
 precedent, rendered a decree in accordance with his determination. 
 "While these things were transpiring in London, the public mind 
 of Virginia had become exceedingly agitated. The colonists ap- 
 preliended, from the arbitrary character of the sovereign, the in- 
 vestiture of his vicegerent here with unlimited sway. Under 
 these circumstances. Sir Francis Wyat, wlio had conducted him- 
 self admirably in his high office of governor, under the Company's 
 appointment, convoked the General Assembly, which, meeting in 
 March, l(i34, has rendered itself for ever memorable by the char- 
 acter of its proceedings. It boldly asserted principles which, sixty- 
 four years afterwards, paved the way to the overthrow of the Stu- 
 .art dynasty, and in less than a century later dissevered the con- 
 nection between this country and England. It is fitting that on 
 this day, when we are here to commemorate the deeds of a glori- 
 ous ancestry, we should read from the journals of that Assembly 
 their high resolves, and hold them up for the admiration of the 
 world. Eemember that Virginia contained at that time but a few 
 thousand inhabitants, and yet she dared proclaim to the parent 
 country and its monarch that, no matter how the dispute between 
 the King and the Company might eventuate, " the governor shall 
 not lay any taxes or impositions upon the colony, their lands or 
 commodities, otherwise than by authority of the general assem- 
 bly, to be levied and employed as the said assembly may ap- 
 point"; and "that he shall not withdraw the inhabitants from 
 their private labors to any service of his own, under any color 
 whatever." It was for a violation of these great principles that 
 Charles I. lost his head, and that James II. forfeited his kingdom. 
 It was for their violation that George III. lost from his crown, 
 •studded as it was with precious gems, the most brilliant of them 
 all. These proceedings, which, in the language of Hume, as- 
 serted for each man "a fundamental property in his goods, and 
 a fundamental liberty in his, person," constitute the principles of 
 
ADDRESS AT JAMESTOWN. 17 
 
 what is called the Petition of Eight, and were adopted four 
 years in advance of that great measure by the British Parliament. 
 To show the value placed upon the proceedings when adopted 
 by the Parliament, I read from Macaulay's history a few sen- 
 tences : 
 
 " The King ratified in the most solemn manner that celebrated 
 Jaw which is known as the Petition of Kight, and which is the 
 second great charter of the liberties of England." "The day on 
 which the royal sanction, after many delays, was solemnly given to 
 this great act, was a day of joy and hope. The Commons, who 
 crowded the bar of the House of Lords, broke forth into loud ac- 
 clamations as soon as the clerk had pronounced the ancient form 
 of words by which our princes have, through many ages, signified 
 their assent to the wishes of the estates of the realm. Those ac- 
 clamations were reechoed by the voice of the capital and of the 
 nation." And yet, four years before, this colony had adopted, in 
 substance, the same Petition of Eight, and the tidings of what it 
 had done were speedily wafted over the broad water to England. 
 This is enough of itself to hallow this spot, and to account for 
 this large assemblage. The house in which that General Assem- 
 bly held its session, and from which went forth these edicts in 
 favor of the rights of man, has long since ceased to exist. We 
 may even tread on the dust of its rafters ; but history has recorded 
 on her indestructible tablets those brave resolves, and we have re- 
 ceived them as our birthright. " To lose them, or to give them 
 away, were such perdition as nothing else could match." 
 
 The same principles, in nearly the same words, were re-enacted 
 in 1631, during the governorship of Sir J. Harvey, who, for a 
 time, nearly engrossed all power to himself, leaving to the Council 
 and General Assembly but the mere shadow of authority. The 
 Assembly had forborne an active interference until forbearance 
 had.iceased to be a virtue; but in March, 1631, their resolution 
 - was taken to abide any issue sooner than permit their privileges 
 -to be taken from them. The royal Governor yielded to the out- 
 burst of popular feeling, and endorsed, by his approval of the 
 resolutions of the Assembly, the opposition which his tyranny had 
 evoked. But the tyrannical pro-consul only compromised for a 
 moment. Following the example of Charles I. in regard to the 
 Petition of Eight, he sought only to readjust himself in his seat. 
 
18 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 and await the passing away of the storm, in order to reassert hi& 
 former authority ; but in this, like his royal master, he courted 
 his own fate. He was not only resisted, but finally evicted from 
 the governorship, and sent, in the custody of two members of the- 
 Assembly, to England. Thus was a revolution effected without, 
 bloodshed or any serious disturbance. At that early day, a whole- 
 some lesson was taught to public agents ; and the colony might 
 well have blazoned forth the proud motto of Virginia of this day,, 
 of " Sie semper tyrannis." Charles I. might have deduced from 
 the fate of his vicegerent at Jamestown the bloody atonement- 
 which he made in his own person a few years later. But instead, 
 of profiting by the example, he restored Harvey to the governor- 
 ship, and treated the delegates with contumely. Fortunately,, 
 however, matters had taken such a course in England as to induce' 
 him to displace Harvey, and to send out as his deputy, in 1642, 
 Sir AVilliam Berkeley, whose name has become identified with the' 
 most important epoch in our history, save that of the Revolution., 
 Thus have we hurriedly traced the motives which actuated the. 
 colonists from their first settlement to 1642. We have seen them 
 always prompt and decided in the assertion of their privileges, and 
 claiming, at all times, the indefeasible right of laying and imposing; 
 taxes through their grand assemblies. The inhabitants may,, 
 therefore, be justly said to have been reared, under the influence- 
 of the Virginia Company, in a knowledge of free principles. Ini 
 their assertion they were always in advance of the parent country;; 
 and if at any time they have seemed to slumber over them, it was 
 but the slumber of the infant Hercules, to be followed by a vigor- 
 ous grasp of the tyranny which had coiled itself around them> 
 Their determination to maintain their rights and privileges became: 
 more manifest in their subsequent history, and was, in no instanccj 
 more conspicuously exhibited than on the arrival of Cromwell's 
 commissioners, in 1652. The resolution seems to have been 
 adopted to make the change in the government of England the 
 occasion for a full and complete recognition of their rights. To- 
 this may reasonably be attributed the delay in recognizing the 
 Commonwealth; and hence their co-operation in the defence of 
 Jamestown against the fleet and forces of the Protector. These- 
 were busy and stirring and anxious times in the good city of" 
 Jamestown. In one direction were deliberating the members of 
 
ADDEESS AT JAMESTOWN. 19 
 
 the House of Burgesses, in another tlie Council) and in some con- 
 tiguous palace was the Governor, — each engaged in profound re- 
 flection on the condition of public affairs. On the waters of that 
 river floated a formidable fleet, with a considerable body of land 
 forces, to exact the obedience which had been wisely withheld. 
 Moored close in to the shore were certain Dutch ships, who, in 
 violation of recent laws, had visited Virginia for purposes of trade, 
 with batteries mounted on then- decks, to aid in the defence of 
 the city; and at yonder bend in the shore was a fortification 
 of some pretensions, the traces of which are still discernible, 
 ready to open its guns in case of need. At length boats with 
 white flags are seen passing from the shore to the fleet and from 
 the fleet to the shore. A regular negotiation is on foot, which 
 terminates to the satisfaction of both. By the commissioners it 
 was stipulated, on behalf of the Commonwealth of England, that 
 " the trade of Yirginia shall be free as that of the people of Eng- 
 land do enjoy, to all places, and with all nations, according to the 
 laws of the Commonwealth. That Virginia shall be free from all 
 taxes, customs, and impositions whatever, without the consent of 
 the grand assembly, so that neither ports nor castles be erected, 
 nor garrisons maintained, without their consent." By another 
 article, the fifty-acre freeholds were preserved for actual settlers. 
 And upon the signing of these stipulations, along with others, the 
 colony was transferred to the Commonwealth. Thus was entered 
 into and consummated a contract, which bears upon its face imore 
 the appearance of a treaty between two independent nations than 
 between a powerful mother country and a dependent colony. 
 
 The contract thus entered into was faithfully observed. While 
 the navigation laws, shortly after passed by the Parliament, drew 
 no distinction between the shipping of England and the colonies, 
 yet the provision which restricted the colonial trade to British or 
 colonial vessels, and to British ports, was never recognized or en- 
 forced in Yirginia during the protectorate. The general assem- 
 bly elected their own governors, and consulted their own views of 
 the interests of the colonies. In all respects there prevailed con- 
 tentment and happiness. It is difiicult to believe, notwithstand- 
 ino- the opinions constantly advanced upon the subject, that there 
 was really entertained by the great body of the people any repug- 
 nance to the Commonwealth. Such was felt by Governor Berke- 
 
20 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEIJS. 
 
 ley undoubtedl)^, and may have been by a majority of the Council; 
 but that such was the case on the part of the General Assembly 
 and their constituents, would seem to be contradicted by after 
 events. Bennet, one of Cromwell's commissioners, was elected 
 governor ; and immediately after the death of Oliver Crom- 
 well, his son, Eichard, was acknowledged as the Lord Pro- 
 tector. While, on the one hand, the civil wars and the final exe- 
 cution of Charles I. had induced a large emigration of cavaliers 
 to Virginia, the tide of emigration was greatly swollen by others 
 whose motives were essentially different. It is observable that the 
 great majority came over with a view to avail themselves of the 
 gratuity of the fifty-acre freeholds, while many with abundant 
 means sought to make investments in large bodies of lands, as 
 homes for themselves and their descendants ; and the whole course 
 of history bears witness to the fact that they were the advocates 
 of principles diametrically antagonized to those espoused by the 
 Stuarts. While the assemblies of the colony were advocating 
 zealously and strenuously the rights of the people, the Stuarts 
 were bigoted supporters of the broadest prerogative, and Charles 
 I. was, under the influence of his chief counsellor, Wentworth, 
 aiming at thorough — the meaning of which was despotic and con- 
 solidated sway in the person of the king. While the colonists in- 
 sisted on annual assemblies, Charles sought to rule without a Par- 
 liament, and for twenty years abstained from calling one. It is 
 also ol)servable that the small proprietors usually rallied to leaders, 
 either of their own choosing or such as approximated to their own 
 condition in life. Such was the case in the Bacon rebellion, and 
 such also occurred in 1765, when Patrick Henry offered his cele- 
 brated resolutions. I have it from one who was familiar with the 
 occurrences of that day, that the designation of parties which im- 
 mediately sprung up, and the first known in Yirginia history, was 
 of the " old-field nags," and the " high-blooded colts," — the first be- 
 ing the warm supporters of Mr. Henry and his resolutions, the 
 last the opponents of both. 
 
 It is worthy of note, that while the General Assembly is en- 
 gaged in stipulating for freedom of trade and exemption from im- 
 ports or taxes, it at the same time exacts a stipulation against the 
 erection of forts or castles, or the maintenance of garrisons, with- 
 out its express consent, — a provision which was in its most essen- 
 
ADDRESS AT JAMESTOWN. 21 
 
 tial point incorporated in the Constitution of the United States, 
 under the reservation of the right of soil, on which the fort is pro- 
 posed by Congress to be erected, and of which the State cannot 
 be deprived but by its own consent. The policy which dictated 
 this provision in the compact of 165:^, and in the Constitution of 
 17S9, was similar in some respects and dissimilar in others. While 
 in both instances it sought to guard against arbitrary action on the 
 part of a stronger power, and arose from that spirit of jealousy 
 which is the guardian genius of liberty, yet the provision of 1653 
 had in view still further objects. It had been the policy of the 
 ruling power in England, by the erection of forts at several points 
 where towns were laid off, to force the trade into these, and thereby 
 to render them thriving and prosperous. This was a course of 
 great annoyance and expense to the landholders who resided at a 
 distance from these proposed towns, and had called forth frequent 
 and strong remonstrances. They failed not, therefore, to exact 
 the stipulation against the recurrence of that policy in future. 
 Villages, numerous and flourishing, sprung up in various directions 
 under the concentration of trade produced by the tobacco inspec- 
 tions at various points, but they grew up under a system which 
 was necessary in itself and unforced in its results. A system 
 which gave way before the introduction of the wheat-cradle, which 
 converted the small patches of wheat, then cultivated, into large 
 and extensive fields, waving with the golden harvest. The in- 
 spection laws no longer availed ; the concentration of trade and 
 the villages at the same time ceased to exist, each landholder ship- 
 ping his produce from his own landing ; and tobacco ultimately 
 retreated from the tidewater region, and found its home in the 
 Piedmont district. A village opposite to this, called Cobham, 
 once a place of trade and of note, is a true type of others, and 
 there it is, depopulated and in ruins. The attachments of the in- 
 habitants of Virginia have been, through all time, to the country 
 where each landholder is an independent sovereign, ruling with a 
 mild and patriarchal sway, where he practises all the rights of 
 hospitality, lives in the cultivation of the social virtues, and par- 
 takes in but few instances of the vices to be found in the great 
 thoroughfares of commerce. To ai-gue the want of prosperity 
 because of the absence of large cities betrays shortsightedness and 
 folly. 
 
22 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 With the death of Oliver Cromwell the Commonwealth of Eng- 
 land may be considered as having passed away. The reins of gov- 
 ernment fell quietly from the hands of his feeble successor, and 
 Charles II., without civil commotion, was restored to the throne of 
 his ancestors ; and Sir William Berkeley, who had been previously 
 elected governor by the General Assembly, was, soon after the 
 restoration, commissioned by the King. It was fairly to be in- 
 ferred that Charles, who had seen his father perish on the scaffold, 
 and had himself been reared in the school of adversity, would 
 profit by the terrible past, and England, worn out by civil broil, 
 hailed the restoration with unfeigned delight. So, also, was it 
 with the colony. Doubtless tlie hope was indulged, that the navi- 
 gation laws of Cromwell's time would continue inoperative, which, 
 added to the restoration of Sir William Berkeley, who openly ad- 
 vocated free trade, gave universal satisfaction. The proceedings, 
 therefore, which were adopted by the public authorities in Vir- 
 ginia, may more rationally be ascribed to the reasons I have stated, 
 aided by a desire to conciliate the court at London, than to any 
 inordinate attachment to the house of the Stuarts. In the excess 
 of this feeling the Assembly made concessions that nothing can 
 justify, and which they had cause seriously to regret. They parted 
 with the great restraining power of annual taxation, giving to the 
 governor the right to impose them for three years. It is difficult 
 to excuse the course of adulation which the Assembly manifested 
 in their proceedings. It has been calculated to impress a false 
 character upon the colony that never did belong to it, and which 
 is contradicted by all its previous and subsequent history. There 
 is enough in the history of the times to show that the great body 
 of the inhabitants difi^ered essentially from then- representatives- 
 The private dissatisfaction repeatedly manifested itself in contu- 
 macious expressions, and the severe punishments visited by the 
 governor and council on the oifenders proves very clearly that 
 they esteemed such course necessary to restrain others. 
 
 It was soon evident that Yirgiuia had become, by reason of the 
 restoration, both at home and abroad, the victim of calamitous 
 misrule. The navigation laws were very soon enforced in regard 
 to her by all who chose to engage in it. The free trade which 
 had been profitably carried on was placed under monopoly. Forts 
 were built, against tlie general wishes, as repeatedly expressed, 
 
ADDRESS AT JAilESTOWN. 23 
 
 without any good reason. Immense grants of land were made to 
 court favorites, which often embraced the estates of the small free- 
 holders; grants, in some instances, so large that powerful states 
 have grown out of them ; and, as if to overshadow all other usur- 
 3)ations, the despotic power of imposing taxes on the export and 
 import trade was claimed and exercised by the king. In shortj 
 -every stipulation of much value which had been conceded by the 
 Commonwealth was abrogated by the restored monarch. Discon- 
 tent had manifested itself in localities and particular neighbor- 
 hoods, which would inevitably have become general, but a new 
 .and more urgent evil presented itself, and for the time engrossed 
 the minds of men. The inroads of the Indians, which had become 
 frequent and even marked by extreme barbarity, called for imme- 
 diate measures of redress. Sir William Berkeley, in 16Ti, seemed 
 for a moment to have been aroused by the exigencies of the case, 
 and ordered a weU- appointed body of men, under Sii- H. Chieheley, 
 to drive them from the frontiers, but without any apparent cause 
 or change in the condition of things recalled the troops while on 
 their line of march. The people on the Potomac and Eappahan- 
 nock rivers were the first to take matters into their own hands. A 
 body of men, among whom were the leading men of that region, 
 and under the command of Colonel "Washington, — the grandfather 
 of that George Washington who led our fathers to independence, 
 and gave his name to all that is pre-eminently glorious among men, — 
 assailed and broke the Indian power in that direction ; and the rem- 
 nant of the tribes fled to the western frontiers, which were then 
 not far beyond the falls of the rivers, where, uniting with other 
 tribes of that region, they made their incursions upon the settlers. 
 Their incursions were marked by aU the atrocities of Indian war- 
 fare, and yet Governor Berkeley, from his palace at Jamestown, 
 seemed calmly to look upon the scene without excitement or emo- 
 tion. Could it be that the profits of the free trade produced that 
 indifference and apathy ? His previously high and elevated char- 
 acter would forbid the ascription, but for obvious discrepancies in 
 his character and conduct at different stages of life. It is said that 
 avarice, if it once possesses the mind, increases with our years, 
 until it occupies us wholly. ' Fatal passion, which could have in- 
 duced Sir William to complain of the smallness of his perquisites 
 and salary when they were adequate and even large ; and that, too, 
 
24 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 after the General Assembly had bestowed upon him Green Spring- 
 and three thousand acres of land, set apart for the governors in 
 absolute right. Whatever it was that produced the lethargy with 
 the Governor, the same cause did not operate on tlie inhabitants. 
 I need not dwell on the incidents which shortly after transpired, 
 and which has come down to us under the name of Bacon's Rebel- 
 lion. 
 
 The population of the colony numbered forty-five thousand, and 
 never was there a greater unanimity in any pnblic movement. 
 SuflQce it to say, that the royal governor, while he exhibited a 
 courage worthy of his station, had to seek shelter from the storm 
 by fleeing across the bay ; and in order to render his return to the 
 government impracticable, the resolution was taken by Bacon and 
 his victorious followers, to consign Jamestown to ashes. And in 
 October, 1676, the torch was applied to its edifices. The raging 
 element did not even spare the sacred edifice in which our fore- 
 fathers daily offered up their prayers to the Most High. The 
 altar before which Pocahontas had knelt when she received the 
 rite of baptism, and at which she also pledged her faith in mar- 
 riage, and at which good Master Hunt had officiated, — -all was 
 consumed by fire ; and nothing was left standing but yon broken 
 steeple, which has continued to be the land-mark of centuries, and 
 the aged sentinel over the dust of departed generations. The 
 town was afterwards partially rebuilt, and many of its houses re- 
 mained daring my early novitiate at William and Mary College. 
 They stood in a connected street, running east and west, from near 
 the present dwelling-house to the ruins of the church. 
 
 For two years Virginia was exempt from all foreign control. 
 Assemblies were held at Middle Plantation, which passed laws, 
 levied war against the Indians, and conducted public aflfairs as if 
 free from the rule of any power whatever. In anticipation of the 
 arrival of troops from England to reinstate Sir William Berkeley, 
 and to enforce the odious regulations to whi(;h I have adverted, 
 after a debate which- lasted until midnight, in which Bacon put 
 forth all his powers of eloquence, the General Assembly adopted 
 the resolution to oppose any forces sent out against tlie colony 
 without a stipulation for a full hearing before the king and Par- 
 liament; and that resolution was sworn to by all the people. 
 Under the lead of that truly great man, the colony had thus 
 
ADDEESS AT JAMESTOWN. 25 
 
 placed itself upon ground which, had he lived, would have re- 
 quired the whole disposable force of Great Britain to have shaken 
 from under them. He had already quieted the border troubles 
 by inflicting a terrible vengeance upon the Indians which had 
 spread the terror of his name among the most distant tribes ; and 
 having resolved not to lay down his arms until a full redress of 
 grievances was obtained, he awaited with a firm resolve the arrival 
 of the expected forces from England. Judging from his well 
 authenticatad career, we can entertain no doubt that he would have 
 braved all dangers sooner than have surrendered his position; and 
 considering the disturbances which at the time existed in England, 
 it may be well doubted whether the King could have sent over a 
 force sufficient to have defeated him. There was one person in 
 the colony, and that a woman, who had no fear of the King achie%'- 
 ing any such victory, and prophesied for Virginia a glorious 
 triumph over wrong and oppression. That woman was Sarah 
 Drummond, who has deservedly taken her place on the page of 
 romance. Her husband fell a victim to the inhuman policy of 
 Sir "WiUiam Berkeley, but she demanded justice at the hands of 
 England ; and she persevered until the Governor was compelled to 
 pay a round sum for his illegal proceeding. Fate, however, de- 
 creed that the conflict between the mother and the daughter should 
 not then occur. Nathaniel Bacon soon after ceased to live. He 
 died, regretted by the colony, at the house of Dr. Pate, in Glou- 
 cester, and to avoid the desecration of his remains, his body was 
 so secretly interred by " thoughtful Mr. Lawrence," that no man 
 knows to this day his burial-place. I have stood near the place 
 where he breathed his last, and often visited Peterworth church, — 
 now all in ruins, — where the pious fraud was committed, the secret 
 known only to Lawrence, of entombing a coifin fiUed with stones, 
 attended by all the impressive ceremonies of the Episcopal church, 
 in substitution for his body. With him the soul of the Revolution 
 passed away, and Sir William Berkeley, like a madman in his rage, 
 resumed the chair of state. 
 
 Had Bacon lived a century later, he might have occupied the 
 highest niche in the temple of fame. Liberally educated, pos- 
 sessed of high attainments, and being eloquent, forcible, and per- 
 suasive as a public speaker, he might have taken rank with tliQ 
 greatest men of the Eevolution. The thrilling tones of his elo- 
 
'26 LETTERS AWD TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 quence would have been heard seconding the resolutions of Mr. 
 Henry in 1765, and his sword would afterwards have been seen 
 flashing over the battle-fields of the war for independence. Un- 
 trained to arms, he became almost by intuition a distinguished 
 captain, sweeping from before him all impediments in the way of 
 his success. He annihilated the Indian power, and with one hun- 
 dred and fifty men expelled Governor Berkeley from Jamestown, 
 although at the head of a large body of recruits. He wanted but 
 a wider field for the display of abilities of a high and rare order. 
 As it is, we recognize in him a devoted advocate of popular rights, 
 -and an inflexible opponent of wrong and oppression. He achieved 
 the virtual independence of the colony for two years, and in view 
 of the distracted state of England at the time, the belief may 
 fairly be indulged that he would have enforced upon Charles a 
 full recognition of the rights of Virginia. 
 
 Sir William Berkeley constitutes in himself a study for the 
 anatomist of character and the passions. To great refinement of 
 manners he added a cultivated taste for letters, and had acquired 
 .some eclat by the production of a tragi-comedy, called The Lost 
 Lady. For many years of his long administration of public 
 -affairs, he won for prerogative, by gentleness and urbanity of 
 manners, what Charles lost by violence and obstinacy. His cour- 
 tesy in the ordinary intercourse of society was only equalled by 
 his habitual deference and respect for the General Assembly. 
 The advocate of the divine right of kings, and he, the reflex of 
 their image and authority, he nevertheless courted the populace, 
 ■and won, in a large degree, the attachment of the people to his 
 person and government. A cavalier and a gentleman, he suffered 
 no echpse of the royal sun to divert his aff"ections from the Stuart 
 •dynasty. Whether the one perished on the scaffold or the other 
 was a fugitive and exile. Sir William's gaze was still fixed on 
 them, and all his poHtical affinities centred in them. We cannot 
 but admire his firm and unshaken devotion to the Stuarts, what- 
 ever our own opinions may be in regard to them. With a gover- 
 nor so mild and bland in his manners, and apparently so little in- 
 clined to thwart the pubhc will by the exercise of his power, it is 
 not to be wondered at that there should have been no serious 
 manifestations of dislike to the rule of Charles I. Let it also be 
 borne in mind that his predecessor in office, because of his over- 
 
ADDRESS AT JAMESTOWN. 27 
 
 l)earing and tyranical temper, which seemed never to be satisfied 
 xmless he had some great principle of popular liberty to destroy, 
 or some extraordinary exaction to enforce, had finally stirred up 
 the great mass to revolution, which was consummated by his ex- 
 pulsion fi-om the colony. The contrast between the two was 
 striking, and that democratic mass, which had been so upheaved 
 by a deep sense of wrong under the one, was contented and at 
 rest under the other. His active co-operation with the assembly 
 and council in the defence of Jamestown against Cromwell's fleet 
 was calculated still further to attach to Sir "William the people of 
 the colony, while his surrender of the supreme power, after agree- 
 ment upon terms between the legislature and the commissioners, 
 was both graceful and dignified. He retired to his handsome 
 mansion at Green Spring, which still stands, some three miles 
 from this, and deserves to be classed with the best houses of Vir- 
 ginia at this day. 
 
 Such was the character and conduct of Sir William Berkeley, 
 from his inauguration as governor, in 1642, to the surrender of the 
 colony into the hands of the Commonwealth, in 1652. What trace 
 •of resemblance exists between this same man before the time of 
 he Commonwealth and after ? The restoration of Charles II. to 
 he English throne was speedily followed by his restoration to the 
 governorship of Virginia. Doubtless he had brooded in silence 
 over the passing events, and in view of the blood of Charles I. 
 streaming from the scaffold, had cherished a gloomy and intolerant 
 spirit. Perhaps he had also censured in his heart, on many occa- 
 sions, the want of decision and firmness on the part of his king's 
 advisers; thus he overlooked the happy fruits of mildness and 
 forbearance, which had distinguished his early career, and adopted 
 in their place a high-handed and despotical temper. The high- 
 toned cavalier descended from the lofty eminence of truth and 
 candor to low subterfuge, and the petty game of deception in 
 Ms dealing with Bacon, to whom he granted a commission as gen- 
 eral, and sanctioned his proceeding against the Indians, and so 
 soon as he had withdrawn from Jamestown, proclaimed him a 
 traitor, along with all who had marched under his banner, the un- 
 furling of which he himself had justified by his most solemn as- 
 sent. His political vision was blinded to the fact, that an Indian 
 war was the readiest mode which sound policy would have sug- 
 
28 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 gested to divert the public mind from the invasion of their privi- 
 leges by the acts of the government, which had produced a feeling 
 of angry excitement. It was sufficient cause that the movement 
 had not originated with him, to induce him to condemn it as re- 
 rebellious and treasonable. It was quite enough that the people 
 should have selected a leader of their own, without consulting his 
 wishes, to make him a rancorous and bitter enemy of that leader, 
 and all who followed him. To gratify that enmity he abrogated,, 
 not only the chartered rights of the colonists, but subverted the 
 laws of England by the establishment of martial law, and was not 
 turned from his course until the General Assembly, sickened by 
 the quantity of blood which he had shed, admonished him that 
 he had waded far enough in blood ; and my Lord Coke, the chief- 
 justice of England, pronounced his proceedings to be illegal. To 
 glut his vengeance after that leader had fallen a victim to disease 
 and death, he forgot so far tlie principles of humanity as to as- 
 sume the part of the hyena, and to burrow into the grave of the 
 man who had triumphed over him, with the view of disinterring 
 his remains, and exposing them upon a gibbet. Fortunately for the 
 caiise of humanity and reason, he was batfied in his barbarous de- 
 sign ; and yet to be avoided, and to die neglected by the sovereign 
 whose family he had so long served, to be scoffed at as "an old 
 fool," by King Charles himseK, for the blood he had shed in Vir- 
 ginia, was to his proud and sensitive nature the worst of punish- 
 ments, as was the death produced by it the worst of deaths — the 
 death of the broken heart. 
 
 Time is not allowed me to do more than to glance at some few 
 of the incidents which followed the death of Sir "William Berkeley. 
 The contest between prerogative and privilege was often warmly 
 waged between the people and their , governors ; and on one occa- 
 sion the storm waged fearfully. It was quieted, as on previous 
 occasions, by the expulsion of the governor, and the triumph of 
 principle. After the great revolution in England in 1688 the 
 disturbances were short-Hved and ephemeral. The government 
 assumed a form of more stability, and the rights of the people 
 came to be more thoroughly recognized. Although the charter to 
 the Virginia Company had contained a provision for the trial by 
 jury, yet there was the absence of any stipulation for the haheas 
 corpus. The introduction of this great remedy against tyrannical 
 
ADDRESS AT JAMESTOWN. 29 
 
 misrule should immortalize the name of Alexander Spotswood, 
 ■who introduced it upon his installation as governor. I do not go 
 here into the question whether the settlers did not come here 
 clothed in all the rights which appertained to Englishmen. Upon 
 that point, I presume, thei-e would be at this day no difference of 
 opinion between the courts at Westminster Hall and those at 
 Richmond. It is enough to say, that the writ of habeas corpus 
 had never been resorted to, and was not recognized as existing by 
 the authorities. Under the administration of Alexander Spots- 
 wood, the colony expanded in every direction. For the first time, 
 in 1714, the Blue Ridge was crossed by his knights of the Golden 
 Horse-shoe, with tlieir motto of Sic juvat transcendere monies ; 
 and settlements were soon after made in the fertile and beautiful 
 Valley of Virginia. He opened a mine of inexhaustible wealth to 
 the colony and the State, by the establishment of extensive iron 
 works, and in many other respects proved himself to be a wise and 
 patriotic chief magistrate. The General Assembly now claimed 
 and exercised all the privileges of an Enghsh Parliament, and 
 peace and quiet prevailed throughout Virginia. I remember, 
 when at college, to have seen his pew in the church at Wilhams- 
 burg, to which city the. government was removed in 1706, sur- 
 mounted by a canopy with "Alexander Spotswood " emblazoned 
 upon it in gilded letters. The spirit of innovation, some years 
 ago, removed that memorial of the past. 
 
 I have said that the civil wars in England, and the bitter con- 
 tests between the kings and parliaments, had caused a broad 
 stream of emigration to flow into the colony. The religious con- 
 troversies of the times aided in swelling the stream, and from the 
 time of the Revolution of 1688, there seems to have existed a 
 spirit of toleration, which admitted all, without serious regard to 
 their religious opinions. The disciples of Fox were permitted to 
 settle in the colony, and the Presbyterians had several places of 
 worship. At a still later day, the revocation of the edict of Nantes 
 caused a new and valuable admixture of population, by the influx 
 of numbers of Huguenots, who were sent over by William of 
 Orange, to whom lands were assigned. Sliortly after, other re- 
 ligious sects multiplied in the colony, and everything already 
 pointed to that great act which has immortalized the name of its 
 author — the act establishing religious freedom. These then dis- 
 
30 LETTEE6 AND TIMES OF THE TTLBES. 
 
 tant wilds held out to the oppressed of other climes homes of com- 
 parative quiet. Here they came for freedom to worship the Cre- 
 ator after the dictates of their own consciences; and here, amid 
 primeval forests, they found it. The actual discrimination in 
 favor of the Church of England consisted in an imposition upon 
 all for its support — a discrimination which it had been far better 
 for that church if it had never been made, as it ultimately united 
 all other sects against it, and produced, for a season, its almost 
 entire prostration. 
 
 Before the close of Governor Spotswood's administration, Vir- 
 ginia had increased greatly in wealth, in power, and in popula- 
 tion ; and before the middle of the eighteenth century began to 
 perform an important part. I cannot dwell upon incidents with 
 which all are familiar. The traveller, as he wends his way over- 
 the Cumberland road, lingers amid those mountain passes by the- 
 grave of the unfortunate Braddock, who, if he had listened to the 
 youthful Yirginia oiBcer, would have avoided an inglorious defeat, 
 and escaped an unfortunate death. The spirit of Yirginia rose 
 under that defeat, and shortly after gallant men were arming to 
 drive from Fort Pitt and the frontiers the combined forces of 
 the French and Indians. N"or was there wanting to urge them on 
 the impassioned and eloquent language of one whose teachings 
 were those of the divine Saviour of mankind, "of peace on earth,, 
 and good will to men." I have in my possession the gift of an 
 esteemed friend, a sermon, remarkable for its force and eloquence,, 
 delivered before Captain Overton's company of .Hanover Yolun- 
 teers, at their request, in August, 1755, more than a hundred 
 years ago, by the Ee?. Samuel Davies, an eminent Presbyterian 
 minister, who officiated at Pole Green meeting-house — which is. 
 still a place of worship — -and who became, at a later day. President 
 of Princeton College. The sermon, apart from its intrinsic merits,, 
 which are considerable, is rendered for ever remarkable by reason 
 of a prophecy made by the preacher and appended in a note : " I 
 may point out to the public," said he, " that heroic youth. Col.. 
 Washington, whom I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto, 
 preserved in so signal a manner for some important service to his 
 country." How fully that prophecy was fulfilled let all subse- 
 quent history prove ; let the thousands who annually visit Mount 
 Yernon, on an almost holy pilgrimage ; the devotion manifested to. 
 
ADDRESS AT JAMESTOWN. 31 
 
 his memory by the lovers of freedom all over the world; th& 
 unanimous verdict of mankind in favor of his disinterested pa- 
 triotism ; the wish everywhere so warmly expressed by our wives^ 
 and sisters, and daughters, to render sacred from intrusion the 
 spot where his body is interred; let all, all, testify that the name 
 of George Washington is rendered, while man and earth endures 
 immortal among men. The women of America would manifest 
 theii- gratitude to his memory, by placing the urn containing his- 
 ashes in the custody and safe-keeping of his own beloved Vir- 
 ginia. And can there be a heart that does not respond to the 
 sentiment, or a Virginia-born man who would not contribute his 
 aid towards its accomplishment ? 
 
 We have thus far traced the progress of this noble Common- 
 wealth. I have studied no rhetorical art, and have attempted no 
 figurative embellishment. A simple, unadorned narrative of pro- 
 minent events is all that I have aspired to give. We deduce from 
 them the spirit which animated our forefathers. We have seen 
 with what unanimity all efforts to trample upon the rights of the 
 colony were opposed. The large landholders and the small ; the 
 cavalier and the commonwealth man ; and, at an after day, the men 
 who came over subsequent to the great Revolution which placed 
 William of Orange on the throne ; all, with few exceptions, are 
 found uniting in support of the rights of the colony, and, upon 
 occasion, expelling for violation of those rights the vicegerents of 
 the sovereign. As early as 1624, when but a comparative handful 
 had settled these broad acres now occupied by millions, the right 
 of exemption from taxation, except through their grand assemblies,, 
 was boldly asserted and was ever after maintained. Here too was 
 adopted, in advance of England herself, the principle of the great 
 Petition of Eight. No wonder, then, that, when at an after day 
 the British government, blindly forgetful of our previous history, 
 imdertook to impose the stamp tax, the voice of an offended peo- 
 ple, now grown strong and powerful, should have awakened the 
 old echoes in the State house, and that the thunder of an indignant 
 eloquence should have shaken " the Philip of the seas ;" ^ no won- 
 der that, at a later day, the attempt to impose taxes on imports 
 
 ' It is worthy of perpetual remembrance that .'the resolution adopted in 1765, is 
 almost in words, certainly in substance, the same with that passed by the General 
 Assembly in 1624. 
 
32 LErrERS and times of the tylees. 
 
 should have stirred up the spirit of disturbance and revolt. Before 
 other colonies had existence, Virginia had taken her position on 
 that point; and when other communities had sprung up around 
 her, most of wliom were located within the limits of her original 
 ■charter, she hailed them as allies in a common cause, and led the 
 way in the contest. The thunder-tones of her Henry ai'oused 
 such as slumbered to a knowledge of the great matters in issue, 
 and her enlightened statesmen pointed out the way which led to 
 success. Nearly two years before the great declaration was issued 
 by Congress, she had armed against the acts of the last of her 
 royal governors, who fled from her wrath and found shelter on 
 board a man-of-war. Her call for a convention of the people was 
 equivalent to an actual declaration of independence, and she was 
 engaged in hostilities before that call was made. Dunmore still 
 hung upon her coast, prosecuting a war of pillage and plunder. 
 He proclaimed emancipation to the negroes, and invited them to 
 join his standard. They did so in large numbers; and humanity 
 at this day weeps over their cruel sufferings. Many were sent to 
 the "West Indias, while others were sent to New York to be for- 
 warded elsewhere. From an aged citizen of Staten Island,^ I 
 learned, a few years ago, that the marble mercantile palace of 
 A. T. Stewart is built upon the burial place of 3,000 of those un- 
 fortunates. 
 
 If Virginia still spoke of loyalty to the crown, it was only unti 
 she could fully adjust her armor. No one who will consult the 
 annals of that day can doubt upon the subject. It was fitting that 
 a colony so nurtured and reared should be the first to lay down 
 -and announce the great principles of public and private right. It 
 was fitting that she, the oldest of the crown, should have been the 
 first to give to the world the example of a permanent written 
 constitution. It was fitting that she should have summoned her 
 sisters to a continental congress. It was fitting that she should 
 have issued, in advance of others, her instructions to her delegates 
 to move a declaration of independence, and that they should have 
 obeyed her commands ; and it was right and proper that her noble 
 and ever-glorious son should have conducted the armies of the con- 
 federacy to victory and to triumph. It was right that her Morgan 
 
 Mr. Isaac Bell. 
 
ADDEESS AT JAMESTOWN. 33 
 
 should have led her invincible rifles at Saratoga, and that he should 
 have thrown them like thunderbolts against Burgoyne's serried 
 ranks, and that then and there should have broken forth for the 
 first time the animating strains of Yankee Doodle, since become a 
 national ait-. It was not only right that her ensign should have 
 floated over every battle-field, but that her bugle notes should also 
 have been heard in the triumph at Yorktown. It was and is full 
 of glory, eternal as the mountains, that as the first impress of the 
 Anglo-Saxon was made on this beach, so the first impulse to inde- 
 pendence was given at Williamsburg, and the last battle for lib- 
 erty was fought at Yorktown. The voice of an indignant elo- 
 quence proceeding from the old CAprroL, and the shouts of an ex- 
 ulting army at Yorktown, might have been heard by one ruminating 
 here amid the tombs of the early settlers ; and it was right that it 
 should be so. Those settlers were the pioneers two hundred and 
 fifty years ago of aU that has followed. They perished ; but out 
 of their ashes has arisen an empire of almost boundless extent. 
 Observe the grand procession as it moves on its way to reclaim a 
 new world. There is no exodus of a people, as in the case of the 
 Israelites from Egypt. Each move is but the addition of a new 
 link to the chain of empire. The sons have left the hearth-stones 
 to find for themselves new homes ; but fathers and mothers and 
 kinsfolk are left behind, and constantly recurring memories keep 
 the chain bright and free from rust. The wilderness is reclaimed, 
 cultivated fields abound, and villages, towns, and cities mark the 
 stages of its progress ; and the procession moves on and on, as in the 
 morning of its existence. As their descendants, and of those who 
 followed them, we have a right to demand of all such as revile 
 and abuse Virginia, from what great act or noble deed recorded 
 in the history of America has she withheld her name, or when 
 did she give stintingly of her blood or treasure to the public good ? 
 Under the conduct of her gallant son, George Rogers Clark, 
 through her unaided means, she swept away from the north-west 
 the combined hosts of French and Indians, thus vindicating her 
 chartered rights, and rounding off an empire great as that of the 
 CsBsars ; and with a liberality which nothing but the motive which 
 prompted it can excuse, she yielded it all to appease the jealousy 
 of her confederates and to consolidate the Union. Did she with- 
 hold her aid in the building up and giving form and substance to 
 3 
 
34 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 the political institutions under which we live, and which have be- 
 come the admiration of the world ? Go to the historian, and he- 
 will show you upon his pages the names of her eminent sons in 
 connection with each great work. When those institutions have 
 been assailed in any vital part, has she carelessly folded her arms, 
 chanting praises to the Union, without repelling the assault or ad- 
 monishing her confederates of the danger ? Her course in 1798- 
 '99, (when the liberty of speech and the press was assailed,) and 
 through all time, demonstrates the reverse. And there she is stilL 
 a sentinel on the watch-tower to repel the sappers and miners who 
 would overthrow the great constitutional charter of these States. 
 Has she. by supporting a mistaken policy, retarded the growth of 
 the confederacy, paralyzed its commerce, or abridged its powers? 
 Let ocean answer to ocean, and while bearing upon their waters 
 the largest commercial marine the world has ever known belong- 
 ing to one people, let them testify to the happy fruits of the policy 
 which was inaugurated by Washington, and enforced by Jefferson, 
 Madison, and Monroe. Political demagogues may revile and abuse, 
 but they cannot detract from the high and lofty fame which be- 
 longs to this time-honored commonwealth, or disturb her in the 
 continued advocacy of that course of policy, conservative and 
 national as it is, which she has through all time pursued. Here,, 
 amid the graves of our ancestors, we renew our pledges to those 
 principles of self-government which have been consecrated by 
 their examples through two hundred and fifty years, and implore 
 that great Being, who so often and signally preserved them through 
 trials and difficulties, to continue to our country His protecting; 
 guardianship and care. 
 
CHAPTEK I. 
 
 1747—1778. 
 
 "I knew the father of the President, Judge Tyler cf the General Court in Virginia, and a 
 purer patriot or more honest man never breathed the bre.ith of life; and I am one of those 
 
 who hold to the safety which flows from honest ancestors and the purity of blood." 
 
 Henhy Clay — [Cong. Globe, First Sees, nth Cong., App'x, p. 345.) 
 
 "I am equally sensible of your eoodne's in the approving terms in which you have made 
 this communication. The concurrence of a veteran patriot, who, from the first dawn of the 
 Revolution to this day, has pursued unchanKeably the same honest course, cannot but be 
 flattering to his fellow-laborer."— THOJi.kS Jkffbeson to Governor Tyler, on the latter com- 
 municating the thanks of the General Assembly of Virginia for his successful administra- 
 tion of public affairs. 
 
 Tyleb Genealogy. — Wat Ttleb's Rebellion. — Estimate of Wat's Chakac- 
 
 TEE BT PeESIDENT TtLEK, A KePUTED DESCENDANT. HENEY TyLEE, FiEST 
 
 Ameeican Ancestoe. — Middle Plantation. — Sons op HeNky Tylee : 
 Henky, John and Daniel. — Caeeee of Heney Tylee, Je. — His Childken : 
 John, Feancis and Henky. — Childken of the Fikst Named. — John Tylee, 
 Maeshal of the Vice- Admiralty Cotjkt. — His Issue. — .John Tylek, Patbiot 
 of the Eevolution. — His Youth. — Eobeet Caktee Nicholas. — Thomas Jef- 
 l FEKSON. — PaTBICK HeNEY. — JOHN TyLEK MotES TO Ghaeles City Count y. — 
 Maebies Maey Abmistead. — Oeganizes a Militaey Company. — Appointed 
 Judge of the Admiealty. — Defeated foe the State Senate. — Elected to 
 THE House of Delegates. 
 
 " ~rT would be indeed strange,'" wrote President Tyler to a friend,^ 
 _L " if we should derive pleasure from tracing back to the orig- 
 inal construction the great monuments of human design which are 
 scattered over the world, and yet be content to remain in ignorance 
 of our own origin. During the whole of my life, from the days 
 of earliest manhood, I have been so busily engaged in the active 
 drama of life that I have had no opportunity of prosecuting en- 
 quiries which, under different circumstances, might greatly have 
 interested me." 
 
 It devolves upon the author of this work to supply, very briefly, 
 what circumstances prevented President Tyler from more ably per- 
 forming. 
 
 ' Bev. William Tyler, of Pawtuckefc, Ehode Island. 
 
36 LErrEES a^td times of the tylees. 
 
 In the reign of Richard the Second an immense uprising oc- 
 cm-red in England among the lower classes, who were either serfs 
 or copy-holders of the great lords, having no rights of freehold, 
 and compelled to obey laws which restricted their free locomotion 
 and exacted various onerous returns for the lands on which they 
 lived. The nobles cherished the utmost scorn for the masses, mon- 
 opolized the lands, and made their brutal passions the measure 
 alone of their conduct to their inferiors. The French wars and the 
 enormous extravagance of Kichard the Second, who succeeded his 
 father, Edward the Third, imposed a heavy debt on the kingdom, 
 which could only be relieved by excessive taxation. In 1381, a new 
 poll tax of three groats, or twelve pence, was imposed on every 
 person above the age of fifteen. With the knowledge that a large 
 return would render the King not over-critical as to the manner of 
 collecting, the tax collectors set to work to make a rigorous exac- 
 tion of the tax. To swell their returns, they made the limitation 
 as to age a fruitful source of extortion. Most parents paid the tax 
 unjustly, rather than subject their daughters to the ruffian treat- 
 ment of the tax collectors. At this juncture, a man was found, in 
 one Wat Tyler, possessing the courage and genius of a leader. 
 
 It seems strange that any mystery should hang around the acts 
 of one who forced king and nobles to sue for terms, but such 
 seems to be the case. History was then in the hands of worship- 
 pers of royalty, and the age was so rude that the chroniclers dealt 
 as freely in fable as in fact. Under this state of things the poor 
 man fared very poorly in history. 
 
 An examination of the various chroniclers exhibits a remarkable 
 medley of authority. Not only are the incidents of Wat Tyler's 
 life strangely twisted together, but there seems no unanimity, even 
 as to his name. Stow and HoUinshed speak of a " John Tyler," 
 of Dartford in Kent, who knocked out the brains of a tax-gatherer. 
 Stow makes him a well-to-do " tylar " by trade, who was assessed, 
 not alone for his wife and daughter, but for his servants also. He 
 thus describes what happened after the tax-collector proceeded to 
 offer the "usual" insult to his young daughter: 
 
 " Whereupon her mother cried out ; neighbours came running in ; and her 
 husband, being at worke in the same towne, tyling of an house, when hee 
 heard thereof, caught his lathing staffe in his hand, and ranne, reaking home, 
 where, reasoning with the collector, who made him so bold, the collector an- 
 
WAT tvlek's eebellion. 37 
 
 swered with stout words and strake at the tylar ; whereupon the tylar, avoyd- 
 ing the blow, smote the collector with his lathing staffe, that his braines flew 
 out of his head, where-through great noyse arose in the streetes, and the poore 
 people being glad, every one prepared to support the said John Tylar."' 
 
 Hollinshed (ii., p. 738) converts the John Tyler of Stow into Jack 
 Straw : " and the said John Tyler tooke npon him to be their chief 
 captaine, naming himself Jack Straw." Harding, born in 1378, 
 makes Jack Straw the man who was killed in an interview with 
 the King by William Walworth, mayor of London (Chronicles, 
 p. 339). In this he is supported by Knyghton, a cotemporary of 
 Wat, and by Fabyan (Chronicles, p. 530). According to other 
 authorities, it seems that the murdered man was Wat Tyler, popu- 
 larly a llacksmith by trade, but, as Froissart says, a soldier in the 
 French wars. 
 
 Be his name what it may, Wat Tyler or John Tyler made short 
 work of the oppressors of the people. Throwing himself at the 
 head of an exasperated multitude, he marched with irresistible 
 power upon London, where he wi-eaked a just punishment upon 
 those who were properly responsible for the excesses of Eichard's 
 reign. 
 
 The primate, the treasurer, and the chief commissioner in the 
 levy of the hated poll-tax were beheaded, and the spoilers depiived 
 of their ill-gotten treasure; yet, says the chronicler HoUinshed, 
 "none of their companie were suffered to rob or spoil, but caused 
 to pay for what they tooke." The sumptuous palace of the un- 
 popular John of Gaunt felt the weight of the people's indigna- 
 tion. It was burnt to the ground, but the most scrupulous care 
 was taken to avoid any dishonorable imputation. HoUinshed says : 
 
 " All the jewels, plate and other rich and sumptuous furniture, which they 
 there found in great plentie, they would not that any man should fare the 
 better by it of a mite, but threw all into the fire so as to be consumed ; and 
 such things as the fire would not altogether destroie, as plate and jewels, they 
 broke and crushed into peeces, throwing the same into the Thames. One of 
 them having thrust a faire silver peece into his bosom, meaning to conveie it 
 awaie, was espied of his fellowes, who tooke him and cast both him and the 
 peece into the fire, saieing that they might not suffer any such thing, sith they 
 professed themselves to be zealous of truth and justice, and not theeves or 
 robbers.'' 
 
 Wat Tyler forced the King to sign a charter granting a general 
 pardon, the abolition of serfage, freedom of commerce in market 
 
38 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 towns, and a fixed rent-rate of four pence per acre for lands. The 
 majority of Ms troops then quietly dispersed to their homes. 
 Thirty thousand men, under Wat himself, remained behind to 
 watch over the fulfilment of the King's pledge. Fearful of foul 
 play, Wat forced the King once more to an interview, as to the 
 details of which the royal chroniclers are utterly unreliable. This 
 much may be said with truth. Hot words passed between Tyler 
 and the King's party. Wat bore himself like a man who repre- 
 sented the sovereign people of England ; and for this reason was 
 regarded as outrageously insolent by the haughty nobles, long ac- 
 customed to resent any assertion of manhood on the part of a 
 plebeian. Wat Tyler was slain in the young King's presence. 
 Tet once more the King was constrained to sign new patents to 
 appease the people, exasperated at their leader's death. These 
 charters were afterwards shamelessly nullified by the lords, which 
 proved how just had been the suspicions of the rebel leader. The 
 great and intrepid soul of Tyler constituted the life of the rebel- 
 lion. When it was extinguished, resistance perished also. Never- 
 theless, the good effect was not lost. An impetus was given to 
 popular rights, which speedily accomplished the destruction of vil- 
 leinage, and continually ameliorated the condition of the common 
 people. 
 
 From Wat Tyler, John Tyler, the father of the President, and 
 one of the most uncompromising friends of the American devolu- 
 tion, often claimed his descent.' It is true that the family of 
 Tyler had appeared in English history before that time. The 
 name is Norman-French in its origin, — first, Tiller, then Tyler, 
 the same crest being appropriated in the books on heraldry to 
 both names.^ In 1202 there lived a Gilbert de Tiller, and in 1311 
 a Thomas le Tyler, who was a niember of the English Parliament. 
 Never mind al)out them. The American Revolution, founded on 
 the great principle of the equal rights of man, and of his capacity 
 for self government, in its effect of elevating the masses, swept 
 out of existence almost all distinctions between families, and pros- 
 
 1 In his letter to the New England Genealogical Society, in 1859, Mr. Tyler, 
 the ex -President, alludes to this claim of his father as made " whether in jest or 
 not, I cannot say. " There was one tie at least between Wat and the revolutionary 
 patriot, — they were both rebels. 
 
 ^ Crest: a demi-cat, rampant and erased. — The Bjok of Family Crests. 
 
PEESIDENT TTLBE ON GENEALOGY. 39 
 
 trating the tree of pedigree, stripped it of all its branches. " My 
 father," wrote President Tyler in 1846, "who entered into the 
 •contest with his entire heart, seemed only desirons of preserving 
 the evidences of his descent from "Wat Tyler, the celebrated black- 
 smith of England, by continuing his name in the family, which he 
 conferred on my elder brother, who in like manner has conferred 
 it on his third son. He saw more merit in deducing his genealogy 
 from one, however humble in life, who had resisted tyranny and 
 oppression, than from any other quarter. "Without stopping to 
 enquu-e how or in what degree he traced his pedigree to Wat 
 Tyler, he always looked to him as his ancestral stock, and there 
 rested. It ceases to be a matter of surprise that no heraldic 
 tradition is handed down to me. An arm, with a sledge-hammer 
 uplifted in the act of striking, is the only device he would have 
 emblazoned on his shield." 
 
 President Tyler, like his father the Governor, was proud of 
 "Wat Tyler, and would never tolerate any question as to his 
 identity. The following letter to Rev. "William Tyler is a proof 
 ■of this, and is curious besides for noting the etymological changes 
 which the Tyler name, in common with other names, had under- 
 gone in the course of centuries: 
 
 [John Tylee to Rev. William Tylee.] 
 
 Shekwood Fobbst, Nov. 1, 1856. 
 My Dear Sie : Tour acceptable letter of the 11th Oct. reached me in due 
 ■course of mail, and I regret I can make no suitable return for the information 
 with which you have furnished me relative to the origin of our name and race. 
 I say our race, because I do not doubt that all who bear the name of Tyler have a 
 common origin. I think it probable that the first of the name who settled in 
 England was of Norman origin, and accompanied the Conqueror in his inva- 
 sion, and may have assisted him to overthrow the Saxon power, which went 
 down with the banner of Harold and with Harold himself. If he did so, it 
 was a scurvy trick in him, and I, one of his remote descendants, feel no great 
 veneration for his memory on that account. Be that as it may, it is certain 
 -that the family have obeyed the great command to be fruitful, since their 
 numbers in Great Britain and the United States are quite great, and are still 
 upon the increase. To all the genealogy, other than that of my American 
 ancestors, I have rarely given a thought, since it seemed to me to be a Cretan 
 labyrinth, which would lead to endless confusion and perplexity. On the 
 page of history I found one name of the family high enrolled. He was a 
 'blacksmith, and lived at a time when royalty and its satellites trampled upon 
 the necks of the commons and ground the people into dust. He, with others 
 
40 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 of his fellow subjects, long submitted to the inflictions of tyranny in silence ; 
 but the last drop of patience was in the cup. That was exhausted whea 
 Eichard the Second imposed a poll tax (the most unjust and unequal that can 
 be imposed, since it operates per capita and without regard to property), in 
 the collection of which the infamous tax-gatherer dared to offer a revolting 
 insult to his youthful daughter. With his sledge-hammer he laid the insult- 
 ing minion of power dead at his feet, and summoned the commons to the task 
 of vindicating their rights. And glorious was that vindication ! The satraps^ 
 of the King were overthrown in battle, and the King was compelled to sue in 
 person to the blacksmith for terms. Faithful to the trust reposed in him by 
 the commons, he boldly, in an interview asked for by the king, proclaimed the 
 public wrongs and demanded redress. He confided in the honor of a king,. 
 and went unattended to the interview, and was perfidiously slain. But " the 
 blood of the martyr was the seed of the church;'' and so was it here. That 
 dastard king was constrained to reiterate the principles of Magna Gharta and 
 to proclaim the doctrines of the Bill of Rights, and Wat le Tyler takes his 
 position on the historic page alongside of the great benefactors of the Anglo- 
 Saxon race. This man I have been content to recognize as the head of my 
 immediate family, and have therefore looked upon most that the royalist 
 writers have said of him as properly a part of their vocation, which is to de- 
 fame the plebeian and to do worship to monarch and aristocrat. Oh ! no, my 
 dear sir, I cannot surrender an origin so glorious to the accomplished king- 
 lover Hume, or to him of Sudbury. The error of Dickens, an error into which 
 others have fallen, consists in the substitution of an a for le, viz: Wat a tiler 
 for Wat le Tyler, as the name stood in 1311 in the case of Thomas le Tyler, 
 
 The name has undergone changes, in common with most other names. 
 William the Conqueror parcelled out the lands among his retainers, and in 
 most instances each called the estate after his own name, or, what is more 
 probable still, each lot of land was denominated after the grantee, as the lot 
 or land of Tyler, etc. In 1202 it was Crilbert de Tiller. In 1233, thirty-one 
 years after, it was Gilbert de Tyler, — viz : Gilbert, the owner of the Tyler lot 
 of land; and most probably at some time during the prevalence of the de the 
 blazon of arms by Burke finds its origin. When, however, the members of 
 the family became numerous, the de, which indicated the place of residence, 
 was given up by the descendants of those who were sent out from the house- 
 hold, and the le, as merely indicative of relationship between the land 
 holder and his collaterals or their descendants, near or remote, was adopted in 
 its place ; and so when, by reason of the mist of ages, the tracing of pedigrees 
 came to be difficult, and a reference to the head of the family, or, more pro- 
 perly, the tenant-in-tail-male, who was in possession of the land, no longer 
 indicated anything definitely, the le came to be dropped, and the name was 
 written as we write it now, — and the same thing has been the case with most 
 English names. 
 
 Thus it is that we have an explanation of all the errors of those who have 
 written upon the subject, and have so unnecessarily converted a blacksmith 
 into a tiler of houses or the maker of tiles, and originated a patronymic whose be- 
 ginning goes back to the days of the Conquest. Why, my dear sir, the name of 
 
MIDDLE PLANTATION. 41 
 
 Tyler must have abounded in England in the time of Richard II.; and if Mr. Wat 
 Hilliard, a name unknown in such connection, or anybody else, had assumed 
 the name to cover rebellion, depend upon it that he of (de) Sudbury would 
 not have been the only one to find it out, if the Tylers in England are what 
 they are in America. Strange, too, that a name should have been adopted as 
 a name of ridicule which designated an ancient and numerous family in Eng- 
 land, among whom are knights-banneret, admirals in the navy, members of 
 Parliament, and distinguished divines. I hold on, therefore, to Wat le Tyler, 
 the blacksmith who knocked out the brains of the miserable tax-gatherer for 
 an insult to his young daughter, and who aided even in death to establish and 
 
 confirm the rights of the commons 
 
 I am, dear sir, truly and faithfully yours, 
 
 John Tylee. 
 
 ITearly three centuries after Wat Tyler's day the first American 
 ancestor of the two chief characters of this work landed in Vir- 
 ginia, with his wife and dependents. The name of this man was. 
 Henry Tyler, a reputed native of Shropshire, England. The tra- 
 dition current in the family at this day is that Henry Tyler was- 
 one of three brothers, who settled respectively in Virginia, Massa- 
 chusetts, and Connecticut. The Virginia representative is known 
 to have settled at an early period in the Middle Plantation^ 
 afterwards made the seat of "Williamsburg, the capital of the col- 
 ony. In the third volume of the Virginia Land Register is the 
 record of a patent in Henry Tyler's name, bearing date January 
 7, 1652 (1653), and locating two himdred and fifty-four acres of 
 land in " Middle Plantation," " due to him by and for transport- 
 ing to this colony six persons," to-wit : the said Henry Tyler him- 
 self, and Mary his wife, and Anne Sherman, Thomas Day, David 
 Legume, and Ja. Musskatina " — " forty-six acres remaining due on 
 the last name." The laws of Virginia at that time encouraged im- 
 migration by allowing to the importer fifty acres for each and 
 every person brought over at his expense. 
 
 Change is the law of all nature, and its universality, then as 
 now, admitted of no exception, even though the case was one of a 
 reputed descendant of the bold Wat Tyler. Wat, in 1381, had 
 been a sturdy opponent of the crown ; Henry Tyler, on the con- 
 trary, was a cavalier and a gentleman. The period of his arrival 
 in America was marked by a new struggle between the higher and 
 lower orders — a struggle which in England had resulted in the 
 triumph of the popular party by the overthrow of Charles II. at 
 Worcester on the 3rd of September, 1651, and in the colony of 
 
43 LETTERS AND TISIES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 Yirginia by the famous treaty negotiated at Jamestowa on the 30th 
 •of April, 1652, between the colonial authorities on the one hand, 
 and the commissioners sent over by Cromwell for that purpose on 
 the other. The contest thus decided, however, was as much one 
 between sects in religion as between classes in society. The 
 friends of the Established Church supported the King in order to 
 save it from the gloomy sectarian devotees who eagerly sought its 
 destruction. Judging from the age of Henry Tyler,^ and the 
 juncture at which he arrived in America, he had doubtless taken 
 part in many of the stirring incidents of the civil war in England, 
 and after the fortmies of the King went down at Worcester he 
 had sought, as many other cavaliers did about the same time, an 
 asylum in the distant land of Virginia, where the virgin air was 
 not tainted with the breath of a regicide and usurper. 
 
 The old records in the court house of York county will con- 
 stitute the principal authority for what I shall briefly state con- 
 cerning Henry Tyler and his descendants." 
 
 This first American Tyler ancestor, Henry Tyler, lived on the 
 outskirts of what is now the city of Williamsburg.' His name 
 repeatedly occurs in the records in connection with some of the 
 most respectable names of the -colony. He left at his death, in 
 1672, by his second wife, Ann Orchard,'' three sons — Henry, John, 
 and Daniel — all minors. 
 
 ' According to his deposition, in 1662, where his age is stated at fifty-eight, he 
 -was forty-nine on his arrival. (York County Will, &c. Book, 16i6-1662, p. 189.) 
 
 ' The Torktown records abound in historical interest. They contain many pro- 
 clamations, etc. , that do not elsewhere appear. Since the destruction of the re- 
 cords at "Williamsburg, and in most of the Eastern counties, by the shameless 
 vandalism of the Northern troops during the late war, (and that too after they had 
 passed in safety through the war of the Revolution, ) they have, of course, a special 
 value. The Legislature should see at ouce to having them properly rebound and 
 put in the State library. 
 
 « His residence is now occupied by Mr. "Wolf, of Williamsburg ; and though re- 
 modeled, retains many quaint features of "y^ olden time.'' The mantel-pieces 
 are especially beautiful and peculiar. 
 
 ■■ Letters of administration on hie estate, cum tastamento annexo, were granted 
 April 13, 1672, to his wife, Anne Tyler. At the June court, 16T2, Anne Tyler, "relict 
 of Henry Tyler, late of Middletowne P'ish in Yorke county," entered of record a 
 deed of gift disposing of her separate estate among "her well-beloved sons, 
 Henry, John, and Daniel, sons of my deceased husband;'' "to my son, Henry 
 Tyler, the seat of land whereon at present I live, with one young mare, ffour cows, 
 between the ages of three and seven, with a new feather bed, and furniture to the 
 value of ten pounds sfcerl', ffour pewter dishes, one molatto servant, by the name 
 
TYLEE GENEALOGY. 43 
 
 John settled, it is believed, in Hanover county, and became the 
 progenitor of the family of Tylers in that and adjoining counties.^ 
 Henry, the oldest son, married Elizabeth,^ a grand-daughter of 
 Col. John Page, the founder of the Page family in Virginia, a 
 member of the royal council, and by his will, as recorded in York 
 county, a man of wealth and property. Henry Tyler lived to play 
 a useful part in the affairs of the colony. He was successively 
 bailiff, constable, justice of the peace," coroner, and high sheriff of 
 
 of John Williams; and to my sons, John and Daniel Tyler, a tract of land lying on 
 the branches of Nominy in the fforest between Potomack and Kappahannock 
 rivers, containing by estimation about two thousand two hundred acres, to be 
 equally divided between them at their several ages, and also to each of them ffour 
 cows, with a new feather bed, and furniture to each of them to the value of ten 
 pounds sterl', ffour pewter dishes, and to each of my two sons, John and Daniel, 
 two servants ; to my son John a negro called Serdy, and to my son Daniel a 
 negro called Clarkson, to be delivered at their several ages of one and twenty 
 years ; but in case of the death of any of them, to the survivor or survivors of any 
 of them, their heirs, exec, adm. Provided that in case I, the said Anne Tyler, 
 shall be living when any or each of my sons shall come to the age of one and 
 twenty years aforesaid, that I will (notwithstanding this deed) make use of £.11 or 
 any part of each divident. And doe hereby put in trust my weU-beloved friend, 
 Mr. Martin Gardiner, ffeoffee io trust, to see this my deed performed; and in 
 case of his decease doe request the favour of my trusty and well-beloved friends, 
 Major Robert Baldry, Mr. .John Page, and Mr. Daniel Wyld, or any two of them, 
 to see this, my deed of gift, performed for the use of the children." 
 
 1 This John Tyler married a daughter of Mr. Martin Gardiner, of York county. 
 In 1728, "John Tyler, Jr., of Hanover county," obtained a patent for lands in 
 Goochland county. In the same year Thomas Tyler, Sr., and Thomas Tyler, Jr., 
 obtained patents for lands in Spotsylvania. 
 
 ^ This lady's maiden name is not given in the records. A patent of "John 
 Page, merchant," about 1655, mentions, among the emigrants transported by him 
 from England, Alice Page (his wife), and Elizabeth and Mary Page. Elizabeth 
 was doubtless his daughter, and probably married Mr. Walter Chiles, whose 
 daughter Elizabeth married Henry Tyler. 
 
 3 At a county court, held for York county in 1705, the following "gentlemen 
 justices" were present: Capt. Thomas Barker, Mr. Robert Read, Mr. Thomas 
 Roberts, Lt. Coll Thomas Ballard, Major Wm. Buckner, Mr. Henry Tyler, Capt. 
 Thomas Nutting, Capt. Lawrence Smith, Mr. Wm. Pinkethman. " Until the Resto- 
 ration the justices were called "commissioners;" after that time, "justices of the 
 peace." They were commissioned by the Governor, and held the office of sheriff 
 in rotation. The post was considered one of honor, and was sought after by the 
 first men in the colony. The proceedings had on the installation of Henry 
 Tyler into the sheriffalty are thus preserved in the records at Yorktown : 
 
 " YoEK County Co' House, April y" 10, 1700. 
 "Present: Mr. Thomas Barker, Major WiUiam Buckner, Mr. Robert Reade, 
 Mr. James Whaley, gentlemen justices. 
 
4:i LETTERS AST) TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 York county, serving through a long series of years with credit 
 and character. His property in slaves and land vras respectable.. 
 About seventy-four acres of his father's original grant of land in 
 the Middle Plantation were purchased by the colony, and be- 
 came the seat of the governor's palace, which, on the destruction, 
 of the State buildings at Jamestown, was transferred thither.^ 
 
 In 1699, Henry Tyler was appointed with Governor Nicholson, 
 Edmund Jenings, Esq., of the Council, Philip Ludwell and 
 Thomas Ballard, of the House of Burgesses, Benjamin Harrison 
 and some others, to superintend the settlement and building of 
 the embryonic metropolis of Williamsburg.^ 
 
 Eor very many years Henry Tyler served as one of the two 
 churcli-wardens of Bruton Parish. This parish, the most im- 
 portant in the colonial annals of Virginia, was about ten miles 
 square, and comprised portions of the counties of James City and 
 York. As the seat of the capital of the colony, the local chronicles 
 of Bruton Parish assume the dignity of history. The vestries 
 in Virginia were, according to Rev. Hugh Jones, who wrote in 
 1723-'4,^ always composed of twelve " of the most substantial and 
 intelligent persons in each parish." They were originally elected, 
 by the congregations, but vacancies were afterwards supplied by 
 vote of the vestry simply. Out of them a new church- warden, 
 was chosen annually, under (as it were) the instructions of the old 
 one chosen the year before. In Virginia the vestries were the- 
 depositaries of popular power, and possessed and exercised, with- 
 
 " Whereas, In obedience to his Ex"*' writ of dedimus, bearing date tbe sixth 
 day of this instant Month, Constituting and Appointing Mr. Henry Tyler to be 
 sherr. of this county of Yorke, at which time and place app'red y" s'' Henry 
 Tyler, and produced his Ex"'' oommison with y" dedimus ; upon reading 
 thereof was duly executed, and a retume thereof entered upon y" s'' writt, under 
 y hands and seals of y" gentlemen first above named, in order to be returned, 
 to y° secretary's office at James City. 
 
 " Wee doe declare that there is not any transubstantiation of y Lord's supper, 
 or in y' elements of bread and wine, at or after y" consecration thereof by any 
 person whatsoever. 
 
 " Signed, April y 18tb, 1700. "Henbt Ttleb, 
 
 ' ' B AEK HOWLES, 
 
 ' ' Eecordatur. " , " John W ayman. 
 
 [Next followed the "writt of dedimus" in full, — signed "Francis Nicholson."}] 
 ' Henings Stats., iii., p. 285. - Ibid, iii., pp. 197, 419. 
 
 ^ "Present State of Virginia," by Kev. Hugh Jones. 
 
VIEGINIA: A LAND OF LIBEETY. 45 
 
 -out restriction, the right of levying taxes in the parish for the sup- 
 port of the church and the poor. Kepresentiug tlie immortal 
 principle of the inseparability of taxation and representation, they 
 not only held the purse-strings of their community, but contended 
 successfully against bishop and governor for the right of electing 
 their own ministers. Bancroft is rigiit vrhen he declares that "Vir- 
 ginia was always a land of liberty ;" for notwithstanding the 
 inconsiderate conduct of the legislature, which assembled on the 
 Restoration in 1660, in restricting the franchises of the people, the 
 necessities of administration continually overleaped the hmits of 
 the revenue of two shillings per hogshead of tobacco exported, 
 granted permanently to the government at this time. The profli- 
 gate grants of Charles the Second to court favorites, of vast tracts 
 of land in Virginia, aroused even the legislature of the Restora- 
 tion to protests; and the spirit of resistance spreading among the 
 people, the royal legislature itself was dissolved, after a continu- 
 ance of sixteen years, by Bacon's Rehellion, in 1675. The sup- 
 pression of this new TTat Tyler sl^bdued for a moment the native 
 elasticity of the public spirit. Then the contest broke out anew 
 over the proprietary claims of the Earl of Arlington ; and in 16 84 
 Virginia once more became a royal province. 
 
 In 1685 the burgesses incurred the anger of King James the 
 Second for questioning his royal negative. "When additional sup- 
 plies became necessary, the burgesses claimed the riglit of appoint- 
 ing the treasurer for their management, subject to their orders 
 alone. The first Assembly after the Revolution in 16SS set this 
 ■example, which was often imitated. The higgling of the burgesses 
 with their governors over money supplies would have done credit 
 to the proverbial Yankee tradesman. While other provinces were 
 exhausted by taxation, from 1707 to 1718 eighty-three pounds of 
 tobacco was the gross amount of the public levies. The assembly 
 concluded itself entitled to all the rights and privileges of an En- 
 glish Parliament, " and the records of the House of Commons were 
 examined in search of the early precedents." The published letters 
 of Spotswood and Dinwiddle show how completely the governors 
 were dominated by the legislature. " The political strifes," says 
 Bancroft, "became but the fitful ebullitions of a high spirit, which 
 in the wantonness of independence loved to tease the governors ; 
 and again, if the burgesses expressed loyalty, they were loyal only 
 
46 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 because loyalty was their humor." Independence, indeed, was the- 
 characteristic of the Virginian ; and, paradoxical as it might seem,, 
 the poorer the man the more independent he felt himself. The- 
 proudest aristocrats, high as they might bear their heads in the 
 levees of the governor, were very careful not to give offence to 
 those who, bred in the wild freedom of the country, were pecu- 
 liarly sensitive as to treatment, and often indeed surpassed them 
 in pedigree and antiquity. Edmund Burke remarked upon this 
 indomitable spirit, which only received additional emphasis from 
 the subordination of the negroes. -"Freedom," said he, "is to 
 them (the Yirginians), not only an enjoyment, but a kind of rank 
 and privilege In such a people the haughtiness of domina- 
 tion combines with tlie spirit of freedom, fortifies it, and renders 
 it invincible." The Yirginians had no town meetings, no village 
 democracies, no free municipal institutions like 'New England ; but 
 they had something quite as good, namely, individual independence. 
 Rural life encouraged free thought and habits of self-reliance. 
 Each plantation was a little kingdom in itself — had its own car- 
 penters, blacksmiths, shoemakers, spinners, and hatters. The horse 
 was protected by law from an early day ; and to. hunt the fox and 
 ride races in the open air were the occupations of all others to 
 make the sinews steel and the heart buoyant and brave. Nor 
 was education neglected. In 1723-'i, when Eev. Hugh Jones 
 wrote his treatise on the "Present State of Virginia," there was a 
 common school "in almost every parish." While education was 
 not as widely diffused as in jS"ew England, it was certainly more 
 highly developed. The easy circumstances of the planters fur- 
 nished leisure for literary occupations and money to buy the 
 necessary books; and thus, if the Northern people had "more 
 small streams," in A'irginia "there were more great rivers." Book 
 learning is not the only useful information. The rural A^irginians,. 
 like the sea-faring Athenians of old, drew the inspiration of genius 
 from the gorgeous laboratory that nature spread around them in the 
 sky, the ocean, and mountain scenery ; and we need not quarrel with 
 either the times or the land that in 1TT6 were able to give to Ameri- 
 can history the first of generals, orators, statesmen, and jurists. 
 
 It is true that some of the Virginians were descendants of in- 
 dented servants, or had been such themselves ; and some, indeed, 
 were transported felons ; but this latter class was very inconsider- 
 
VIEGINIA IN COLONIAL TIMES. 4T 
 
 able in number, and their offences were almost entirely political. 
 " The convicts," says Bancroft, " were in part persons of family 
 and education, accustomed to elegance and ease." According to 
 Jefferson (Randolph, i. p. 406) the malefactors and their descendants 
 amounted to no more than 4,000 at the time of the Eevolution. 
 The apprenticeship of the indented class was limited to five years ; 
 and though the laws affected severity in the regulation of their 
 service, "yet," says Mr. Jefferson, "during the time of that ser- 
 vice they were better fed, better clothed, and had lighter labor 
 than while in Europe." Some kidnapping occurred, but in nine 
 hundred and ninety-nine cases out of one thousand the service was 
 pui-elv voluntary, and very often undertaken to pay the cost of 
 transportation." "Foreigners who carried to America money 
 enough, not only to pay their passage, but to bny themselves a 
 farm, indented themselves to a master for a term of years with a 
 view to learn the husbandry of the country." It spoke well for 
 the state of society in Virginia at the period, when indentures of 
 this kind were most popular, that temporary slavery in Virginia 
 was preferable to emigration to other colonies, or the continuance 
 of peasant freedom in England. 
 
 "I will do justice to this country," wrote Spotswood to the 
 bishop of London, "I have observed here less swearing, less pro- 
 phaneness, less drunkenness and debauchery, less uncharitable 
 feuds and animosities, and less knaverys and villanys, than in any 
 part of the world where my lot has been." 
 
 As church warden with Colonel David Bray, whose handsome 
 monument yet stands at Williamsburg, Henry Tyler superintended 
 the execution of the powers of the vestry, assessed the tithables au- 
 thorized by them, reported absentees from church, and prosecuted 
 the claims of the parish in the county courts. 
 
 1 have seen an interesting old document in the archives of the 
 State, bearing date 1710, signed by the vestrymen of Bruton 
 Parish, headed by Henry Tyler, praying the aid of the General 
 Assembly towards building a new church for the accommodation 
 of the parishioners, "who are often outed of their seats" by the 
 great concourse of strangers at the meetings of the General As- 
 sembly, councils, and other public occasions.^ Among the ves- 
 
 1 Printed in calendar of Virginia State Papers, i., pp. 145-6. "Hen: Ty- 
 ler," of the original MS., is erroneously published "Jon: Tyler." See an in- 
 
48 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEBS. 
 
 trymen appear sucli familiar names as Edmund Jenings, member of 
 the royal Council, David Bray, Ambrose Cobbs, Kichard Kendall 
 and Frederick Jones. The present church in Williamsburg, de- 
 signed by Sir Christopher Wren, was the result of this application. 
 Its splendid gold and silver communion service was presented in part 
 by Queen Anne and in part by King George tlie First ; and, with 
 that of the old church at Jamestown, is still preserved by the 
 proper authorities. The church was enlarged, and doubtless af- 
 forded better quarters to the dissatisfied vestrymen, who stigma- 
 tized the old church as " ruinous." 
 
 Henry Tyler lived until the year 1729. His will is recorded in 
 York County Court.^ He was married first, as we have seen, to 
 Ehzabeth Chiles, and secondly to Edith Hardaway. Three sons _ 
 were born of the first marriage, and none of the second. Eliza- 
 beth's children were John, Francis and Henry. 
 
 teresting cotemporaneous statement of the dimensions and materials of the 
 church. — Hid., i., ITi-o. 
 
 ' Will of Henry Tyleb. 
 
 "In the name of God, Amen. I, Henry Tyler, of the Parish of Bruton, in the 
 county of York, Gent., being in perfect sense aad memory, do make and ordain 
 this my last will and testament, in manner and form following : 
 
 Imprimis: I bequeath my soul to God and my body to the earth, to be de- 
 cently buried by my executors, hereafter named. 
 
 Item : I give and bequeath to my loving wife, Edith Tyler, one-half part of my 
 plate, and my china and earthenware, and one-third part of the rest of my personal 
 estate (after my debts are paid.) I also give unto my said wife the use and 
 profit of ten of my negroes, to-wit : Jack, Thomas, Aggy, Alice, Kate, Doll, Sarah 
 David, Daniel and Peter, during her natural life, she maintaining them out of the 
 same ; and, after the decease of my said wife, I give and devise the said ten negroes, 
 with their increase, unto my son Henry Tyler, and his heirs forever. 
 
 Item : I give and devise unto my said son, Henry Tyler, and his heirs forever, 
 all that tenement and tract of land, with the appurtenances, whereon I now live, 
 and eleven negroes, to-wit : Edward, Cuffee, Ralph, Pegg, Betty, Bertram, Ra- 
 chel, WilUam, Benjamin, Charles and Dick, and their increase. 
 
 Item : I give unto my grandchildren, John Tyler, the son of John Tyler de- 
 ceased, and Joanna, Elizabeth Low, Mary and Edith, his daughters, and Henry, 
 Francis and John, the sons of Francis Tyler, each of them, a young negro of the 
 value of ten pounds, or ten pounds in money. 
 
 Item : I give unto my son Francis Tyler, and to my daughters-in-law Eebeooa 
 and'Elizabeth Tyler, each a gold ring of twenty shillings value. 
 
 Item : I give unto my son Henry Tyler all the remainder of my personal estate, 
 
 Item : I give unto my friend Richard Hickman the sum of three pounds cur- 
 rent money. 
 
 Item : I do appoint my said wife, and my said sous, Francis and Heniy Tyler, 
 
WILL OF COL. PAGE. 49 
 
 1. John was a legatee and contingent devisee under the will of 
 'Col. John Page.^ Capt. Francis Page, elder son of Col. John Page, 
 
 executors of this my last will and testament ; and I do hereby revoke and make 
 void all former wills by me heretofore made. In witness whereof I have hereunto 
 set my hand and seal, this second day of July, Anno Domini, DMCCXXIX. 
 
 Henky Tylek, (Seal.) 
 
 Signed, sealed and published as his last will and testament, in the presence 
 ■of us. Thomas Coebs, 
 
 Will Book (1829-32), pp. 18, 19. Edmund Cobbs. 
 
 ' In the will of Col. Page we read : "Item : I give y° remainder of my two hun- 
 dred and ninety-one acres of land, situate in y= forks of Powhatan (not sold to 
 Henry Mallard), unto my said son Pfrancis, and the heirs male of his body law- 
 fully begotten, and for want of such heirs maile to my grandson, John Tyler, 
 Sonne of my granddaughter, Eliz : Tyler, and his heirs for ever. Item : I give to 
 my said grandson, John Tyler, the sum of fifty pounds sterl', to be paid att his 
 age of eighteen years, and in case he dye before that age, then in lieu thereof I 
 give the sum of thirty pounds sterl' to such other child of my said granddaughter, 
 Eliz : Tyler, as shall attain first to y* age of eighteen years." 
 
 By another provision of the same will : 
 
 "Item: Itt is my will and desire that such negroes or slaves as I shall dye 
 possessed of at Middle Plantations, y Neck of Land, and Mehixton, when they or 
 any of them grow aged and past their labour, that such decrepitt slave or slaves 
 be kept provided for and maintained by their respective o wners and masters, with 
 <;loathes, dyatt, and all other necessaries, in as good, sufiicient, and like manner 
 as when they were able to work. Item : My will is that, with all convenient speed 
 as may be procured after my decease, eighteen funerall goold rings, one with an- 
 other, of y= value of twenty shillings each, be given to these severall friends, if 
 living (viz't), to my brother Ffrancis and his wife, to my brother Gibbs and his 
 wife, to my sister Ince,— these to be given in England ; to my dear wife, to my 
 son Ffrancis and his wife, to my son Matthew, to my coz . Henry Tyler and his 
 wife, to my grandson John Chiles, to my honored sister Eliz : Diggs, to my hon- 
 ored friend William Cole, Esquire, to the Reverend Rowland Jones, minister, and 
 his wife,— these to be given in Virginia,— and to;.my brother Robert and his wife 
 in England." This will was made March .5th, 1686-7, and admitted to record 
 February 24th, 1691-2. Witnesses, Wm. Sherwood, Henry Tyler, Alex. Bonny- 
 man. (Will Book, 1691-1694, p. 123.) 
 
 The receipt of John Tyler is thus recorded : 
 
 "Received by me, John Tyler, son of Mr. Henry Tyler, of York county, in 
 Virginia, and grandson of CoU" John Page, formerly of y"^ said county in Vir- 
 ginia, dec'd, of John Page, of y county of Gloucester, fifty pounds of lawful 
 money of England, by biUs of exchange on Mr. Micajah Perry and Oomp" merch" 
 in London, at ten days' sight. The said sum being due to me, the said John 
 Tyler, for a legacie left me by y« last will and testament of y said Coll" John Page, 
 dec'd, which I do hereby acknowledge to have received, and discharge and acquit 
 the said John Page, of y said county of Gloucester, and Mary his wife, administra- 
 tor of Matt. Page, Esq., late of y« said county of Gloucester, dec'd, one of y= Exec" 
 of y last will and testament of y" said Coll" John Page, dec'd, and hold myself 
 fully satisfied, contented and paid. In witness whereof I have hereunto set my 
 iiand and seal, this nineteenth day of August, 1706. " John Tylek, [Seal.] 
 
 4 
 
60 LETTERS Ai^D TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 dying without male issue, John became seised of about two hun- 
 dred acres of land in James City county, at the head waters of 
 Powhatan swamp. There he settled, and there, at the beginning- 
 of the eighteenth century, he built for his residence a modest two- 
 story house with brick brought from England. This building, now 
 owned by Mr. Barnes, of New Kent, is distant about four miles- 
 from Williamsburg, and is still pointed out as a well-preserved 
 relic of colonial days. Its owner, John Tyler of James City 
 coimty, was great-grandfather of President Tyler. He married- 
 Elizabeth Low,^ and died a few years before his father, Henry 
 Tyler, some time between 1720 and 1729, leaving issue John,- 
 Joanna, Elizabeth Low, Mary and Edith. 
 
 2. Francis Tyler, second son of Henry and Elizabeth Tyler, 
 resided in James City county. From him is descended the family 
 of Tylers in Prince William, Stafford and Fauquier. Issue : 
 Henry, Francis and John. The Prince William,' Caroline,'' Han- 
 
 " Signed, sealed, and delivered in y" presence of "Mary Whaley. 
 
 "Henby Gary.'' 
 
 At a court hold for York connty, June the 2Ub, 1707, John Tyler, the above- 
 mentioned, came into court and acknowledged y^ said writing as his act and deed, 
 and according to order is recorded. "William Tunly, Jk., D. 0" Cur." 
 
 Mary Whaley, who witnessed the above receipt, was the daughter of James 
 Whaley, one of his Majesty's justices for York county. The will of her father, in 
 1701, makes "my loving friends and kinsmen, Henry Tyler and John Page," 
 trustees in her behalf, 
 
 - The following patents answer to the name of Low in the Land Register ; 
 
 (1). Thomas Low : Lands in Charles City county on Appomattox river, April 20,. 
 1682, for transj)orting to the colony fourteen persons. (Land Keg., vii., p. 211.) 
 
 (2). Walter Low, son of Thomas Low: Same lauds, lost to his father for not 
 locating, April 12, 1694. (Land Beg., viii., p. 315.) William Low and others: 
 Lands in same locality for transporting thirty-four persons to the colony. (Land 
 Keg., viii., p. 71.) 
 
 ' The Prince William family was represented in the State Senate during the 
 giibematorial term of the first Governor Tyler by William Tyler, son (?) of Francis 
 Tyler. Judge John Webb Tyler was his son, and Nathaniel Tyler, late editor of 
 the Enquirer, is a nephew of John Webb Tyler. 
 
 ■> The Caroline branch was represented in the Legislature in 1861 by George 
 Tyler, whose son, John Hoge Tyler, was State Senator after the war. Mr. George 
 Tyler writes that his great-grandfather Uved and died in Caroline. He had three 
 sons, who, during the Kevolution, organized and equipped a company, and were the 
 captain, first and second lieutenants of it. Captain George Tyler, his grandfather, 
 commanded a regiment at Yorktown as colonel, though not commissioned as such- 
 My informant writes : " I am the oldest representative of the name in this section ;, 
 
SONS OF HEJSTET TYLEE. 51 
 
 over and Spotsylvania Tylers have all been represented in the 
 history of A'irginia, furnishing to the State numerous members of 
 the legislature and occupants of the bench. 
 
 3. Henry Tyler, the third of the name, heired the ancestral 
 homestead. In 1753 he sold out and moved to Sussex county,^ 
 and there died in 1774, leaving no surviving issue, and dividing 
 his property between his grand-nephew and godson, John Tyler, 
 '• attorney at law in Charles City county," and his grand-nephew, 
 "William Tyler, son (?) of Francis Tyler, of Prince William.' 
 
 John Tyler,' the third of the name, and grandson of Heury 
 Tyler the church-warden, was for many years marshal to the honor- 
 able court of the vice-admiralty of the colony of Virginia. After 
 
 and trust that a name so identified with the history of the country is not destined 
 to die out, or even be dimmed, in the coming century. I live near Woodford, in 
 an old continental brick house, about 130 years old, finished in old English style. 
 Lawyers from the city of Richmond sometimes come out to this country. Your 
 father in his younger days came sometimes, I have heard the old folks say.'' 
 
 ' Deed of Henry Tyler to Dr. John Amson, in November, 1752, conveying "all 
 that tract of land whereon the said Henry Tyler lives, containing, by estimation, 
 ISO acres more or less, lying near the city of Williamsburg, in the parish of Bru- 
 ton. in the county of York, and bounded according to the ancient, known and 
 lawful bounds thereof, which said tract or parcel of land is part of two hundred 
 and fifty-four acres of land, granted unto Mr. Heury Tyler, grandfather of the 
 said Henry, by patent bearing date the seventh day of January, 1652 [1653] and 
 from the said Henry, the grandfather, descended to his son, Henry Tyler, who 
 devised the same by his last wiU and testament unto his son, Henry Tyler, party 
 to these presents, in fee simple." 
 
 - His will is recorded in Sussex county court. See also his patent in 1760 for 
 l,45i acres on the Nottoway river, The Viri/inia Gazette of April.13, 1769, thus 
 vouches for the merits of this gentleman as a farmer : " A hog was brought to 
 town this week from Sussex as a show, (raised by Mr. Henry Tyler there.) which, 
 though only four years old, is near three and a half feet high, and, it is supposed, 
 weighs near twelve hundredweight. He much exceeds any animal of the kind 
 ever raised on this continent, and, indeed, we do not remember to have heard of 
 any so large in England." 
 
 3 .Joanna Tyler, eldest sister of John Tyler the marshal, married Dr. William 
 McKenzie, of "Kennons," in Charles City county. In the first year of the pub- 
 lication of the Virginia Gazette, the announcement of her marriage was thus 
 
 made : "Yesterday Dr. McKenzie, of Charles City county, was mari-y'd to 
 
 Miss Johanna Tyler, eldest daughter of Mr. John Tyler, late of James City 
 county."— nrffiraia Gazette, feb'y 27, 1737. The son of Dr. McKenzie was Dr. 
 William McKenzie, of Manchester, Virginia. His daughter, Joanna Black McKen- 
 zie, was a ward of Judge John Tyler, and lived at Greenway until her mar- 
 riage, in 1805, to Judge James Semple, of Williamsburg, after the decease of his 
 first wife, Anne Contesse Tyler, eldest daughter of Judge Tyler. The late Dr. 
 
62 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEKS. 
 
 the passage of the navigation laws, during the reign of the second 
 Charles, whereby the colonies were prohibited trading with foreign 
 nations or erecting manufactories of their own, or even trading with 
 Great Britain in any other than British bottoms, vice-admiralty 
 courts were established in the several colonies to secure the better 
 enforcement of the laws. Besides breaches of the acts of trade, 
 these courts had cognizance of maritime torts and contracts. They 
 were held, only as business required, before a judge appointed for 
 each colony by commission, under the seal of the High Court of 
 Admiralty of Great Britain. Upon them waited an advocate, 
 register and marshal, appointed by the governor, who was also, 
 by commission, vice-admiral of all the sea-coasts, rivers and creeks 
 within the government. 
 
 John Tyler, the marshal, was the last who held that office under 
 royal appointment in Yirginia, his death occurring on the eve of 
 hostilities between the colony and the mother country.^ The Vir- 
 ginia Gazette of August 26, 1773, thus records this event: 
 
 " [Deaths] . Mr. John Tyler, of this city, marshal of the court 
 of Yice-admiralty." 
 
 John Tyler, the marshal, married Anne Contesse, daughter of 
 Dr. Louis Contesse, a French Huguenot, and physician of Wil- 
 liamsburg. Dr. Contesse was one of the refugees whom the harsh 
 
 Semple, of Hampton, and Major Henry Churchill Semple, of Montgomerj', Ala- 
 bama, are sons of Judge Semple by his second marriage. Major Semple thus 
 writes to Mr. R. A. Brock, Corresponding 'Secretary of the Virginia Historical 
 Society, in regard to old Dr. McKenzie and his wife : "I have beautiful portraits 
 of old Dr. McKenzie the first, and his wife, Joanna Black Tyler, not only beautiful as 
 works of art, but the latter the handsomest woman in the colony of Virginia ; Gen. 
 Joe Johnston says, ' one of the handsomest women he ever saw ;' also of her son, 
 Dr. Wm. McKenzie the second, a remarkably handsome man. They are copies 
 of the originals, and were painted by W. J. Hubard, who married the sister of the 
 wife of Judge Wm. W. Crump,— Miss Tabb, of Gloucester county, Va. Miss 
 Allen, my grandmother on the father's side, was descended from Armistead of 
 Buck-Eowe, brother of Armistead of Hesse, from whom Robert E. Lee was 
 descended through the Carters. Dr. Wm. McKenzie settled at Blaudford, near 
 Petersburg." There were two brothers McKenzie in the colony of Virginia, phy- 
 sicians and surgeons, — Drs. Kenneth and Wm. McKenzie. These McKenzies 
 were men of culture, and possessed libraries of some extent, since volumes to this 
 day occur in auction sales of libraries with their book-plates, from the arms of 
 which they appear to have been of the family of McKenzie or MacKenzie, Earl of 
 Cromarty. Arms : a rock in flames proper. Crest : the sun in splendor. Motto : 
 jAiceo iion uro. 
 
 ' The record of his will is preserved in York county court. 
 
ISSUE OF JOHN TTLEE AND ANNE CONTESSE. 53 
 
 laws of France, enacted after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, 
 in 16S5, had compelled to seek a home in America. The Mamys, 
 Fontaines, Flonrnoys, Dupuys and Moncures, are types of these 
 French settlers — educated, earnest, industrious and indefatigable. 
 Issue of John Tvler and Anne Contesse : 
 
 1. Mary. 
 
 2. Elizabeth, born January 30, 1744; died July 23, 1784. 
 Married John Greenhow, a merchant of Williamsburg, and a 
 native of Staunton, in Westmoreland, England.* 
 
 3. Kachel, married Mr. William Drummond, and resided at 
 "Porto BeUo,'' on York river, until its sale by her to Lord Dun- 
 more, in 1774. After her husband's death, about this time, Eachel 
 kept house for her brother John at Indian Fields, in Charles 
 City county, subsequently marrying Stith Hardyman, of Eural 
 Shades, an adjoining estate.^ 
 
 4. Anne Contesse married Dr. Anthony Tucker Dixon, a sur- 
 geon of repute during the Eevolution (and a great lover of fine 
 horses). Anne survived her husband, and, dying childless, left her 
 property to Christiana Tyler, President Tyler's youngest sister.' 
 
 5. Joanna, born in 1752, the year the style was changed, mar- 
 ried Major Wood Bouldin, of Charlotte county ;■* issue, a number 
 of children, two of whom attained high distinction,— Thomas 
 Tyler, who died on the floor of Congress in 1814, while announc- 
 ing the death of John Pandolph, and James W., who succeeded 
 
 ' The present highly respected treasurer of Richmond city, Samuel Greenhow, 
 is his grandson. 
 
 - William Drummond is supposed to have been a descendant of the William 
 Drummond of Bacon's Rebellion, whose fate is memorable. When Drummond 
 was brought before Sir William Berkeley, the governor, he was met with a bow 
 of mock politeness. "Fore God! Mr. Drummond, you are very unwelcoaie. I 
 am more glad to see you than any man in Virginia. You shall hang in half an 
 hour." Drummond was accordingly instantly executed. Rachel, Mrs. Drum- 
 mond, was no mean representative of the famous Sarah, who, in encouraging the 
 spirits of her associates, broke a stick on the ground, and stoutly declared, ' ' I 
 fear the power of England no more than a broken straw. " Rachel, whose cool- 
 ness was proverbial, was present at the palace when Lady Dunmore fled to the 
 "Fowey," and contributed greatly to calming her agitation. 
 
 ' Anne Contesse was long remembered as a woman of extraordinary vivacity, 
 who loved to regale the young with her stories of the vice-regal court and society 
 of Williamsburg. 
 
 * Charlotte was then the backwoods, and Major Bouldin erected the second 
 frame house in the county. 
 
5-i LETTBES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEKS. 
 
 his brother Thomas as representative in Congress from his dis- 
 trict. Wood Bouldin, the late judge of the Supreme Com-t of 
 Virginia, was the son of Thomas Tjder Bouldin ; and Powhatan 
 Bouldin, to whom the public is indebted for the " Home Kem- 
 iniscences of John Kandolph," is a son of James W. Bouldin. 
 Joanna Tyler Bouldin lived to be upwards of ninety-five years. 
 
 6. Louis Contesse Tyler, elder brother of John Tyler, moved to 
 Charlotte county with his sister, Joanna, some time before her 
 marriage, and died tliere a young man. 
 
 7. John "Tyler, second son of marshal John Tyler, and some 
 time Judge of the Admiralty Court of Yirginia (1T76), member 
 of the House of Delegates (1T78-1T86), Speaker of the same 
 (17S1-'S6), member of the Council (1780-'81), Judge of the Ad- 
 miralty and Supreme Courts of A'irginia (1786-1788), Vice-presi- 
 dent of the Yirginia Convention (1788), Judge of the General 
 Court (17S8-1S08), Governor of the State (1808-1811), and Judge 
 of the United States District Court for Virginia (1811-1813) ; 
 was born at the ancestral homestead in James City county, Feb- 
 ruary 28, 1717.^ 
 
 The catalogue of " William and Mary," as well as the original 
 account book of the keeper of the table, claims him as a pupil 
 of the Grammar school attached to the college, in his eighth 
 year. The Grammar school, in which he was entered on Mrs. 
 Bray's scholarship, contained boys of all ages. Tyler went through 
 the preparatory course, entered the college proper, and was study- 
 ing law under Robert Carter Xieliolas about the time when Mr. 
 Jefferson was pursuing a similar course of study under George 
 Wythe. Jefferson was four years Tyler's senior, entered college in 
 1760, studied two years, and took a course of law for five years 
 longer. Here began between Jefferson and Tyler the acquaintance 
 and friendship of a lifetime, to be renewed and confirmed in after 
 life by a familiar and pleasing correspondence of several years. 
 In each was the same love of liberty, the same southern aversion 
 to the exercise of power, and the same fearlessness in tlie enuncia- 
 tion of principle. Each was devoted to popular rights — and each 
 loved the fiddle ! 
 
 In Bandall's Jefferson (i. p. 31), we find it mentioned that JeflFer- 
 son belonged to a small band of musical amateurs, who assembled 
 
 1 This date is according to an autograph poem, " On my Birthday." 
 
TYLER, JEFFEESON, AND HBNEY. 55 
 
 -weekly with Governor Fauquier to perform on their several in- 
 struments and indulge in pleasant private conversation. It is one 
 of the tender ancedotes of those days, that Jefferson and his young 
 iriend, Tyler, did often in company enjoy the symphonies of the 
 violin, and when together they attempted to perform on the violin- 
 cello, it is said that the great rnan, whose hand was to charm the 
 world with the music of his Declaration, envied the bow-arm of 
 John Tyler, and vowed that were that arm his own, withal so 
 aptly fashioned, he would yield the palm to no man living in ex- 
 cellence of performance ! 
 
 Jefferson, Tyler, and one Frank WiUis, of Gloucester county, 
 prosecuted their studies in a room in the same house. Wilhs kept 
 his horse in the cellar, and was a sort of wag in his way. He 
 would come in sometimes at midnight, and finding Tyler and Jef- 
 ferson hard at their studies, would teaze them by overturning the 
 table at which they were sitting, and running off with their books. 
 " If I could go to the house occupied by my parents in Williams- 
 burg," says my informant,^ " I could point out from the front door 
 the very spot where the house stood." 
 
 One other circumstance of these early times connects Tyler and 
 ■Jeff'erson in an interesting manner. The war waged with France 
 had ceased, and the colonies, after years of sacrifice and toil, made 
 costly by the free expenditure of their blood and treasure, 
 were preparing to enjoy the sweets of what was hoped would be 
 a long repose. Virginia had long been the zealous advocate of 
 home rule. She recognized no connection with England other 
 than the single tie of the crown, and those invisible bonds which 
 spring from a common ancestry. Yet madness is blind, and Parlia- 
 ment in its mad declaratory act of 176-i, proved itself as blind as 
 madness could make it. The stamp act followed, proposing to 
 ■carry out the principles enunciated the year before, and to tax 
 America. Then appeared the colossus of the day. Henry 
 thundered back the voice of Virginia, and shook the sceptered 
 monarch on his throne. Among those who heard Patrick Henry 
 in the House of Burgesses during the stormy discussions on his re- 
 solutions in 1765, were John Tyler, in his ninetenth year, and 
 Thomas Jefferson, in his twenty -third. The soul of young Tyler 
 ■caught fire at the sound of Henry's voice : " Csesar had his Brutus, 
 
 ' Mrs. Maria Edwards, granddaughter of Judge Tyler. 
 
56 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEBS. 
 
 Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third, (" Treason,"' 
 cried the speaker; " treason, treason!" echoed from every part of 
 the house) — " may profit by their example. If tfiis be treason, 
 make the most of it." ^ This was the form in which Mr. Tyler 
 reported Henry's language to William Wirt. Posterity owes his 
 faithful memory a debt of gratitude for preserving through a 
 period of thirty years or more these words so truly sublime. 
 
 From that day Tyler was the consternation of his father. He 
 became one of the most ardent republicans of the times, not- 
 withstanding the hereditary attachment of his family to the crown 
 and its American representative. His intense sincerity, and pas- 
 sionate love of principle, were displayed on all occasions. His- 
 articles in defence of the American cause are said to have been 
 frequent in the columns of the Gazette, while he took delight in 
 reading pamphlets upon popular liberty, and in committing to 
 memory the language and examples of ancient and modern his- 
 tory. Ever and anon he would startle the old marshal by crying 
 ont in a tragic manner the defiance of Henry, and inveighing in 
 burning language against the tyranny of England, until his father 
 would tell him, as shaking his head in donbt, he contemplated the 
 immense power of England, her ancient glory, and prowess by sea 
 and land : 
 
 "Ah ! John, they will hang you yet for a rebel ; they will hang 
 you yet." 
 
 Tyler prosecuted with success the study of the law under Robert 
 Carter Nicholas. This honored and distinguished gentleman had 
 been elected treasurer of the colony on the death of John E,obin- 
 son, in 1766. For him the pupil entertained the highest regard 
 and warmest friendship. Mr. Nicholas' ser^aces in behalf of the 
 Revolution were highly important, and the tribute before me, the 
 
 ' In 1811 Edmund Randolph advertised for publication a History of Virginia, to 
 comprise four volumes, and to come down to the year 1800. It seems, however, 
 never to have gone beyond the manuscript state. A portion of the work, which 
 is chiefly valuable for its sketches of character, is preserved in the Virginia His- 
 torical Society, and purports to give this language to Henry : ' ' C«sar had his 
 Brutus, Charles the First his Cromwell, and George the Third" — "Treason, sir," 
 exclaimed the speaker — to which Mr. Henry instantly replied, "and George the 
 Third, may he never have either." This falls in eloquence far short of Mr.. 
 Tyler's version. The author of the MS. was in 1765 too young, however, to re- 
 port the language as a cotemporary. 
 
EGBERT CAETEE NICHOLAS. 57 
 
 work of his son-in-law, Edmund Kandolph, reflects the admiration 
 always entertained for him by Mr. Tyler : 
 
 "He was bred in the bosom of piety, and bis youthful rearing impressed 
 upon his mind a predilection for the Established Church, though he selected 
 the law as his profession. The propriety aad purity of his life were often 
 quoted to stimulate the old and invite the young to emulation ; and in aa 
 avocation thickly beset with seductions, he knew them only as he repelled 
 them with the quickness of instinct. In speaking of him, I should distrust 
 the warping of personal affection, if all Virginia were not in some measure 
 my witness ; and I should unwillingly incur the supposition of a tacit iosin- 
 uation against the bar in general by laying so great stress on his virtue, were 
 it not that, in the hour of temptation, tlie best men find a refuge and succor 
 in asking themselves how some individuals, spotless in morality and sincere 
 in Christianity, would have acted on a similar occasion. By nature he was 
 of a complacent temper ; in all his actions he was benevolent and liberal. 
 But he appeared to many, who did not thoroughly understand him, to be 
 haughty and austere, because they could not appreciate the preference of 
 gravity to levity, when in conversation the sacredness of religion was involved 
 in ridicule, or language forgot its chastity. When upon the death of Mr. 
 John Robinson, who had been speaker of the House of Burgesses, and the 
 treasurer of Virginia, it was intimated to Mr. Nicholas that the Governor was 
 about to consign the care of the public money to a person not unexception- 
 able, merely because no successor better qualified could be procured, that 
 magistrate was confounded by the unusual address, but wholesome lecture 
 which Mr. Nicholas delivered to him : ' I am told, sir, that the treasury is 
 likely to be conferred on a man in whose hands it would not be safe, and that 
 the reason assigned for such an appointment is that an adequate candidate- 
 is not within your knowledge. Of myself I shall say no more than that, if 
 you deem me equal to the public expectation, I will abandon my profession,, 
 superior as it is in emolument.' The dignity of truth and virtue subdued 
 with awe the royal vicegerent. For m.any years the official accounts of Mr. 
 Nicholas had been scrutinized without the detection of the most minute de- 
 ficiency. He was slow, in the adoption of expedients, however dazzling with 
 their novelty or forced into an undue inagnitude by the arts of enthusiasm. 
 But he lingered not behind the most strenuous in proposing and pushing 
 measures commensurate with the times." 
 
 Besides the -wise counsels of Nicholas, Tyler had the advantage 
 of his father's connection with the court of the admiralty in his 
 duties as marshal. His preference was, therefore, naturally the 
 law relating to commerce. He made the study something more- 
 than a mere study of cases and rules. Case systems were his 
 abomination through life. Like Coke of old, he looked to the: 
 reason of the law, and became a persistent champion of self-re- 
 liance. So continued were his denunciations of British precedent,. 
 
58 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 and the absurd practice in the early courts of citing British cases 
 ad nauseam, and interlarding arguments and opinions with quo- 
 tations from old reporters, that he sometimes failed to receive the 
 credit for learning that he was justly entitled to. Thus Daniel 
 Call, in his sketches of the Judges of the Supreme Court of 
 Yirginia. says: "He disliked law books, and particularly those 
 of England, but was fond of light works and political tracts in 
 favor of republican doctrines." Judge Tyler \'AX,&d. pedantry, and 
 avoided with exaggerated care every appearance of it ; but his well 
 .stored library, habits of thought, and long and varied experience, 
 made him at once one of the most reliable and practical of the 
 Virginia judges. There is an air of strength and manliness ani- 
 mating the legal opinions of Judge Tyler still preserved, that 
 Judge Eoane — himself one of the first lights of the bench — saw 
 and surely appreciated, when he wrote : "As to the understanding 
 of Judge Tyler, it was of the highest order. His mind was re- 
 markably strong, and in applying its energies to the subjects be- 
 fore him, he professed rather to be governed by great principles 
 than to be trammelled by cases or systems." 
 
 Mr. Tyler finished the study of law in due course, and remov- 
 ing to the adjoining county of Charles City, entered actively on 
 the practice of his profession. An old MS. poetry book, filled 
 with his autograph poems, and running from 1770 through a 
 period of forty years, marks the year 1772 as the first, when his 
 poems are dated from Indian Fields, in Charles City. His first 
 case at the bar was one for his god-father and great-uncle, Henry 
 Tyler, of Sussex. John won the case, and the family chronicles 
 assert that his reward was a gold watch and. a fine horse, — two 
 articles largely appreciated by the Virginians of that day. Shortly 
 after, his client died and left him the bulk of his property. 
 
 The old poetry book, lying open before me, proves that Mr. 
 Tyler had almost as varied a career in the courts of love as in the 
 courts of the State. It is his docket of love cases, where the 
 ardent John appears universally as the party plaintiff in number- 
 less declarations of love to " Delia," " Celia," and " Cynthia," the 
 parties defendant. Sometimes the true names reveal themselves 
 in elaborate acrostics. Sweetest incense is breathed at the altars 
 of Susan Hardyman, Anna Minge, Fanny Seawell, and Anna 
 Ponsonby — types of the Virginia girls of that day, blooming with 
 
THE OLD POETEY BOOK. 69 
 
 j^outh and health, and coquettish in the extreme, or as expressed 
 in the words of their admirer: 
 
 " So mild their accents and so sweet their air, 
 Each smile so graceful and each speech so fair, 
 All nature seemed combined for their peculiar care." 
 
 Here on this page we have a sprightly ode to Cynthia : 
 
 To Cynthia. 
 " Dear lovely maid, why thus so cruel grown ? 
 You fly for ever from my slightest touch ; 
 'Tis naught but love pursues thee — love alone ; 
 Canst thou so soft a passion fear so much ? 
 
 " Why turn aside those eyes ? Why knit that brow 
 Where little Cupids do so fondly play ? 
 At thy dear feet if I with homage bow^ 
 
 Shall that disturb thy peace and cause dismay? 
 
 " If heaven endued thee with such gifts divine, 
 
 Prepared and formed thee for love's dearest rites, 
 Is he to blame who bends to heaven's design. 
 Or she who sins against these sacred lights ?" 
 
 The charms of Delia smile upon me from the bottom of the 
 
 .same page : 
 
 To Delia. 
 " Delia's smile will quite undo me, 
 Tet her frowns I cannot bear, 
 Love and fear by turns pursue me, — 
 Why was Delia made so fair ? 
 
 " Why, ye powers, did you bestow 
 So much beauty here below ? 
 Why so many charms on one. 
 
 And yet to be possessed by none ?" 
 
 Tui-ning over the page, I come to an "impromptu:" 
 
 Impeompto. 
 "I have seen the rose in sweetest bloom, 
 I have seen the lily white and fair ; 
 Nor rose nor lily dare presume 
 With Delia's bosom to compare. 
 
 " Oft have I viewed the garden's pride, 
 The hyacinth and tulip gay: 
 But Delia's eyes (my better guide,) 
 The sweetest rays of light display. 
 
60 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 " Go, rose and calacanthus sweet, 
 Go deck the bosom of my fair ; 
 But if those sacred hills you meet, 
 Take care you die not with despair." 
 
 The early pages of the book reveal an experience somewhat 
 more serious than a passing love flight. Poems written in 1772, 
 to " Celia," tell of an engagement with a young lady, which was 
 to be consummated by marriage in May of that year. The real- 
 name cannot be ascertained; but in the first of the poems that 
 bewails the growing estrangement, there is a touching pathos. 
 
 "Oh cruel fair one! still my better part. 
 What horrid dictates can have urged thy heart, 
 What meddling busy fiend's reproachful tongue 
 Could force you to this wrong, — this endless wrong?" 
 
 With the often charged inconstancy of women, Celia forgot her 
 vows, and seems even to have listened to the advances, alas ! of 
 one graced with neither culture nor intellect. 
 
 To Celia. 
 " Oh ! cruel, — still to wound my heart. 
 And bid me ever from you part ; 
 Unmoved by pity, or by love. 
 Untouched by passion still j^ou prove ; 
 Say, dearest woman! Celia, say. 
 Where is the promised bliss in May; 
 Where the soft wishes love indites, 
 And all our amorous young delights ? 
 The fond caresses, kisses dear, — 
 The voice of mutual love sincere ? 
 Too soon that tender downy breast, 
 With other objects is impressed ; 
 And must I, Celia, from you fly, 
 Or gaze in vain, or sigh, or die ? 
 Oh ! no, — your sense preserves your charms, 
 And shields you from rude ' lovers' arms." 
 
 ** 1 She was addressed by a boor," 
 
 The next poem represents a calmer state of mind. It is indited 
 " To Celia on Parting," while the page that follows contains an 
 address " To My Friend on his Marriage." Celia has vindicated 
 her good sense, repelled the boor, and married a man worthy of 
 her love. Philosophy has come to the aid of the discarded one, 
 
MAEY AKMISTEAD. 61 
 
 3)ours its balm o'er the wounds, until sincere well-wishes and 
 blessings are distilled by the poet's pen on the happy pair : 
 
 " May no sad care disturb each faithful breast, 
 Kor painful sickness stop one moment's rest ; 
 May joy and peace diffuse their gladness round, 
 And smile luxuriant, — while with praises crowned 
 May Celia too a happy offspring hear. 
 And thou be partner in parental care ; 
 May all these blessings on thy nuptials wait. 
 Till heaven shall call thee by the hand of fate." 
 
 Absence and time conquer all things. Celia lingers no more in 
 court ; judgment has been entered in her case, and in 1774, at 
 " "Wyanoke," the young man finds a " Delia" more constant and 
 true, while, if his verse is to be believed, she yields to Celia in no 
 measure of personal or mental attractions. This young lady, who 
 was destined afterwards to become his wife, was Mary Armistead, 
 only daughter and heiress of Robert Armistead, of Buck-Eowe, 
 in the county of Elizabeth City, on the Back Eiver, looking 
 out upon Chesapeake Bay, and in sight of the now Fortress 
 Monroe. The Armisteads were an old Virginia family, rich, 
 talented, and distinguished for many generations. The quaint old 
 volumes of patents in the land office enable the investigator to 
 trace the family with considerable accuracy. The first patent re- 
 corded in William Armistead's name bears date July 7, 1636, and 
 calls for four hundred and fifty acres in Elizabeth City, " due to 
 William Armistead for transporting to this colony " his M'ife Anne 
 and eight other persons. A second patent, two years after, locates 
 land "upon the mouth of Broad Creek, southeasterly upon the 
 Back Eiver." From William Armistead two great branches have 
 proceeded — the elder branch of Hesse in Matthews, and the 
 younger branch of Buek-Eowe, in Elizabeth City county. The 
 women of both houses have been noted — so at least their descen- 
 dants boast — for their remarkable beauty of form and grace of 
 feature, while the men have figured conspicuously in our State and 
 national history.^ 
 
 ' 'William Armistead afterwards, in 1651, located lands on "the eastward side 
 of Easternmost Kiver on Mobjack Bay in Gloucester" (now Matthews), — and this 
 was the beginning of the settlement of his family in that region. No less than 
 forty-five emigrants are enumerated in the patents as brought over by him. His 
 "son and heir" was Col. John Armistead, who called his estate in Matthews 
 
62 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 Mary Armistead's mother was a daughter of Col. Shield,^ a rep- 
 resentative of another talented and respectable family, whose seat 
 is yet in York Comity. 
 
 But be this as it may, the rebellious son of the old marshal of 
 the Vice-Admiralty Court saw doubtless far more convincing ar- 
 guments in the mental and personal attractions of Mary than in 
 the mere claim to descent from a line of ancestors, however re- 
 spectable. He was too busy writing verses to bother himself, like 
 I have done, about musty and dusty old records. To him Mary 
 was "Delia," with "cheeks of rosy blushes," "eyes of silent elo- 
 quence," and "form that each fond admirer must approve." The 
 following lines from his poetry book express his only desire : 
 
 " Let me in verse each chaster thought convey, 
 While in fond love my soul dissolves away." 
 
 Mary's name was written on his heai t ; doubtless, also, on the- 
 bark of many a noble oak, and remains to this day traced in his 
 own familiar hand upon the page of his poetry book : 
 
 An Aokostic. — Indian Fields. 
 " Maria's charms my fond endearments move, 
 And soften all the man to generous love ; 
 Kefulgent beauties in each motion shine. 
 Young, but mature in sense, of grace divine. 
 
 Ah! Venus, queen of every soft desire, 
 Rouse her, like me, to feel the lover's fire. 
 
 "Hegse." He was county lieutenant, and member of the Virginia Council which 
 met at Jamestown in 1688. Col. Anthony Armistead, his younger brother, re- 
 mained in Elizabeth City, — was high sheriff, justice of the peace, and county lieu- 
 tenant under Lord Efdngham. He married Hannah, daughter of Eobert Ellyson, 
 of James City county. From Col. Anthony Armistead, Mary, mother of President 
 Tyler, was descended. 
 
 The family tradition refers the origin of the family to Hesse D'Armstadt, in 
 Germany, whence the name is said to be derived. The name of Col. John Armis- 
 tead's place in the seventeenth century goes historical^ to the same point. Yet 
 the emigrants brought over by "WiUiam Armistead have all of them good Enghsh 
 names ; and Mr. Brock says that the present and English form of Armistead in- 
 variably appears in all the archives and annals of Virginia. The German origin, 
 therefore, must have long antedated the arrival of William Armistead in America. 
 (See Mr. Brock's genealogical article, Kichmond Sta7idard, May 22, 1880.) 
 
 ' This gentleman is believed to have been Col. Robert Shield, an officer in the 
 French and Indian wars.(?) 
 
THE EEVOLUTION BEGINS. . 63 
 
 My cares, Maria, are alone for thee, 
 
 In pity teacii thy soul such cares for me. 
 
 Soon then shall Damon every bliss impart 
 
 To thee, thou fair presider o'er his heart; 
 
 Each day I'll meet thee with love's fond embrace. 
 
 And every fond embrace new joys increase ; 
 
 Days shall be days of ease and nights of peace." 
 
 In 1T76, at Weyanoke, on James Eiver, John Tyler and Maiy 
 AriTiistead were married, when Mary was only sixteen years of age. 
 Soon after they moved to a place near the Courthouse, which at 
 first seems to have been called " Marlee," ' but which tlieir eldest 
 daughter, Anne Contesse, named "Greenway" when she first be- 
 gan to talk, because, as she said, with a charming infant lisp, " the 
 grass grew so green there." 
 
 But while love, heedless of the times as the rascal always is, 
 was pursuing his own pleasing course, those times had grown 
 threatening in the extreme. The rdother country still insisted on 
 the right, through parliament, of taxing America; and though 
 the odious stamp act was repealed, a light duty on tea and some 
 other articles remained as a precedent for future times. The 
 clouds of war were, however, too fully charged to be irritated with 
 the presence of the feeblest conductor. At a meeting of the free- 
 holders of the county of Charles City, December 17, 17Y4,^ Ben- 
 jamin Harrison was appointed chairman of a vigilance committee, 
 consisting of Mr. Tyler, William Acrill, Francis Eppes, Samuel 
 Harwood, David Minge, John Edloe, and some others, to secure 
 the observance of the association lately recommended by Congress 
 to prevent the use of merchandize shipped from Great Britain and 
 Ireland. Events were fast hastening to a crisis. The first flash 
 from the murky clouds occurred at Lexington, Mass. : the next day, 
 at Williamsburg, the second succeeded ; and as the reverberations 
 rolled through the entire length and breadth of the land, thou- 
 sands of brave hearts felt the electric shock and rushed to arms. 
 On the 20th of April, 1775, Dunmore, the royal Governor, re- 
 moved the powder from the magazine at Williamsburg to the deck 
 of the British ship, Magdalen, lying at Burwell's Ferry on James 
 
 ' So at least I infer from a letter before me of Mr. Tyler to Henry jTazeweU, 
 dated at "Marlee," in Charles City county, 1782. 
 2 Virginia Gazette. 
 
'64 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEBS. 
 
 I'iver. The news flew like wildfire through the counties. Every- 
 where men started up in alarm, and companies of militia were 
 •enrolled. In Hanover county, Patrick Henry was appointed cap- 
 tain, and with a single company started to Williamsburg to re- 
 claim the powder for the colony. The news of his march being 
 spread abroad, numbers were constantly in motion to join his 
 standard. A young lawyer, John Tyler, threw himself at the 
 head of a company in Charles City, and marched forthwith to 
 Henry's assistance. At Doncastle's ordinary, within sixteen 
 Tniles of Williamsburg, the troops halted; and having received a 
 bill of exchange from the terrified Dummore for the value of the 
 powder, dispersed in triumph to their several homes. On the 
 11th of September, 1775, deputies from the district, of which 
 Charles City was a county, assembled at Williamsburg to take 
 into consideration the military aspect of affairs. It being resolved 
 to form a battalion of militia. Champion Travis was made colonel, 
 Hugh Nelson, lieut.-colonel, and Samuel Harwood, major. Of 
 •one of the two companies from Charles City, John Tyler was made 
 captain, Stith Hardyman, lieutenant, and Peter Dunn, ensign. 
 
 Soon the war cloud burst in earnest. The Virginia Convention 
 of 177fi convened, and rendered itself forever illustrious by adopt- 
 ing, on the 15th of May, a preamble and resolutions, reciting the 
 futility of their endeavors to effect a reconciliation, and instructing 
 our delegates in Congress to move that Congress should declare 
 the colonies free and independent states. A declaration of rights 
 and plan of government, both of them the creations of George Ma- 
 son, were next put forward, and the great work being completed, 
 the convention adjourned. 
 
 Under ordinance passed July 5, 177C, James Prentiss, James 
 Hubard, and John Tyler were appointed judges of admiralty, to 
 pass upon the cases occurring under the ordinances for the seizure 
 and confiscation of the property of British subjects. This was the 
 beginning of Mr. Tyler's long career in the service of his State. 
 
 The great extent of their property and family connections were 
 elements figuring not the least in the success of even such men 
 as Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, who, united personally besides 
 in neighborhood, were in many ways able to confirm their political 
 chances ; and through their triple infiuence to elevate one another 
 in succession to the presidency. Charles City, to which Mr. Tyler 
 
CHARLES CITY IN 1776. 65 
 
 iad moved from the county of his ancestors, was the proud seat of 
 Ihe Virginia aristocracy. There had resided for many years back 
 wealthy and extensive land-owners, up to whom the people na- 
 turally looked for protection and advice. Nor alone was their 
 immense wealth the single circumstance in the way of a stranger 
 moving thither, as Tyler did ; for all of them possessed a formid- 
 able fund of personal merit that had to be met and overcome. 
 Charles City was one of the original shires into which Virginia 
 was divided in 1634. Many have been the episodes of war and 
 romance that have illustrated its local chronicles. It was there 
 that Bacon's rebellion took its form in 1676; and the Kevolution, 
 as well as the wars of 1S12 and 1861, have made it the cradle and 
 home of stirring events. There, too, are the old homesteads of 
 Shirley — still the home of the Carters — Weyanoke, Berkeley 
 Sandy Point, and "Westover, whose tenements have seen many 
 3, grand old owner, and many a festal scene. When Tyler 
 made it his home — to say nothing of the irdlnential families of 
 the Acrills, Munfords, Christians, Douglasses, Willcoxes, Edloes 
 and others, scattered throughout the county — Col. William Byrd 
 lived at Westover, Col. Charles Carter at Shirley, and Col. 
 Benjamin Harrison at Berkeley. These three last gentlemen 
 iad long been members of tlie royal Council, or held in one way 
 or another the highest positions in the colony — veteran politi- 
 cians, educated and hospitable. It must be confessed that com- 
 petition was abundant in so small a county, and it took no slight 
 ■degree of nerve in the young lawyer to set himself to work to 
 overcome the array of talent with which he was met. How per- 
 sistent those endeavors were, and with what steadiness they were 
 .supported, is attested by the election of Mr. Tyler, in 17S5, to the 
 House of Delegates over the most formidable of all his neighbors, 
 Col. Benjamin Harrison, possessed, as he was, of the two-fuld ad- 
 vantage of superior age and thirty -six years eminent public service. 
 The ordinance of the Convention of 1776, providing for judges 
 -of admiralty, repeated very nearly the language of another passed 
 at the convention which met [in the fall of 1775. Under the lat- 
 ter ordinance John Blair, James Holt, and Edmund Eandolph had 
 been named as judges ; but the transfer of two of these to other 
 •ofiBces, and the resignation of the third, led to the selection in the 
 •ensuing year of' Messrs. Prentiss, Hubard, and Tyler. By the 
 5 
 
66 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 terms of their appointment their office was to last only until the- 
 first of December following, when it was expected that the Gen- 
 eral Assembly would properly organize a court of admiralty, as 
 provided for under the Constitution. 
 
 The sources of information open to me at this remote period are 
 somewhat meagre, and I cannot say whether Mr. Tyler served out 
 his term as judge or not. I find him offering for the Senate of 
 Virginia in August, 1776, and this may have induced his resigna- 
 tion. Be that as it may, in his address to his constituents Mr. 
 Tyler alluded very modestly to his candidacy, but in terms of pat- 
 riotism truly becoming a " friend to liberty " : 
 
 To the Oentlemen Freeholders oj Oharles City, Javies City, and New Kent : 
 
 Gentlemen. — I observe in the form of government, laid down by the worthy 
 delegates of this colony in convention, a Senate is to be composed of twenty- 
 four members, to be chosen by the free voice of the people ; in consequence- 
 of which you no doubt will expect to have offers made you by gentlemen will- 
 ing to serve their country in the capacity of a senator. I have not yet un- 
 derstood in the compass of my acquaintance that any gentleman is inclined 
 to stand as a candidate for this district, notwithstanding some time has elapsed' 
 since this measure has been known to the public. A young man, therefore,, 
 who styles himself a friend to liberty, begs leave to offer his services to you' 
 on this occasion, — not doubting but you will be governed by the most liberal 
 and candid principles in your choice of a representative, and not by prepos- 
 session in favor of friendsliip or connection. Most of you, gentlemen, I have 
 tlie honor to be well known to, particularly in James City, my native county^ 
 and this in which I have lived a few years ; nor can I be unknown to the- 
 greater part of New Kent, although I have not contracted so large and so- 
 intimate an acquaintance there. However, to gentlemen who always act 
 upon such motives as do them honor in the choice of a legislator, nothing can 
 be more ridiculous than to suppose they have an idea that a stranger is less- 
 capable, because he is a stranger, to serve his country in any post than even 
 the most intimate friend or relative. So far from thinking that any of you 
 will part with your freedom in election, when you have so nobly struggled for 
 your liberty, and. as it were, reared its once drooping head above the power 
 of despotic rule, I am convinced that when the day comes on which you make- 
 known your senator, it will not be the persuasion of the nearest friend that can. 
 induce you to part with one single particle of it upon dishonorable terms. If, 
 gentlemen, any one should offer his services to you whom you know to be su- 
 perior in abilities, if worthy in other respects, such a one I recommend to you 
 in the strongest terras, for merit and abilities ought alone to have promotion ;. 
 3or shall I ever suffer the least mortification but when the contrary is the 
 case. 
 
 The task is no doubt great and arduous to undertake, but however difficult- 
 to discharge to the general satisfaction of the world, the candidate must not. 
 
ME. TTLEE ELECTED TO THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 67 
 
 be intimidated so much as to withhold his desire from the public, because the 
 motive on which he is induced to act is the love of liberty, his country and 
 posterity. Abilities may be wanting in so distinguishable an ofSoe ; but my 
 endeavors to render satisfaction, by an upright deportment and constant at- 
 tention to everything that is just, reasonable and political, as far as I am able 
 to judge, shall ever bo devoted to the good of my country. I shall rest satis- 
 fied, gentlemen, that you will not expect a personal application, as it is al- 
 most impracticable for any man. I know of no better method of offering my 
 services to you all than this, which I hope will be taken in good part. 
 I am, gentlemen, your most obedient humble servant, 
 Indian Fields, July 28, 1776. John Tyler. 
 
 A few days after Mr. Tyler's announcement, John Armistead 
 of Xew Kent, a gentleman who had been politically prominent a 
 long time, published his card in the Gazette ; and Mr. Tyler was 
 either beaten or withdrew ; for John Armistead's name is recorded 
 in the Gazette as elected from the senatorial district. 
 
 Mr. Tyler retained his position as an officer in the militia, and 
 far from being discouraged at his late failure, ran for the House 
 the following year. He seems to have been elected with acclama- 
 tion, and with Benjamin Harrison as his colleague, took his seat 
 in the General Assembly in the spring of 1778.^ 
 
 In taking leave of the colonial period, it may be observed here 
 that there were no titles of nobility among the people, except a 
 knight or two, like Sir John Eandolph. The members of the 
 Council were all Esquires, and the first office in each county was 
 that of colonel of the militia. Very often the two honors were 
 conjoined,^ as in the case of Col. John Page, Esq.,^ Col. John Arm- 
 istead, Esq., Col. Benjamin Harrison, Esq., etc. 
 
 ' Charles City was represented in the Convention of 1776 by Samuel Harwood 
 and William Acrill. The Convention continued itself as the House of Delegates 
 and met the Senate in the fall of 1776. During 1777 Benjamin Harrison and 
 WiBiam Acrill were the representatives. William Acrill was the son of Capt 
 William Acrill, whom the Gazette of March 24, 1738-9, describes as "a man of 
 excellent parts, profoundly versed in the law, a representative in the Assembly, 
 Ac." Major Harwood died in 1778. 
 
 - For an account of the Page family and its collaterals — the Nelsons, Walkers, 
 Pendletons, Eandolphs, etc.— see The Page Family, by Dr. E. C. M. Page, of 
 New York. 
 
CHAPTEE 11. 
 
 1778— 178-t. 
 
 " Money is "with propriety considered as tbe vital principle of tfee bcdy politic; as that 
 ■whicli sustains i'.s life and motion, and enables it to perform its most essential funcriong.'' 
 — Alxxa>"der Hamilton, (Federalist, Xo. xxis.) 
 
 " Taxes, wtiicti are raised with due regard to the ability of the people, and expended in 
 the State for its \arions benefits, circulate like the blood in animal life, which gires strength 
 and Tiger to the whole system, when, if this Circulation were wanting, death would ensue. 
 As well might it be said that the htiman body could exist without food or raiment, as that 
 the body politic should flourish and prosper without proper and necessary contributions." 
 — Jonx Ttlee, Sk., {Message, 1809). 
 
 ilE. TiXZE IN THE St.\TE I-ZGISLATUBE. — ThE StaTES THE CeSTEES OF POLITICAL 
 
 AcTiTiTT. — The Cttebenct. — Eztesee TTsdee the Coloxial Eegesie. — Papee 
 lIo^"EY. — 5Xe. Ttlee Deaws the Last Bill foe Papee Monet. — The Xeae 
 17^0. — ilE. Ttlee Elected to the Council. — Istasiox of Arnold. — La Fat- 
 ette asd Coenwallis. — The Legislatcee Flees feoh Chablottestille. — 
 Anecdote. — Feiesdship Between ili.. Ttlee and IIe. Henet. — The Fite Pee 
 Cent. Iilpost. — Me. Ttlee's Eepoei on the Nobth Caeolina Boundaet. — 
 Jeffeeson Defends His Adiuntsteation. — Seeeendee of Coenwallis. — Mb. 
 Ttlee Elected Speaeee. — Edjiund Pendleton, Geoege "Wythe, Benj.ojin 
 Haeeison, PacBAED Henet Lee. — Xegotiatioss foe Peace. — ATh Ttlee De- 
 eeats Lee foe Speaker. — Trade. — Eesteictions. — Toeles. — Me. Ttlee Leads 
 the Opposition to England. — The Ihpost Law Ke-en acted. 
 
 TO confine within the narrow limits of a single chapter the im- 
 portant period of the American Eev-olntion, in an even cm- 
 sorj mention of the prominent features of Mr. Tyler's legislative 
 career, is a task not easy to me, nor just to him : but the limits 
 of my work leave no alternative possible. 
 
 TTere there no other inducement to extend the storv, his compan- 
 ionship -with the emiaent men of that period would present irre- 
 sistible temptations to wander off into pleasant episodes and sketches 
 of character. Tirginia was, indeed, at that day the Queen State of 
 the Union. The burden of colonial dependence had been exchanged 
 for a real national character in the >tate, which had fanned into a 
 bright blaze the fires of genius. The Eevolution was not alone a 
 change of government, but a reformation of thought, involving 
 equally religion, law, and government. As such, it stimulated the 
 
THE STATES THE CENTRES OF POLITICAL ACTIVITY. 69 
 
 minds of men into the widest ranges of energy ; and in propor- 
 tion as the general government lacked in power, the creative spirit 
 of nations was found bursting forth in the legislative halls of the 
 States. The first honors in this regard are universally recognized 
 as belonging to that State where Jefferson, Madison, Marshall, 
 Henry, and Monroe were wont to meet in an assembly composed, 
 for the rest, of their compeers. The office of congressman, under 
 the old Articles of Confederation, as well as for many years under 
 the new Constitution, stood in little favor with public men. The 
 pay was meagre and uncertain; the expenses heavy; and the 
 duties unpleasant, as necessitating frequent absences from home, 
 and long and tedious journeys to the capital. The centres of po- 
 litical activity were, moreover, in the States. 
 
 So manifest was this that Washington, in 1778, addressed a 
 solemn letter to Col. Benjamin Harrison, who had been elected 
 speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates over Thomas Jeffer- 
 son, adjuring him to send abler men to Congress. " "Where," asked 
 he, " are Mason, "Wythe, Jefferson, Nicholas, Pendleton, and an- 
 other I might name ;" ^ Madison, in the Federalist, in urging the 
 danger of State ascendency, maintained that under the new Con- 
 stitution the State offices would suffer no material diminution in im- 
 portance.^ Washington, as President, made proffers of the Federal 
 ofiices in his gift in vain. Patrick Henry preferred retirement to 
 the ofiice of Chief-Justice or Secretary of State.' The seats in 
 the cabinet and the missions abroad were often left unfilled, since 
 they were held to amount to a sacrifice of comfort and pecuniary 
 emolument. Even as late as 1827, John Tyler would not admit 
 that to be one in a body of forty-eight United States senators was 
 to hold a more elevated station than that which he then occupied 
 as chief magistrate of Virginia.'' 
 
 John Tyler, Sr., never sought office under the national govern- 
 men except in the single case of the district judgeship, which he 
 filled during the last two years of his life. The measure of his 
 ambition was satisfied with the stations opened to competition at 
 home, and at that time there were few more honorable dignities 
 
 ' Spark's Washington, vi. , p. 152. 
 
 = Federalist, No. XLIV^.,'; Von Hoist's Const. Hist., 1828-1846, p. 15. 
 ' Letter of William Wirt Henry, Nov. 22, 1867, to Biohmond Dispatclu 
 * Niles' Register, sxxL, p. 341. 
 
70 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 than the high places which he held in the legislature, judiciary, 
 and executive of the State of Yirginia. A bold, ready, and forci- 
 ble speaker, the ardent advocate during the Eevolution of every 
 measure devised to support the credit of the State and general 
 governments, — in the midst of the deepest gloom his courage was 
 high and his spirit unconquerable. The patriotism which had 
 made his father predict that he would yet be hanged as a rebel) 
 amounted with him to a kind of mysticism, which placed at his 
 country's disposal his fortune and his unremitted services. He 
 soon rose to the position of a leader in the Assembly, and ere 
 three years had elapsed he held the high office of speaker in the 
 House — a place to which he was elected for four successive 
 years, and once over even so distinguished a competitor as Richai'd 
 Henry Lee. 
 
 Some of the more interesting subjects with which Mr. Tyler 
 was connected during the Eevolution shall now receive a short 
 notice. And first the currency, in respect to which Mr. Tyler 
 played an especially interesting part. 
 
 Under the colonial regime, very little system prevailed in the 
 management of the revenue. There was with the Assembly a 
 purpose in this, since it served to keep in check the crown's pre- 
 rogative. According to the able and valuable report of Governor 
 Dinwiddle, in January, 1755, on tlie " Present State of Virginia,"' 
 the revenue fixed and provided for by law amounted to £6,500, 
 cornvvaniius annis. The branches of this revenue were, 1st, A duty 
 of two shillings on every hogshead of tobacco exported, abating 
 an allowance of ten per cent, to masters of vessels for paying it in 
 specie or bills of exchange; 2nd, Fiften pence per ton on all ships 
 and vessels trading in Virginia, commonly called port duties ; 3rd, 
 Sixpence per head on every passenger imported ; ith. Fines and 
 forfeitures for breaches of the penal laws, contempts of courts of 
 justice, breaches of the peace, or conviction of felonies or tres- 
 passes ; 5th, Eights for taking up lands, which amounted to five shil- 
 lings for every fifty acres. The established expenditures of the gov- 
 ernment for the salaries of officers, of which the governor received 
 the disproportionate share of £3,000, averaged £4,345. When, by 
 reason of war with Indians or other exigency of government, as 
 
 ' Dinwiddle Papers, i., pp. 380-'90. 
 
COLONIAL FISCAL SYSTEM. 71 
 
 messengers, expresses, repairs of government buildings, the ex- 
 penses were raised above the revenue, the Assembly levied a 
 special and temporary tax on polls and laud.' These taxes vs^ere 
 paid in tobacco, or its equivalent of tobacco certificates, specie, or 
 bills of exchange. Taxes paid in part or in whole exclusively in 
 coin were unknown in Yirginia until the year 1781. Such specie 
 as circulated consisted chiefly of the Spanish milled dollar, destined 
 to be the unit of our national currency. 
 
 The British government, in the spirit of that narrow poKcy 
 which then guided its councils, forbade by law the exportation of 
 British coin. Hence one reason for the high rate of exchange. The 
 French and Indian war made pressing demands on Yirginia for 
 funds ; and in 1755 the first paper money was emitted. This species 
 of currency, which requires to be very carefully handled, had been 
 long employed in the more northern colonies, Massachusetts hav- 
 ing taken the lead in making use of it, in 1690. ]S"either the 
 proclamation of Queen Anne, nor the express prohibition of Par- 
 liament, nor the negative of the royal governors, could wean the 
 people there from the use of it. The immense issues of the 
 northern colonies were very injurious to creditors and commerce ; 
 exchanges rose to fabulous rates; parties were formed on paper 
 money as the sole issue; emigration was diverted south, and Vir- 
 ginia, which until 1755 had a less population than Massachusetts, 
 became in twenty years by far the most populous of the colonies. 
 "Our Assembly," wa-ote Mr. !N"icholas, the treasurer, "had so little 
 inclination to it, that at the first commencement of those hostilities 
 which were introductory to the late war, [French and Indian war,] 
 when they were called upon for aids, they preferred borrowing 
 
 ' In 1619 the first General Assembly of Virginia met at Jamestown. In 1623 
 Hening's first general tax law was passed, "imposing a levy of ten pounds of 
 -tobacco upon every male head above sixteen years of age.'' PoU taxes, against 
 wMoli Wat Tyler rebelled in the reign of Kichard the Second, continued to be 
 levied in tobacco until 1645, when the Assembly testified to their injustice by 
 passing a new act levying taxes in proportion to "visible estates in the coUony " 
 and stigmatizing " the ancient and usual taxing of all people in the coUony by the 
 pole" as "inconvenient and insupportable for the poorer sorte to beare." Yet, in 
 1648, the Assembly ventured to abolish the land and property tax, and revive the 
 old injustice of taxing by the poU. The land tax was once more revived in 1755 
 fo aid in carrying on the French and Indian war, and taxation by the poll, though 
 continued at the present day in a tax of one dollar for free-school purposes, fell 
 gradually into disuse. 
 
72 LETTERS XNB TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 tlie sum desired, even at an advanced interest."^ Accordingly, 
 in I'Toi, a loan of £10,000, with iuterest at six per cent., 
 Avas first attempted, — next a lottery; but the times leaving no 
 alternative, the Assembly authorized, in 1755, an emission of 
 £20,000. Paper money continued to be emitted up to the Ee- 
 volution, but the sums voted at different times were all upon pro- 
 per estimates"; and funds the most unexceptionable were established 
 for their redemption. According to Mr. Nicholas, these notes- 
 were generally preferred by the merchants to gold and silver. 
 Before the period of their full extinguishment ariived, the storm 
 of Kevolution burst upon the land. The question of war being' 
 one of taxation, the people would not endure, and the legislators 
 feared to impose direct taxes. The paper money of the Eevolu- 
 tion was, therefore, the outgrowth of necessities, issued in Vir- 
 ginia with the honest intention of its redemption, yet based 
 upon funds of either little or no value. After the flood had 
 started in all the States, men were compelled to support the sys- 
 tem as sincerelj^ as they saw the necessity of more urgent taxa- 
 tion. Congress, indeed, which had no power to tax, and yet is- 
 sued upwards of $200,000,000 in paper, could only pledge the 
 honor of the several States. The paper money, like every fever, 
 had to run its course. After it once began to lose its credit, it 
 was found to be a tax of the most unequal description. The laws 
 of the country compelled a creditor to receive a shilling where a 
 pound was due. Estates melted away like snow in the fire, and 
 the paper money after several years perished, having supported 
 the armies and achieved our independence, but leaving om- State 
 and national history covered with the appearances of bad faith,, 
 which could not be avoided, however regretted; and prostrating 
 the good and patriotic, the widowed and orphaned, the aged and 
 infij-m, in one common woe. 
 
 After she got well started, Yirginia was excelled by few, if any,, 
 of the States in her issues of paper money. In July, 1775, the' 
 Virginia Convention emitted bills to the amount of £350,000 ; in 
 May, 1776, £100,000 ; and in July, 1776, £100,000. The General 
 Assembly which followed was not outdone. In October, 1776, 
 £400,000 were issued; in May, 1777, 81,000,000; in October, 
 
 ' See his valuable letters on the paper ouiTency of Virginia in the Virginia 
 Gazette of July 29, 1773, and September 30, 1773. 
 
PAPEE MONEY OE THE EEVOLUTION. 73 
 
 17TT, Sl,700,000; in May, 1778, $6,000,000; in October, 1778, 
 sl,700,000; and in May, 1779, £1,000,000. Private individuals 
 soon began to vie with the government in issuing their bills of credit,^ 
 and the Legislature was speedily called upon to correct the evil, by 
 requiring bond and security, and threatening a forfeiture of ten 
 times the amount of such notes. Then the counterfeiters got to work, 
 and, notwithstanding the penalty of death denounced against them, 
 succeeded in doing their full part towards vitiating the currency. 
 
 Ko sufficient fund of redemption was provided, — and, indeed, 
 little could be provided, — to float the vast amount of paper that 
 the State and general governments issued. From the first, depre- 
 ciation and ultimate extinction of value were the certain conse- 
 quences. The enthusiasm of the patriots refused to believe this, 
 and they denounced heavy penalties on those who distinguished 
 between notes and specie. Yet, in proportion as the paper fell in 
 value, was the flood augumented by Congress and the State Legis- 
 latures, which thereby accelerated the final collapse. 
 
 By the end of the year 1779, the State and Continental paper 
 money had sunk till forty dollars were worth only one in specie. 
 Congress, thinking that the credit of the individual States might 
 be better than that of the collective whole, and that a currency to 
 which was pledged the faith of the United States and that of the 
 several Commonwealths might be better than that which depended 
 alone upon a single promise, recommended to the States a new 
 expedient in March, 1780. All the old State and Continental 
 bills outstanding were directed to be called in by taxes, — the 
 former to be burnt, and the latter to be re-issued in the notes of a 
 new emission, at the rate of forty dollars of the old money for one 
 of the new, and endorsed by commissioners, appointed by Con- 
 gress for the purpose. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, who had labored assiduously in the Legislature for 
 the past two years to preserve the sinking credit of the country, 
 gave his warm support to the plan of Congress. At the May 
 session, in 1780, the recommendations were discussed at length,, 
 by Patrick Henry, Kichard Henry Lee, George Mason, and Mr. 
 Tyler. Patrick Henry poured forth all his eloquence against the 
 plan of Congress. The resolution, ratifying the proposed project, 
 was at first defeated by a vote of 59 to 25} But there was one 
 ' Journal House of Delegates, May term, 1780, pp. 36-7. 
 
74 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 defect ia the character of Henry as a legislator. He was apt to 
 be contented, it is said, with some general vote of success, but 
 had little patience for legislative skirmishing. So, in this instance, 
 the resolutions, thus rejected by the House, were adopted only two 
 weeks after by a majority of 52 to 3i. ^ This great change, how- 
 ever, was doubtless due as much to a change in the complexion of 
 the members, — the attendance being very varying, — as to the ab- 
 sence of Mr. Henry. 
 
 Laws were passed at the following October session, making these 
 State-Continental bills a legal tender. But nothing could save the 
 paper money. New funds for redemption wete named; but 
 the public creditors complained of the late measure of Congress 
 as a great and deliberate breach of the public faith, and would 
 put no confidence in the fresh promises to pay. Men might differ 
 on the propriety of the course of Congress in recommending the 
 new scheme of finance, but it seemed beyond question that Mr. 
 Tyler and his friends were right, when the matter for decision 
 was the support of Congress, in a measure deemed necessary by 
 the Federal agent for the general welfare. It was felt that 
 •"everyday gained to the existence of paper money, was a point 
 gained in the war ;" and to have rejected the scheme of Congress, 
 nf ter the measure had been promulged, as the only means to restore 
 the national credit, would have been most certainly to have 
 instantly destroyed the little credit that remained. The Legisla- 
 ture, therefore, acted in the most perfect good faith ; but at the 
 very same session, the exigencies of the times compelled them to 
 undermine their own action, by providing for a further emission 
 of State paper money. This was followed up by another flood of 
 notes at the October session, redeemable, like the Continental issue, 
 in specie at one for forty. In the race down hill it became the policy 
 of the Legislature to squeeze as much out of the paper issues as pos- 
 sible. Within a year after the new scheme of finance had been 
 ratified by the State, from 38,000,000 to 43,000,000 poimds^ in 
 promises to pay were authorized, redeemable at the stated rate of 
 one for forty. The bills, as fast as issued, were all made legal 
 tenders, receivable in payment of taxes, and protected against 
 counterfeiters by the usual penalty of death. 
 
 By June, 1781, the old paper money funded the year before 
 
 ' Journal House of Delegates, May term, 1 780, p. 59. 
 * A "Virginia pound was worth fS.SSj. 
 
COLLAPSE OF THE PAPER MONEY. 75 
 
 iad so deteriorated that the Legislature found it necessary to re-- 
 scind the act, whereby Virginia took upon herself her due propor- 
 tion of the Continental paper.^ On the heels of this act the As- 
 sembly authorized an issue of paper to the amount of £20,000,000,^ 
 a sum considered much larger than the whole circulating cash of 
 the colonies at the outbreak of the Revolution.' Yet the scale of 
 depreciation in less than six months ran down from 250 to 1,000 ; 
 ^nd in December, 17S1, an act was passed providing, in ludicrous 
 contradiction to the measure of the previous June, which pledged 
 the faith of the State for their redemption at one for forty, that the 
 State paper Mils outstanding should be redeemed at one for one thou- 
 sand^ in loan-office certificates, falling due December 1, 1790, mi- 
 terest at six per cent, from date.* This finished the paper money in 
 Virginia. Xo more was issued, either by the State or Congress ; and 
 a scale of depreciation was adopted by the Legislature to apply to aU 
 contracts. As appears from the report of the Auditor of Public Ac- 
 counts, dated November 20, 1790,^ the State paper money was 
 melted by this process to =£7,183 2s. 3d. The loan-office debt netted 
 but £119,383 7s. id. and the State army certificates £936,830 7s. 
 6d. These items were afterwards assumed by the United States 
 i;o an amount not exceeding 83,500,000. 
 
 Cotemporaneous with the first movement towards the new 
 scheme of finance recommended by Congress on the 18th of March, 
 1780, was the passage of an act by the Virginia Assembly provi- 
 ding for a poll tax on slaves payable in specific articles — corn, wheat, 
 rye, oats, hemp and tobacco — distrainable by the commissioner." 
 Taxes from 1775 up to this time had been paid in paper only. 
 The act of Assembly passed in June, 1780, approving the late re- 
 solutions of Congress, contained a like provision for specific taxes, 
 payable, at the option of the tax-payer, in the new notes.' The 
 specie brought in by the French fieet in the summer of 1781, and 
 the wreck of the paper money, induced the Assembly, in the fall, 
 to extend taxation in specific articles to a new poll tax of two 
 pounds of bacon for every free person above twenty-one, and every 
 .slave above sixteen, dischargeable in specie.* The act passed at 
 
 1 June 19, 1781 ; Hen. Stats., x., pp. 412-'3. 
 
 = June 21, 1781, House Journal, May term,1781, p. 28; Hen., Stats x., 430 
 
 2 Phillips' American Paper Currency, p. 201. 
 
 ^Hen. Stats., x., 456. » Enjot's Funding System, p. 62. 
 
 « Hen. StatB., x., pp. 79, 80. ' Ihid., x., p. 245, >> Ibid., x , p. 490. 
 
76 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 the same session, for "ascertaining certain taxes and duties, and 
 for estalilishing a certain revenue," limited the receivability of the- 
 State-Continental money at the treasury to only a tenth of the- 
 land tax, the remaining nine-tenths being made payable exclusively 
 in specie.^ All the other taxes were made receivable in coin or spe- 
 cifics. The abundance of deer in the State at this time is demon- 
 strated by the enactment of a law making deerskins receivable for 
 taxes, under certain qualifications.^ The State-Continental notes 
 alone continued receivable by the collector in payment of a part of" 
 the taxes until January, 1788, when they dropped entirely out of the 
 tax bills. Coin constantly gained on the specific articles, which, from 
 their bulk and perishability, were found unfit to furnish the proper 
 nourishment to the sinews of government, and after a few years, spe- 
 cific taxes, like the paper money, became obsolete devices. The act 
 passed December 32, 1787, complained of the frequent impositions- 
 practised in the collection of the taxes, and confined the payment, 
 thereof to specie, and warrants equivalent thereto.^ This was done 
 in the face of a new paper agitation which struck the State from 
 the north, cotemporaneously with Shays' rebellion, in 1786. Vir- 
 ginia stood firm against tlie cry of some of its people for new pa- 
 per issues, and stuck to coin and direct taxation. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, unlike the majority of the Legislature, had no patience 
 from the first with the paper money, and boldly urged the alter- 
 native of taxation. He bitterly complained of the " shameful 
 parsimony " that too often possessed the Assembly ; but, like a 
 sensible legislator, he ran along with the current which he knew 
 neither he nor any one else could stop. In voting for the law of 
 1780, which made the one-for-forty bills a legal tender, he vindi- 
 cated his patriotic motives by having afterwards to receive from, 
 the purchaser of his farm in Sussex the purchase price in worthless 
 depreciated paper. He was the chairman of the two important 
 committees of Justice and the whole House during the eventful 
 session of the Legislature at Staunton, in June, 1781, and has the 
 distinction of having drawn the last bill providing for an issue of 
 paper money.** It seemed, at the time, the only expedient to pro- 
 cure supplies. The true currency could only arise from the ashes- 
 of the old. In March, 1782, Mr. Tyler, writing to Judge Henry 
 Tazewell, expressed the general feeling in a postscript to his letter,, 
 
 "Hen. stats., X., p. 508. '' Ibid , :^i., i^. GG. ^ Ibid., zi.u., -p. 707 . 
 
 * Journal of House of Delegates, May session, 1781, p. 22. 
 
ARNOLD IN VIRGINIA. 77 
 
 -when, in alluding to some new pecuniary loss, he said, " The pa- 
 mper money has been my evil genius." 
 
 The year ITSO was a gloomy one for Virginia, independent of 
 the desperate struggle with the paper money. Since 1779 the 
 theatre of war had shifted from the !N"orth to the more southern 
 States, and Yirginia was constantly called upon for men and sup- 
 plies, which were freely furnished. Thus her own soil was left 
 exposed to the enemy. In 17S0, A'irginia answered for the conti- 
 nent !?13,681,36S.56, which, though in paper, was an excess of 
 84.081,368 over the requisitions of Congress during that period. 
 Mr. Jefferson was governor, and had done all that could be ex- 
 pected of an able and efficient officer. Suddenly the traitor Arnold 
 burst upon Yirginia. On the Ith of January, 1781, he had as- 
 cended to Kennon's Landing, in Charles City. The people near 
 the river, and among them Mr. Tyler's family, were now put in 
 danger of their lives. The brutality of Arnold and licentiousness 
 of the British soldiery exposed property and all to outrage. While 
 the militia was slowly collecting, the citizens on the river retired 
 to a more inland situation. Eeaching AVestover, Arnold disem- 
 barked his troops and marched on Eichmond. He quickly reached 
 the town, bm-nt all the stores to be found, and then beat a hasty 
 retreat to Westover, wliile the gallant General Nelson was gather- 
 ing on his rear. On returning to Westover in Charles City, a de- 
 tachment of Arnold's troops surprised some militia at the court- 
 house, and in sight of Greenway. The same night, January 10th, 
 his whole army, safely shipped, was sailing down the river. 
 
 In the meantime, at the close of the session of the General As- 
 sembly which met in the fall of 1780, just preceding Arnold's 
 invasion, Mr. Tyler was elected a member of the Council of State, 
 vice Merriwether Smith, resigned. The Council, under the Con- 
 stitution of 1776, was a body, consisting of eight gentlemen, 
 elected by the Legislature to assist the governor in the conduct of 
 the government. No executive act could be performed without 
 their advice and consent. Mason, in drawing the State constitu- 
 tion, had borrowed the idea of the functions of this body from 
 England. There the complexion of the ministry is determined by 
 that of the House of Commons. To ensure a similar result in 
 Yirginia, the constitution authorized tlie Assembly to remove by 
 joint ballot any two of the Council at the end of three years, and 
 
78 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 to supply the vacancies thus occurring, as well as those occasioned 
 by death or incapacity, by new elections in the same manner. It 
 was the absence of a similar provision in the Federal Constitution 
 that was urged by Mason as one of the capital objections to its- 
 adoption.^ 
 
 At this time none were elected to the Council except those who 
 stood conspicuous for talents and experience in public life. Mr. 
 Tyler's three year's service in the Legislature had won for him an 
 extraordinary reputation. Many of the most important bills that 
 fill the pages of Hening are the work of his hand. In committee 
 he was full of resource, and remarkable, like his son after him, for 
 his suggestive faculties. His aptness as a presiding officer had 
 been recognized by the House ; and at the same session in which 
 he was elected councillor, he was the favored choice of the Com- 
 mittee of the Whole to act as their chairman. This session is 
 memorable for the proposition of Virginia, agreed to on its last 
 day, to cede to the United States, "for the sake of the general 
 good," the territory lying northwest of the Eiver Ohio. 
 
 After the adjournment of the Legislature, on the 2d of January, 
 1780, Mr. Tyler hastened home to Greenway. He arrived just 
 in time to save his family from the tender mercies of Arnold, who 
 landed at Westover immediately after. The following letter, 
 written in reply to a summons of Governor Jefferson to attend 
 upon the Council, alludes to the shifts to which Mr. Tyler and his- 
 neighbors were subjected in making their escape from Arnold : 
 
 [Tyler to Jefferson.] 
 
 Charles City Co., Feh. 3, 1781. 
 Sir : I received your summons by express, and shall pay due attention 
 thereto us soon as my little domestic affair is brought into order again. After 
 a long application to business in the Assembly, it is reasonable to suppose I 
 ■wished to have enjoyed a fevf weeks at home ; but one day did not pass be- 
 fore we were invaded, and all who lived on the river were obliged to retire to 
 a more secure situation with their families, in order to render more service 
 when occasion required than could have been done otherwise. I hope, there- 
 fore, that although my neglect of duty is not justificable, my peculiar situa- 
 tion will at least be an excuse for it. In ten or twelve days, I expect to be in 
 Richmond, unless your Excellency may think fit to demand my attendance- 
 sooner. 
 
 I am, with the highest regard, your Excellency's most obedient servant, 
 
 Jno. Tyler. 
 
 ' Elliot, i., p. 495. 
 
JXE. TYLER RESIGNS HIS SEAT IN COUNCIL. 79" 
 
 But the constituents of Mr. Tyler would not thus relinquish 
 theii" claims to his services in the House. No sooner was it known 
 that he had been promoted to his new position than the gentle- 
 men of the county besieged him with solicitations to decline the 
 honor. A little later, therefore, I find Mr. Tyler writing to 
 Govei-nor Jefferson in the following terms: 
 
 [Tyler to Jefferson.] 
 
 Charles Citt Co., April 1, 1781. 
 Sir: I beg to inform you, that in consequence of being solicited to re- 
 represent this count}' again, and my consent thereto, I haye declined taking 
 a seat in council. I confess this determination discovers a degree of versatil- 
 ity in me ; but since I have not withdrawn my small services from the public, 
 I hope yon will not think me reprehensible. I have many good reasons in 
 addition to the above (which, perhaps, have no right to a place here) that in- 
 duce me to make this resignation of my seat in council. 
 
 I am, with due respect, your Excellency's most obedient servant, 
 
 Jno. Tyler. 
 
 At the spring election, accordingly, Mr. Tyler was once more 
 chosen to a seat in the House of Delegates. It is said, indeed, 
 that his popularity was such that for many years succeeding he 
 lost not a single vote in his county. 
 
 The British in the meantime had been successful in subduing 
 Georgia and South Carolina ; and when the Legislature opened in 
 Bichmond, May 7, 1781, a month after the resignation of Mr. 
 Tyler, the enemy was already collected in full force in Virginia. 
 Gen. Bhillips, dispatched by Sir Henry Clinton from New York, 
 was on the Prince George side of the James Kiver, at Brandon,, 
 opposite to Greenway, disembarking for Petersburg to meet 
 Cornwallis, who was marching up from the south. The army of 
 Cornwallis, consisting of Tories and foreign mercenaries, marked 
 each step of their progress north with the Wight of fire and 
 sword. What could Jefferson or the Legislature do ? Neglected 
 by Congress, without succor of much moment from the North,. 
 and with nothing but raw militia — and these without clothes, arms, 
 or provisions — to oppose to the British regulars, they had little 
 other resource but to get out of Cornwallis' way with all the dispatch 
 they were capable of. Greene, instead of pursuing Cornwallis, 
 had turned his back upon him and returned to the south, thus 
 leaving the richest State in the Union a defenceless prey to the 
 
80 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 ruthless invader. The British troops overspread the State, ran- 
 sacked houses, burnt villages, committed the most atrocious out- 
 rages on defenceless women and children, killed the stock, incited 
 the negroes to insurrection, and sought by raiding parties to ab- 
 solutely stamp out in detail the spirit of resistance throughout the 
 State. 
 
 The defenceless condition of the South had been remarked upon 
 by the Legislature in an urgent representation addressed to Con- 
 gress on the 2ith of May, 1780, earnestly "conjuring them with- 
 out delay to adopt the most effectual means of defending and 
 maintaining the Southern States by a farther speedy and power- 
 ful reinforcement of Continental troops and supply of arms for the 
 North Carolina mihtia, to whom the government of Yirginia hath 
 already furnished all it is able to spare." Between this time 
 and the reassembling of the Legislature in October, 1780, though 
 A'irginia poured out both men and money in aid of her invaded 
 sisters, she met with no response from either Congress or 
 the Northern States. No troops or other efficient aid came from 
 either of those soui'ues. When the Legislature reassembled, a pro- 
 ceeding was taken in proper keeping with the peremptory de- 
 mands of the moment. The British were sweeping up from South 
 Carolina in a mass of iire; and Virginia, it was foreseen, would 
 soon be the object of concentrated attack. On the 27th of De- 
 cember, 1780, the Legislature elected Col. Benjamin Harrison as 
 special commissioner to Congress, to present the grievances of Vir- 
 ginia, and to solemnly protest against this treatment of a State 
 which had sacrificed so much in the cause of independence, and 
 which, at the same Assembly, offered an empire to the Union in 
 the cession of the territory lying north of the River Ohio, and con- 
 quered with its unsupported arms. Col. Harrison arrived in 
 Philadelphia on the 11th of February,^ 1781. Aided by James 
 Madison and the other Virginia representatives, lie succeeded in 
 his mission to the extent of securing the passage of resolutions, 
 declaring that henceforward the Southern army should be com- 
 posed of all the regular troops from Pennsylvania to Georgia in- 
 
 1 See Col, Harrison's letter to General Washington, printed in the calendar of 
 Virginia State PaperSj i., p. 523. It is eloquent and graphic in describing the 
 unprotected State of Virginia and the indifference of Congress. Washington's 
 reply may be seen in Hening, x., p. 575. 
 
COENWALLIS INTADES YIEGINIA. 81 
 
 elusive ; and the Pennsylvania line was ordered to join the army 
 in Virginia -without loss of time. Until the Pennsylvania troops 
 under Greneral "Wayne could arrive, La Fayette was, in April, 1781, 
 sent with a detachment of twelve hundred men to the relief of 
 Yirginia. These arrived just in time to prevent a second occupa- 
 tion of the capital of the State by the British under Phillips, who 
 had reinforced Arnold in March at Portsmouth, whither he had 
 retreated after his raid from Westover on Richmond. 
 
 The members of the Legislature, who assembled in Eichmond 
 in May — though not a quorum — observing with alarm the threat- 
 ening movements of the British, adjourned the Assembly, to meet 
 at Charlottesville on the Sith of the month. 
 
 Cornwallis, marching up from Wilmington, reached Petersburg 
 on the 19th of May, and set out in pursuit of La Fayette. "The 
 boy cannot escape me," he said. Pursued by Cornwallis, La 
 Fayette narrowly effected his escape with the aid of a fine body 
 of Virginia calvary under Col. John Mercer. Desisting from pur- 
 suit, Cornwallis encamped on the banks of the Xorth Anna, in Han- 
 over county, whence he sent Lieut.-col. Simcoe to destroy a col- 
 lection of arms and stores for Greene's army at the Point of Fork 
 between the Kivanna and the James, and Col. Tarleton to seize 
 the Legislature and Governor at Charlottesville. Simcoe sue- 
 ceeded in accomplishing his part of the programme ; and the As- 
 sembly and Mr. Jeiferson were alone saved from capture by the 
 extraordinary expedition of a Mr. Jouitte, wlio rode full speed tO' 
 give the alarm by a disused and unfrequented path. Mr. Jeffer- 
 son forthwith started one way, and the members of tlie Legisla- 
 ture in broken parties to Staunton, where it was agreed they should 
 reassemble. Mr. Henry, Mr. Tyler, Speaker Harrison, and CoL 
 "William Christian constituted one of these parties, and the follow- 
 ing anecdote, given in Abel's Life of Tijler^ portrays the unplea- 
 sant shifts to which the members of the Legislature were exposed, 
 and the extraordinary respect, short of idolatry, entertained for 
 Mr. Henry by the common people of the west at this time : 
 
 Some time in 1781 the Legislature, of which Mr. Tyler was a member, 
 were assemhled at Charlottesville. Lord Cornwallis had invaded Virginia, 
 and Colonel Tarleton, at the head of his regiment, determined to make a sud- 
 den desceutdU th:it town, with a view ;if surprising the Legislature and oaptur- 
 
 1 A campaign pubUoation by the Harpers, in 1843. 
 6 
 
82 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 ing its loading members, among whom were reckoned Mr. Henry, Mr. Tyler, 
 Benjamin Harrison (the father of the late President, and then Speaker of the 
 House of Delegates), and Colonel William Christian, afterward a famous In- 
 dian fighter in Kentucky, and several others. A countryman, named Jouitte, 
 got intelligence of Tarleton's intended movement, and, by dint of hard riding, 
 reached Charlottesville in time to give wai-ning of the approaching danger. . 
 Finding his admonition unheeded by the speaker and the greater part of the 
 members, as being the effects of causeless fright, he addressed Liimself with 
 great earnestness to Mr. Henry and Mr. Tyler, begging, at least, that they 
 would fly and save themselves, since the Assembly refused to believe him ; 
 and they, at last convinced of the truth of his assertions, proposed an adjourn- 
 ment to Staunton, a town some forty miles distant, which was finally agreed 
 to. On their way thither many of the country people were met, two or three 
 upon a horse, riding in to the defence of the town, the news of Tarleton's 
 march having already spread over the neighboring countrj'. Late in the day, 
 Messrs. Henry, Tyler, Harrison, and Christian, who had ridden together, fa- 
 tigued and hungr}', stopped their horses at the door of a small hut, in ti, gorge 
 ■of the hills, and asked for refreshments. A woman, the sole occupant of the 
 house, inquired of them who they were, and where from. " We are members 
 of the Legislature,'" said Mr. Henry, " and have just been compelled to leave 
 Charlottesville on account of the approach of the enemy." " Ride on, then, 
 ye cowardly knaves," replied the old woman, in a tone of excessive indigna- 
 tion ; "here have my husband and sons just gone to Charlottesville to fight 
 for ye, and you running away with all your might. Clear out — ye shall have 
 nothing here." "But," Mr. Henry rejoined, in au expostulating tone, " we 
 were obliged to fly. It would not do for the Legislature to be broken up by 
 the enemy. Here is Mr. Speaker Harrison ; you don't think he would have 
 fled had it not been necessary ?" " I always thought a great deal of Mr. Har- 
 rison till now," the old woman answered ; " but he'd no business to run from 
 the enemy," and she was about to shut the door in their faces. " Wait a mo- 
 ment, my good woman," again interposed Mr. Henry ; "you would hardly 
 believe that Mr. Tyler or Colonel Christian would take to flight if there were 
 not good cause for so doing?" "No, indeed, that I wouldn't," she replied. 
 " But Mr. Tyler and Colonel Christian are here," said he. " They here ! 
 Well, I never would have thought it," and she stood a moment as if in doubt, 
 but finally added, "no matter; we love those gentlemen, and I didn't sup- 
 pose they would ever run away from the British ; but since they have, they 
 shall have nothing to eat in my house. You may ride along." As a last re- 
 sort, Mr. Tyler then stepped forward and said, "What would you say, my 
 good woman, if I were to tell you that Patrick Henry fled with the rest of 
 us ?" " Patrick Henry ! I would tell you there wasn't a word_,of truth in it," 
 she answered angrily ; " Patrick Henry would never do such a cowardly 
 thing." "But this is Mr. Henry," rejoined Mr. Tyler, pointing him out, 
 The old woman looked astonished. After a moment's consideration, and a 
 convulsive twitch or two at her apron string, by way of recovering- her scat- 
 tered thoughts, she said, " Well, then, if that's Patrick Henry, it must be all 
 right. Come in, and ye shall have the best I have in the house." 
 
HENEY AND TYLER. S3 
 
 Perhaps no higher compliment was ever paid to the patriotism of Patrick 
 Henry than this simple tribute of praise from the mouth of that poor hut 
 inoble woman. 
 
 And hei-e it may be proper to speak of the origin of that warm 
 and coniidential friendship which existed between this illustrious 
 -statesman and John Tyler. Mr. Henry was Mr. Tyler's senior by 
 about twelve years. The noble qualities of Henry, his dauntless 
 ■courage and sublime eloquence had early won the enthusiastic 
 admiration of Mr. Tyler, when, as a boy, he listened to his speech 
 on the stamp act. Henry's subsequent course of spotless and 
 daring patriotism had served to confirm and intensify in Mr. Tyler 
 an admiration thus early acquired. Nor was the attachment of 
 Mr. Henry for Mr. Tyler less warm or less sincere. They be- 
 came soon "intimate and confidential friends." The "Eoman 
 frankness" of John Tyler, his "bluntness," "decision of charac- 
 ter," and " benevolence of spirit," had attracted Mr. Henry from 
 his first appearance on the public stage.^ Indeed, both of them 
 loved their country with all the ardor of the ancient Eoman, and 
 the rights of the people were as the pearl beyond price in their 
 -eyes. Though often at variance in the details of political meas- 
 ures, there never was an hour that their friendship experienced 
 the slightest diminution in any particular. 
 
 Mr. Tyler was one of the kindest and most benevolent of men; 
 but his lofty views of public expediency, scorning the present and 
 looking to grand results in the future, placed him always on the 
 side of those stern and unbending principles which are ever the 
 conditions of true policy, and which, consistently pursued, eventuate 
 in far less suffering than half-way measures, which palliate but do 
 not cure. Mr. Tyler pleaded the necessity of enforcing taxation. 
 Mr. Henry was not so stern. The former urged the claims of 
 public faith, morality, and the pressing demands of the country' ; 
 the latter dwelt upon the sufferings of the poor people driven from 
 their homes and reduced to starvation by the hard conditions of 
 war. Mr. Henry's sympathies were manifested in so open a 
 friendship for irredeemable certificates, and stay-laws postponing 
 the collection of taxes and the enforcement of private contracts, 
 that he incurred the reproach of courting the popular vote and 
 "sailing with the wind."^ I think that they who attribute Mr. 
 
 ' Wirt's Henry, Preface, p. viii. '' Eives' Madison, ii. , p. 240, note. 
 
84 LETTEES AND TIMES OE THE TYLEK8. 
 
 Heni-y's course to sucli springs of action do him gross injustice. 
 His acute sympathy with those about him rendered him the orator 
 he was ; and a flood of tender feeling overflowed from his gener- 
 ous heart when he saw, as, alas ! was too often the case, the severe 
 hardships visited upon the poor by the cruel circumstances of the- 
 times. The cries of the poor, the tears of the orphaned, and the 
 lamentations of the widowed were ever present to him, and his 
 great soul could find no rest till he had devised some measure by 
 which the burden of their misfortunes could be made more 
 tolerable. 
 
 When the Legislature came together again at Staunton, it was 
 called upon to consider a recommendation of Congress, respecting 
 a new provision for a national revenue. The rapid depreciation 
 of the paper forced Congress to request of the States, as " an in- 
 dispensable necessity," the grant of a power to levy an impost of 
 five per cent, ad valorem on all imports, with no permanent ex- 
 ceptions, except of wool and cotton cards, and wire for making them. 
 
 Col. Harrison arrived in Philadelphia, as commissioner from 
 Virginia, shortly after this measure had received the sanction of 
 Congress. Eeturning to Virginia, he repaired to the Legislature 
 at Charlottesville, and being re-elected speaker, warmly exerted 
 all his infiuence to secure the passage of an act in accordance with 
 the wish of Congress. ' In this move he found an earnest coadjutor 
 in Mr. Tyler, his colleague, from the same county. A bill was 
 presented according to order, by John Taylor of Caroline, from^ 
 a special committee of which he was chairman, and Messrs. Tyler, 
 Cabell, and Pride, members,^ authorizing Congress to levy the 
 needed duty. The approach of Tarleton prevented the comple- 
 tion of the act. Fleeing beyond the mountains to Staunton, they 
 there discussed the bill in the Committee of the Whole, of which 
 Mr. Tyler was chairman. It was reported by him to the House, and 
 after its passage carried by him, as messenger, to the Senate, with a 
 
 'Harrison to Washington, March 31, 1783, Bancroft Coast. Hist., i., p. 301. 
 
 'Journal House of Delegates, May term, 1781, p. 6. The printed Journal omits 
 the description of the bill ordered to the committee ; but on an inspection of 
 the M S. Journal, preserved in the Capitol of Virginia, I find it reads thus : 
 ^^ Ordered., That leave be given to bring in a bill to enable the Congress of the 
 United States to levy a duty on certain goods and merchandize, and also on prizes, 
 and that Mr. Taylor of Caroline, Mr. Tyler, Mr. Cabell, and Mr. Pride, do pre- 
 pare and bring IQ the same." 
 
THE NOETH CAROLINA LINE. 85 
 
 request for their concurrence.^ The grant was restricted neither as 
 to time nor form. ^ 
 
 This was the first of that series of acts which, chiefly through 
 the influence and agency of Mr. Tyler, was destined to lead to the 
 convention at Annapolis. All the other of the thirteen States, 
 except Georgia and Rhode Island, sanctioned the recommendation 
 of Congress, some before and some after the action of Virginia. 
 The consent of Georgia was confidently expected, but Rhode 
 Island from the first objected violently to the proposed power, 
 as detracting too much from State importance. 
 
 The services of Mr. Tyler during the session at Staunton were 
 particularly important and arduous. His position, especially as 
 chairman of the Committee of Justice, entailed upon him a vast 
 amount of labor. It i-equires but a glance at the Journal of the 
 House to appreciate the variety and multifariousness of the work 
 thus assigned him, which was in fact to revise the whole body of 
 the temporary laws, and report those proper for re-enactment. 
 
 A report ' was made by him concerning the rights of Virginia 
 patentees, who had obtained titles to land supposed to be in Vir- 
 ginia, but likely to fall in North Carolina, under the late provision 
 for the adjustment of the disdding line between the two States. 
 
 The famous line of the Missouri compromise takes its beginning 
 here, and gave rise to an almost interminable wrangle between 
 Virginia and North Carolina. In 1728, Col. "William Byrd of 
 Westover, in Charles City, acting for A'irginia, had run the 
 boundary line from the Atlantic Ocean, through the Dismal 
 Swamp, to Peter's Creek. In 1749, Col. Peter Jefferson, father 
 of Thomas Jefferson, and Joshua Fry, Professor of Mathematics 
 in " William and Mary," continued the line for a distance of ninety 
 miles further, ending it at Steep-rock Creek, supposed to be on the 
 parallel of thirty six degrees thirty minutes north. The Gen- 
 eral Assembly, in October 1778, wishing to continue the line upon 
 that latitude to the Tennessee river, passed an act appointing Dr. 
 Thomas "Walker and Daniel Smith commissioners, in co-operation 
 with two commissioners from North Carolina, to run the line on 
 that latitude, if truly found on that latitude, or on one south or north 
 to the parallel, and then west to the Tennessee. 
 
 ' Journal of House of Delegates, May session, June 8, 9, 13, 1781. 
 «Hen. State., a., p. 409. ''Hen. Stats., x., p. 543. 
 
86 LETTBES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 The survey was attempted, but the commissioners from the two 
 States differed so widely on principles and execution that two lines 
 were run instead of one, known as the Walker and Henderson lines, 
 after the leading commissioner from either State.^ Mr. Tyler 
 vindicated the claims of the Yirginia patentees in the same lofty 
 spirit as had characterized the action of Virginia throughout the 
 war, declaring that Virginia "would refuse her assent to any line 
 until her request, so consonant to the principles of the confedera- 
 tion, the bonds of good neighborhood, and the rights of mankind 
 be complied with : " 
 
 "How is it that the State of North Carolina has claimed its territory by 
 charters from the King of Eiigland, and yet deny eificacy to patents derived 
 from the same source? If these charters are valid to define the limits of 
 States, are not patents which possess the same foundation valid to prescribe the 
 bounds of private ownership ? If the Legislature of Korth Carolina should ex- 
 plode the authority of these patents, they may draw themselves iuto a dis- 
 agreeable predicament with respect to the United States, which needs only to 
 be hinted at to be understood. But if the Indian title is the only good one, 
 then doth Yirginia positively claim the lands in dispute by virtue of a pur- 
 chase from the Cherokees in the year one thousand seven hundred and sev^ 
 enty, by the express permission of the crown, the bounds of which purchase, and 
 not the late extended line, must be the mark of territorj' between the two States. 
 Indeed, Virginia built Fort Patrick Henry for this express defence of this land 
 so purchased of the Cherokees. The Assembly of Yirginia do not wish the 
 Legislature of Xorth Carolina to act in a judicial capacity, by saying that the 
 title of any individual is to be preferred, but they ask them to establish the 
 best Yirginia title in wliomsoever it may be placed, and to direct that the 
 laws and usages of Yirginia, heretofore made, shall be the rule of determina- 
 tion, leaving the several claimants to prosecute their titles in the usual chan- 
 nels. This proposition was made by the Assembly of Virginia before it was 
 known in what manner a line extended by the King of England's charters 
 would affect these claimants, which proves that it was not the effect of any 
 particular motive. The Assembly of Yirginia hope, that whatever may be the 
 result of this representation, that it will not go unnoticed, as the others have 
 done, but that the Legislature of North Carolina will favor them with their 
 determination, till which the Assembly of Virginia will postpone all farther 
 measures in this business."' 
 
 Virginia gained her point, and, after ten years' further con- 
 troversy, "Walker's line was declared the southern boundary of the 
 
 ■ See Act for Extending Boundary Line and Report of Commissioners, Hen. 
 Stats., ix., p. 5C1, et seq. 
 
 '' Hen. Stats., x., p. 543. 
 
Jefferson's defence. 8T 
 
 State. It was further agreed that the claims for lands lying be- 
 tween the line commonly called Walker's line and the line called 
 Henderson's line two miles fnrther north, should be decided in 
 favor of the oldest title, whether derived from this Commonwealth 
 or from the State of North Carolina.^ 
 
 An ebullition of dissatisfaction, on account of the success of the 
 British, had been raised against ]Mr. Jefferson in the State, and he 
 declined to press his re-election before the Legislature, though the 
 constitutional limit of re-election had not been reached by him. 
 Tnder this aspect of the case. General Thomas Nelson was elected 
 governor for the year ensuing. This dissatisfaction against Mr. 
 Jefferson was due, in the case of many like Patrick Henry and 
 Col. George Nicholas, to honest feelings, since defeat never fails 
 with the best of us to impair the popularity of a leader, while 
 success, purely the result of accident, converts into a hero the man 
 of most mediocre attainments. Col. Nicliolas and Mr. Henry, at 
 Staunton, " expressed themselves with delicacy towards him (Mr. 
 Jefferson), but without weakening the ground on which they sup- 
 posed that their suspicions would be found ultimately to rest. 
 But, probably without design, they wounded by their measured 
 endeavor to avoid the infliction of a wound. Col. Nicholas moved, 
 however, for an inquiry into the conduct of the government at the 
 succeeding session. The motion was carried, with the concur- 
 rence of friend and foe — of the former to afford him an oppor- 
 tunity of exculpation; of the latter, who conceived him to be 
 ruined. He appeared at the next session as a delegate from Albe- 
 marle, and at the appointed day called for some accusation. 
 Neither of those gentlemen having pledged themselves to become 
 prosecutors, they did not conceive it to be a personal dutv on 
 either to appear as such. Mr. Jefferson did not affect to be 
 ignorant of the general imputation which had been inculcated, but 
 which was destitute of any precise sliape, and in an address to the 
 House, which amounted to a challenge of impeachment, he re- 
 viewed his administration so as to call forth votes of euloeium 
 which, by some men unambitious of true fame, would have been 
 deemed cheaply purchased by past calumnies. He ought to have 
 
 'Hen. Stats., xiii., p. 258. 
 
88 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 been satisfied, because they were the undivided voice of his 
 country, which had been prejudiced against him.'" 
 
 This episode in Mr. Jefferson's career served in after days the 
 more violent Federalists — who magnified it into a special weakness 
 on the part of Mr. Jefferson as war governor — a never failing fund 
 of reproach. 
 
 The Assembly met, according to adjournment, in October, and 
 the session was held amid the universal rejoicings consequent upon 
 the surrender at Yorktown. Cornwallis, after having had free 
 run of the State, retired to Yorktown, where he thought to be 
 more convenient to provisions and re-enforcements from New 
 York. But the darkest hour of the night is said to be the horn- 
 just before the dawning. The fortunes of the Americans seemed 
 to have reached their lowest ebb, when, by a most skilful manoeuvre, 
 Cornwallis was inclosed by the American and French armies, under 
 Washington and Kocliambeatt, and the French fleet, under Count 
 De Grasse. Ere assistance could reach him from General Clinton, 
 Cornwallis was compelled to surrender all his lately victorious 
 forces. A mortal blow was thus given to the British cause in 
 America. 
 
 General Xelson resigning. Col. Benjamin Harrison was elected 
 governor of Virginia on the 29th of November, ITSl. This left 
 tlie speaker's chair in tlie House of Delegates vacant, and Mr. Tyler 
 was immediately hit upon as tlie proper man to fill it. 
 
 Charles City had now the two first offices in the State, that of 
 governor and speaker of the House of Delegates. The latter 
 position at this time, like its prototype in the old House of 
 Burgesses, was one of " highest popular celebrity." Under 
 the Constitution of 1776 the great seat of power was in tire 
 House. The Senate could originate no bill, and acted in a 
 
 ' Edmund Kandolph's MS. History'. Au idea prevails that Mr. Jefferson was no 
 speaker. Tlie authority of Edmuud Randolph proves this view to be entirely 
 incorrect. He says, in the same MS. from which the above extract is taken : 
 
 "Indefatigable and methodical, Jefferson spoke with ease, perspicuity and 
 elegance. His style in writing was more impassioned, and although often incorrect, 
 was too glowing not to be acquitted as venial departures from rigid rules. With- 
 out being an overwhelming orator, he was an impressive speaker, who fixed the 
 attention. On two signal arguments before the general court, in which Mr. 
 Henry and himself were coadjutors, each characterized himself. Mr. Jefferson 
 drew copiously from the depths of the law, Mr. Henry from the recesses of the 
 human heart." 
 
MH. TYLER ELECTED SPEAKER. 89 
 
 merely revisory capacity. In money bills the Senate's power was 
 confined to a naked approval or rejection. A seat in the House 
 of Delegates was considered by the oldest statesmen an object well 
 worthy of desire, but to preside over it was an honor indeed. 
 The names of those wlio had performed that part prior to Mr. 
 Tyler were well calculated to shed lustre over the speaker's chair. 
 
 The first speaker was Edmund Pendleton. The acknowledged 
 head of that old conservative party anterior to the Eevolution, he 
 had yet worked himself up to that high position from poverty by 
 the overwhelming evidence of his commanding talents. " With- 
 out the poetical fancy of Mr. Henry, or his sublime imagination, 
 or his lofty and overwhelming diction, he was cool, smooth, and 
 persuasive. His language was flowing, chaste, and embelhshed. 
 His conceptions were quick, acute, and full of resource; never 
 vanquished, for if he lost the main battle he returned upon you, 
 and regained so much of it as to make it a drawn one, by dexterous 
 manoeuvres, skirmishes in detail, and the recovery of small ad- 
 vantages, which, little singly, were important all together." ' He 
 was, in Jefierson's opinion, the ablest man in debate he had ever 
 met with. He was speaker during the first session of the General 
 Assembly, in the fall of 1776, and was now (in 1781) one of tlie 
 three chancellors of the State, and sixty years of age. 
 
 George Wythe succeeded Pendleton, and presided till 177S, 
 when he was translated to the chancellor's bench by the side of 
 his predecessor. He was called by Mr. Tyler, in a letter to Jef- 
 ferson, the " American Aristides," so universal was his reiputation 
 for impartiality on the bench. Of varied information and bold in 
 his conceptions, he was one of the greatest favorites of the day. 
 He was now fifty-five years of age. 
 
 Benjamin Harrison was speaker of the House from May 12, 
 177S, to January 2, 17S1; then from May, 1781, to his election 
 as Governor in Xovember, 1781. Of him I have already had oc- 
 casion to speak more than once. His genial and generous nature, 
 his venerable years, his formidable family connections — prolmbly 
 the most extensive in the State — and his service of thirty-two 
 years in the public councils, rendered him well nigh invincible 
 in the House. His grandfather before him had been speaker of 
 Ihe House of Burgesses ; he liimself was a signer of the Declara- 
 
 ' Kandolph's Jefferson, i., p. 80. 
 
90 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 tion of Independence, and his brother Charles was a general of 
 the Revolution. He has been described as " six feet in stature,, 
 corpulent, and of a florid complexion, as practical, good humored,, 
 fearless, and patriotic." His popularity was clearly attested in 
 1778 by his victory over Jefferson as speaker by a vote of fifty- 
 one to twenty-three. He had now reached a ripe age, and 
 had just been elected Governor of the State. 
 
 Richard Henry Lee would have proved an honor to any age or- 
 country. His name is ever illustrious for moving in Congress to 
 declare the colonies free and independent states. " If elegance 
 had been personified," wrote Randolph, " the person of Lee would 
 have been chosen." He was speaker during the March session of 
 1781, in the absence of Harrison, and presided, as we may well 
 suppose, with Roman grace and dignity. Richard Henrj' Lee was 
 now nearly fifty years old, and was, tlierefore, in the bloom of his 
 intellect and powers as an orator and a statesman. 
 
 To this line of resplendent genius and worth John Tyler next 
 succeeded as the fifth and yoirngest speaker of the House of Del- 
 egates by more than fifteeen years. One of the young men of 
 the Revolntion, he came too late upon the stage to take a prominent 
 leading part in the stirring events of 1776, which eventuated in 
 so many crowning glories to men who were fortunate enough to 
 be older than himself. His efforts, however, as we have seen, 
 were not hidden even at that period ; and it is to be questioned 
 whether the after labors of revising the old work and strengthen- 
 ing the pillars of independence, yet slenderly erected, and of di- 
 recting the new States and nation along the hitherto untried paths 
 of liberty and republicanism, did not involve as great a responsi- 
 bihty, and require as powerful intellects and imdaunted spirits as 
 the scenes of '76. Yes, he came in time to mingle with the great 
 men of the Revolutionary period, to help mature and fructify the- 
 scheme of revolution, and to consolidate the Union by the aid of 
 his energy, talent and popularity. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's election to the speaker's chair confirmed him as one 
 of the leaders of the House, along with Patrick Henry and Rich- 
 ard Henry Lee. His cotcmporaries bear decided testimony 
 to his virtues as a man and a statesman. Call, AVirt, Madison, 
 and Spencer Roane speak highly of his popularity and influence,', 
 and Miles Selden often said in conversation that Mr., Tyler was. 
 
POPnLAElTY OP TYLEE. 91 
 
 the most populai- man in the State, and could have obtained any 
 office for the mere trouble of asking for it ! But for the speaker's 
 chair, at all events, he seemed to be particularly fitted. As to his un- 
 derstanding, Eoane of the Supreme Court of Virginia, his friend 
 of thirty years, declared it to be " of the highest order." Wirt 
 testified to his " decision of character," and the unimpassioned 
 Call declared that " his parts were quick, his judgment sound." 
 The House of Delegates was, at this time, a model of decorum. 
 Men had not yet fallen into the noisy familiarity of our modern 
 legislative bodies. When Mr. Tyler presided, the dignity of the 
 House revived the memory of the golden days of John Eobinson,. 
 the Arthur Onslow of the old House of Bui-gesses. His quick- 
 ness of apprehension enabled him, like Robinson, to bring the 
 contents of every bill " within the compass of the most humble un- 
 derstanding, to propound with readiness the question, and pro- 
 nounce with utmost clearness the rules of order." His soundness 
 of judgment rendered an appeal to the House phenomenal, and 
 his decision of character made him master in his place, while his 
 politeness, his urbanity, his benevolence, his encouraging and in- 
 terested demeanor inspired the eloquence of the members. In the 
 Committee of the Whole he opened the debate with a fire that 
 warmed the whole House. Schools for the people at large, funds 
 for the army, taxes for the just creditors of the State, internal 
 improvements, — these were the lofty themes that he pressed upon 
 the members; and his successive re-elections to the speakers chair 
 may go to show that his worth was fully appreciated by his fel- 
 low-members. 
 
 Before the surrender at Yorktown, more than one attempt had 
 been made by Congress to conclude a treaty of peace through the 
 mediation of foreign powers. The pride of England had caused 
 each and every movement in that direction to prove abortive. But 
 it was foreseen after this last disaster that our ministers would now 
 be more fortunate. Mr. Tyler favored the policy of putting the 
 screws tightly on Great Britain, so as to obtain as many concessions 
 in the interest of trade as possible, whenever the final settlement 
 should take place. 
 
 The Revolution owed its origin not alone to the train of events 
 that followed the stamp act in 1764, but tlie original principle 
 lay far back in the selfish policy systematically pursued by Eng- 
 
'92 LETrEES AJStD TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 land to monopolize the trade of the colonies through the instru- 
 mentality of the navigation acts of Parliament. England regarded 
 her colonies as objects of mere commercial profit, and the minds 
 of her statesmen busied themselves in selfish devices to squeeze 
 all the money possible out of them. 'They were forbidden to 
 establish manufactures, or to trade with any other country but 
 England and its dependencies. And this trade, as confined as it 
 was, had to be conducted in vessels owned by British subjects and 
 navigated by a crew, three-fourths of whom were citizens of some 
 portion of the English-speaking empire. 
 
 The war had suspended this monopoly, by suspending almost 
 all our commerce. The little that remained afioat sought other 
 ports than England, and caused the universal dream that, let but 
 peace open the world to our industries, and free trade, spreading 
 her wings to the four winds, " would range the whole creation and 
 bless the land with plenty." But unfortunately, there are laws 
 operating in society even more potential than statutes — dead let- 
 ters as they often are. The English navigation laws, long con- 
 tinued, had caused the restraining and supporting force of custom 
 to grow up beside them. The visible law might be abolished and 
 yet the fetters and chains of unseen habit weigh down the wings 
 of trade just as before. The people of the colonies had been so 
 accustomed to the practice and dealings of British merchants, that 
 this, superadded to the- singleness of language and similarity of 
 feeling, as well as the allurements held out by the British of long 
 credits, was sure, unless provided against, to break up all those 
 new lines of commerce produced by a state of war, and to return 
 trade into its old channels — the sport more than ever of English 
 duties and monopoly. The Declaration pronounced the States to 
 be free and independent, and no longer mere colonial depen- 
 dencies. Such a result, therefore, while ruinous to our expansion, 
 was humiliating to American pride. Mr. Tyler fully appreciated 
 these suggestions, and lent his hand in the House to a vigorous 
 support of the most extensive restrictions upon England in order 
 to force her to a favorable treaty. Peace should be made only in 
 conjunction with our allies, the French, and until the definitive 
 terms were adjusted no British goods should be admitted into the 
 States, no Tories should be permitted to return, no restoration of 
 property be made, and no pause be allowed in hurrying on the 
 
THE EESTBICTIVE POLICY. 93 
 
 supplies of provisions, and strengthening in every possible manner 
 the various armies. However stern this policy may seem to us, 
 its features had been acted upon during the six years past to 
 cripple our adversary ; and it was certain that the notorious pride 
 of England would prevent any concession to our advantage that 
 was not wrung from her necessities. 
 
 The Tirginia Legislature seemed for three sessions — the fall ses- 
 sion of 17S1, the spring session of 178-2, and the fall session of that 
 year — to be thoroughly in accord with Mr. Tyler in pressing these 
 measures of restriction. 
 
 At the spring session of 1782 they unanimously resolved "that a 
 proposition from the enemy to all or any of these United States for 
 peace or truce, separate from their allies, is insidious and iuadmssi- 
 ble." ' These sentiments were reiterated in the language of another 
 resolution, passed at the following October session, instructing the 
 Virginia delegates in Congress " not to consent to open a commu- 
 nication upon the subject of a peace separate from our great ally,, 
 the King of France." ^ 
 
 At the spring session of 17S2_an act was also passed for the seiz- 
 in-e and condemnation of all goods, wares and merchandize, pro- 
 duced or manufactured in any territory of Great Britain, and im- 
 ported into or found within the State ;^ and again, at the fall ses- 
 sion of that year, intercourse with British subjects, or their admis- 
 sion into the State, as also the restoration of confiscated property, 
 were equally interdicted. The law against the refugees'* was de- 
 clared to be in accordance with the recommendation of Congress 
 of October 4, 1782, advising the States to "guard against the se- 
 cret artifices and machinations of the enemy,'" and " to be vigilant 
 and active in detecting and seizing British emissaries and spies." 
 As to confiscated property, the Legislature unanimously resolved 
 that " all demands or requests of the British court for the restitu- 
 tion of property confiscated by the State, being neither supported 
 by law or equity, are wholly inadmissible."' 
 
 Finally, the wise policy of keeping the State under arms seemed 
 permanently sanctioned by the resolution, passed unanimously at the 
 spring session of 1782, pledging Virginia "to exert the utmost 
 
 ' Hen. Stats., xi., p. 545. « Journal House Del., Oct. Session,,] 782, pp. 69-70. 
 «Hen. Stats., xi., p. 101. * Ihid., xi., p. 324. 
 
 5 Jour. House Del., October, 1782, pp. 69-70. 
 
■94 LETTEES AlfD TIMES OF THE TYLEliS. 
 
 -power of the State to carry on the war with vigor and effect un- 
 til peace shall be obtained in a manner consistent with our na- 
 tional faith and Federal Union." ' 
 
 Had it been practicable, as it may not have been, for the Assem- 
 •blies of the States, Congress, and our ministers abroad, firmly to 
 have pursued the policy thus boldly enunciated, — a peace might 
 Jiave been obtained which would have averted the disgraces and 
 sufferings of forty years, the impressment of our sailors, and a 
 second war with Great Britain. But few only appreciate a policy 
 that looks beyond the hour, and' the repeal, in the fall of 1782, by 
 the Yirginia Legislature, of the impost act passed in ITSl, and 
 which was only waiting the final action of the other States to 
 go into operation by proclamation of the G-overnor, was the first 
 step in the policy of relaxation that seized upon both the State 
 and Federal governments. A party in the Legislature averse to 
 Federal authority, headed by the Lees, took advantage of the gen- 
 eral feeling of security, that grew with every hour of the session. 
 The apparent cause of the abrogation of the impost law was due, 
 as Governor Harrison wrote to "Washington, to the Lees' getting 
 control of the House towards the close of the session. " They 
 were so very quick that the mischief was done before I knew that 
 they had the subject under consideration, or tliey would probably 
 have missed their aim." ^ Then, alluding to Mr. Tyler and other 
 friends of the bill, he added: "frona the conversation I have had 
 with many, I am fully of the opinion that they would have re- 
 enacted the law if they had had time." Xor did Jay and Adams, 
 -our ministers abroad, any better regard tlie propriety, as Mr. Tyler 
 considered it, of taking the French government into consultation 
 on the subject of the preliminary treaty of peace. These repre- 
 sentatives of our government had conceived, from some strange 
 infatuation, a deep dislike of our great and noble ally, who had so 
 generously contributed to our assistance so many thousand troops 
 and so many million livres. Emissaries from Great Britain had 
 -constantly plied France with secret solicitations to abandon her 
 alliance with the revolted colonies; but to lier honor she had 
 
 ' Hen. Stats, xi., p. 645. 
 
 -Hairison to Washington, March 31, 1783, Bancroft's Const. Hist, i., p. 301. 
 Bancroft sn5's the repeal was carried "without a negative," meaning, I presume, 
 ■without division. At this period, the ayes and noes were very rarely recorded. 
 
PEACE POLICY OF THE FEDERALISTS. 95 
 
 -unhesitatingly repelled these advances, and declared that the 
 independence of America was the sine qua non of any negotiation 
 on her part, and that none would be embraced by her separate 
 ^and apart from her allies, the United States. But it seems that 
 our ministers were men of too practical a character to allow any 
 sentimental suggestions of gratitude or national honor, or even 
 obedience to the directions of their own government, to interfere 
 with their notions of expediency. Though repeatedly instructed 
 to conclude no peace except in concert and confidence with France, 
 they secretly signed, on the 30th of Xovember, 1782, certain 
 provisional and preliminary articles of peace, which were to be 
 made the basis of tJie final arrangement. By those articles. Con- 
 gress was to recommend to the States the restoration of the con- 
 iiscated effects of the loyalists, and to guarantee that no impediment 
 -should stand in the way of the recovery of debts due to English 
 subjects. A treaty formed under such circumstances was objec- 
 tionable on the score of morals, if nothing more, and Mr. JVIadison 
 represents Congress as strongly disapproving the conduct of the 
 ministers in the negotiations for peace. "■ 
 
 As to the terms of the provisional treaty, though unpopular, 
 and viewed by many as inequitable, they might have been reason- 
 ably acquiesced in had they been treated as provisional — what in- 
 deed they purported to be — and not have been made definitive by 
 the precipitate action of the Hamilton party in Congress. As 
 a consideration to England for entering into a fair commercial 
 treaty in connection with the recognition of our independence, 
 they might have been advantageously inserted in the more com- 
 prehensive definitive arrangement. But each and every oppor- 
 tunity to enlarge the terms of the provisional articles was fore- 
 stalled by the eagerness of the Hamilton party for accommoda- 
 tion with Great Britain. Under pretences of retrenchment and 
 public necessity, immediately upon learning of the signing of the 
 provisional treaty, the news of which arrived in March, 1T83, they 
 moved and can-ied a resolution directing the British prisoners to 
 be set at liberty, thus, in the language of Washington, placing the 
 nation " in the power of the British before the treaty was defini- 
 
 'See Mr. Wm. C. Eives' able chapter in his "Life and Times of Madison, i., 
 p. 34:4, et seq. 
 
96 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 tive." Xor was this all. Eesolutions were introduced calling- 
 upon the States to fulfil the terms of the provisional articles rela- 
 tive to the Tories, and restore confiscated property ; and all armed 
 vessels, cruising under commission from the United States, were 
 precipitately ordered home. 
 
 In the Virginia Legislature, which assembled in May, 1783, a 
 similar course of relaxation was pursued. The House proceeded 
 to business on the 12th of May : 
 
 Patrick Henry, Esq., a delegate fur the county of Henry, reminded the 
 House of the necessity of proceeding to the choice of a speaker, and recom- 
 mended John Tyler, Esq., a meinlicr for the count}' of Charles City, as a per- 
 son who, in the discharge of the dutiea of that oflice heretofore, had given un- 
 deniable proofs of his abilities and integritj'. He was seconded by George 
 Nicholas, Esq., a delegate for the county of Albemarle. And Mann Page, 
 Esq., a delegate for the county of Spotsylvania, recommended Richard Henry 
 Lee, of Westmoreland, as a person in every respect qualified to fill that office, 
 and was seconded by Spencer Roane, Esq., a delegate for the county of Essex. 
 
 The members having balloted, the committee appointed to examine the 
 ballot boxes reported that tlaey had according to order examined the same, 
 and found the numbers thereupon to stand as follows : 
 
 For John Tyler, Esq., 61 ; 
 
 For Richard Henry Lee, Esq., 20. 
 
 So that Mr. Tyler being chosen speal^er of the House, he was conducted to 
 the chair, from whence he made his acknowledgment to the House for the 
 honor again conferred on him, and requested their assistance towards the 
 maintenance of regularity and good order. 
 
 The majority of Mr. Tyler over Mr. Lee was large. It was 
 the victory of a young man of thirty-six over a veteran statesman 
 of fifty-one, who had filled the States with his fame. The evi- 
 dence of friendship ofl"ered by Mr. Henry in his nomination was 
 made all the more striking by the immediate separation which 
 ensued between the Speaker and himself on nearly all the im- 
 portant questions that engaged the attention of the Assembly at 
 this, the first session, following the news of, the signing of the 
 provisional articles of peace. Mr. Henry outshone even the Hamil- 
 ton party in Congress in anxiety to comply with the terms of the 
 treaty, and prostrate the barriers and restraints of the law. On May 
 13, he introduced a bill to repeal the several acts of assembly which 
 prohibited the importation of British goods. Concerning the pas- 
 sage of this bill Mr. Tyler wrote to Mr. "Wirt at a later day: 
 
MR. HENET OPPOSED BY ME. TYLEE. 97 
 
 " Mr. Henry espoused the measure which took off the restraints on British 
 •commerce before any treaty was entered into ; in which I opposed him on 
 this ground, that that measure would expel from this country the trade of 
 every other nation on account of our habits, language, and the manner of 
 conducting business ou credit between us and them ; also on this ground, in 
 addition to the above, that if we changed the then current of commerce, we 
 should drive away all competition, and never perhaps should regain it (which 
 has literally happened)." ' 
 
 The measure was pressed by Mr. Henry with great earnestness,^ 
 .and falling in with the temper of the times, was hurried through 
 with unexampled haste. It was discussed in the Committee of the 
 Whole, and, instead of being regularly matured on successive days, 
 was read three times the same day, and passed.' 
 
 Almost simultaneo\is with the proposition to repeal the restric- 
 tions on British commerce, was another to repeal the law passed 
 "the session before, prohibiting intercourse with British subjects. 
 This proposition, contemplating in its widest sense the return of 
 the Tories to Virginia, was patronized by Mr. Henry, and as warmly 
 opposed by the Speaker." Its consequences certainly tended in 
 exactly the same direction as the measure already noted above. 
 The Speaker was supported by petitions from the inhabitants of 
 several counties praying against the measure; that from Essex 
 count}', citing approvingly the action of the people of Boston in 
 refusing admittance to the Tories, and condemning the provisional 
 treaty as "impolitic and oppressive." Finally, the further con- 
 sideration of the bill was postponed till the second Monday in the 
 ioUowing October. 
 
 The influence of peace exhibited itself still further in the re- 
 newed rejection of the impost recommended by Congress. Cir- 
 cumstances had rendered the grant of some constant revenue 
 supply more imperative than ever. The army, lying idle in their 
 'encampment, began to call upon Congress for the payment of 
 their dues, and failing in receiving a speedy attention to their 
 wishes, began to consider the propriety of taking the vindication 
 -of their injuries into their own hands — encouraged, it is said, by 
 Gates and the public creditors. Even the financier, Robert 
 Morris, was suspected by Washington as being at the " bottom of 
 
 ' Wirt's Henry, p. 23f . 
 
 ' See his eloquent remarks as reported by Mr. Tyler ; Wirt's Henry, p. 237. 
 
 ' Jour. House of Del, May Sess., 1783, pp. 5, 6. ^ Wirt's Henry, p. 233. 
 
 7 
 
98 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 the scheme," and Hamilton, who had " an indifferent opinion of 
 the honesty" of his country, and "ill-forebodings of its future 
 system," wrote craftily to Washington as to "the true line of 
 policy," and suggesting that "the claims of the army, urged with 
 moderation but with firmness," might "operate on the weak minds- 
 who are influenced by their apprehensions more than by their 
 judgments, so as to produce a concurrence in the measures which, 
 the exigencies of affairs demand." 
 
 The conduct of the army and the men who gave it encourage- 
 ment was none the less mutinous and censurable because there 
 were just reasons for complaint. 
 
 Congress was now forced to take a new step in the way of ob- 
 taining funds to meet the dangerous situation of affairs. Certain 
 it was that the depleted state of the treasury was due greatly to- 
 the impoverished condition of the country, just emerged from a- 
 long war ; but apart from this, the Articles of Confederation were 
 admittedly defective in lacking the essential provision for a fixed 
 revenue independent of State action. They were indeed cut in 
 beautiful proportions, the most superior work of the age, and con- 
 stituting the marrow, bone, and in great part, the flesh, of the ne-vr 
 constitution, in which all the essential principles of the old govern- 
 ment were incorporated. " Money is the vital principle of govern- 
 ment," and it was just the lack of it that chiefly made the old 
 Articles defective. "Give the Confederation money," ai-gued its- 
 friends, " and you make it an effective government, even with much 
 imperfect machinery. Dej^rive the present government of the 
 United States of the power to lay taxes or raise a revenue, and 
 immediately its polished machinery would cease to move." "With 
 all the imperfections of our present government," said Jefferson,, 
 concerning the old Articles, "it is without comparison the best 
 existing, or the best that ever did exist ; " and Tyler's arrow did 
 not altogether miss its mark when he said, after twenty years' ob- 
 servation of the operation of the new constitution : 
 
 " The present government gives a little more splendor from patronage, but 
 more corruption is engenrlered and incorporated in it; hence intrigue so in- 
 jurious to freedom, speculation so destructive to morals, and hence all that 
 scene of bitterness and detraction which has stained our national character 
 beyond reprieve. While, on the contrary, the old government was simple, 
 plain, and honest, because there were not objects to gratify ambition and. 
 avarice." 
 
PLAN OF EEVENUE. 99 
 
 The new step taken by Congress to meet the public exigencies 
 consisted in submitting, on the 18th of April, 1783, to the States 
 a carefully digested plan of revenue, embracing in part the grant 
 of a power in Congress to levy for a term of twenty-five years a 
 nniform duty of five per cent, upon all imports, except a few 
 enumerated artictles of consumption, on which certain specific rates 
 were contemplated. 
 
 The officers for the collection of both descriptions of revenue 
 were to be appointed by the States, but to be amenable to and re- 
 movable by Congress. The report was the work of Madison, as- 
 sisted by Jefferson, and was enforced by the former in an earnest 
 appeal to the States. To Hamilton was assigned the task of pre- 
 paring an answer to the objections of Rhode Island, which was 
 done by him with his usual ability, but in such a lofty tone of 
 national importance that many in Virginia, having before them 
 the dread images of monarchy and consolidation, immediately took 
 fright and declared against the impost, making it difficult to say 
 which had had the most disastrous effect, Hamilton's address or 
 the demoralization produced by the anticipations of peace. Mr. 
 Jefferson, after a careful investigation in person of the suppoi't 
 which Madison's plan of revenue was likely to receive, mentions 
 Mr. Tyler's name first in the list of those who would lend a help- 
 ing hand. Then came Henry Tazewell, Gen. Nelson, W. Nelson, 
 Nicholas, and a Mr. Stuart, " a young man of good talents from 
 the westward." His letter was written May 7, 1783, before the 
 meeting of the Assembly.' " Dr. Lee, K. H. Lee, Mann Page, 
 Taylor, Thurston, and White," he wrote, " are opposed to them." 
 " Henry, as usual, is involved in mystery." But the better the 
 members were made acquainted with the tenor of Hamilton's let- 
 ter, the more averse they became to the plan recommended. The 
 Lee party was present in force, and the policy of relaxation had 
 obtained so firm a hold that the friends of the grant saw from the 
 beginning that but little chance was left them. " Only Mr. Braxton 
 and young Mr. Nelson"' made any remarks in the Committee of 
 the Whole, the rest considering it advisable to reserve their influ- 
 ence for invigorating the alternative proposition of separate credit, 
 The assistance of Henry would liave " ensured the success of the 
 
 ' Bancroft's Const, Hist., i., p. 310. 
 
 2 Joseph Jones to James Madison, Hives, i., p. 435. 
 
100 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEK8. 
 
 measure," ^ but " when the question came on, he was utterly silent." ' 
 Mr. Tyler, in his account of Patrick Henry, written for Mr. "Wirt's 
 Life of him, says, " [When] peace took place, he (Henry) consol- 
 idated [both] his enemies' and friends' interests, so that he was 
 again called to the chief magistracy by the unanimous consent of the 
 Houses of Assembly. This union was brought about, it was sup- 
 posed, by his advocating the return of the refugees." ^ " The 
 State," cried the triumphant Arthur Lee, "is resolved not to suf- 
 fer the exercise of any foreign power or influence within it," and 
 he added, " Tobacco rather falls here, I believe, for want of specie, 
 and from the vengence • threatened againut refugees, which pre- 
 vents those at New York from coming hither with money to pur- 
 chase, and leaves the planters in the power of a few." * 
 
 The result of this union of the Henry and Lee parties is ex- 
 pressed in the words of David Ramsay, who wrote from Charles- 
 ton in allusion to the similar action of the South Carolina Legisla- 
 ture: 
 
 "Our Assembly will not pass the five-per-cent. impost, agreeably to the 
 recommendations of Congress. They contend for separate credit. The doc- 
 trine here is, we will pay our full annual quota, but no more. I wish that 
 this may re-establish our injured credit ; but I have my fears of the ineffi- 
 ciency of everything short of permanent general revenue.''^ 
 
 The proposition of Congress was pronounced inadmissible by the 
 complaisant agreement of leaders long opposed in the Virginia 
 Assembly on nearly every question; but it was admitted that du- 
 ties ought to be laid under State supervision, establishing a fixed and 
 permanent fund for making good $400,000 to pay Yirginia's quota 
 of the interest of the Continental debt, and that a tax on land, ne- 
 groes and polls should be added, to supply all deficiencies. 
 
 It was evident that, if the original grant of power had been lost, 
 the friends of credit had in a measure prevailed. For Madison 
 wrote, July S, 1T83 : " The footing on which the impost is placed 
 by the Assembly is not an eligible one, but preferable to a total 
 rejection."" 
 
 ' Jefferson to Madison, June 1, 1783 ; Bancroft's Const. Hist., i., 311. 
 
 - Jefferson to Madison, June 17, 1783 ; Ibid., i., p. 317. 
 
 5 MS. of Tyler, obUterated where brackets occur. 
 
 ^ Arthur Lee to Bland, June 13, 1783, Bland Papers, ii., p. 110. 
 
 = Bland Papers, ii., p. 112. 
 
 'Madison Papers, i., p. 553. 
 
RESULTS OF THE POLICY PURSUED BY CONGRESS. 101 
 
 Information of the feeble policy pursued by Congress and the 
 States, as evidenced in the general repeal of all restraints on 
 British trade, did not fail to reach England in very short order. 
 The Shelburne ministry, which had succeeded Lord Eockingham's, 
 had proposed, through Mr. Pitt, to admit American vessels into all 
 the ports of Great Britain, — the productions of the United States to 
 pay no more or higher duties than the same productions would be 
 liable to if they were the property of British subjects and im- 
 ported in British vessels. The trade with the West India Islands 
 and the other British colonies was to be open to the citizens of 
 the United States, with American produce and American vessels, 
 on an equal footing with the subjects of Great Britain — with 
 merchandise in British vessels. The Portland ministry, which in 
 a few months succeeded Lord Shelburne's, through a combination 
 of Mr. Fox and Lord North, had retreated from the full provi- 
 sions of this proposition, but the screws, properly applied, would 
 probably have won acquiescence in a very liberal arrangement. 
 Mr. Hives says: "Information, however, was soon received in 
 England that the American ports were already open to British 
 trade without restriction; and Lord Sheffield's 'Observations,' 
 which appeared about the same time, having satisfied them that no 
 future defensive or retaliatory measures of any efficiency were to be 
 apprehended from the United States, so long as there was no central 
 authority in the confederacy armed with the direct power of regu- 
 lating the commerce of the States with foreign nations, the 
 ministry grew indifferent to any commercial arrangement." ^ In 
 his " Observations," Sheffield had written : " The Americans must 
 seek the commerce of Great Britain, because our manufactures 
 are most suitable. Few trading Americans speak any foreign 
 language ; they are well acquainted with our laws as well as with 
 our language. They will put a confidence in the British mer- 
 chant," etc. These were just the arguments that Mr. Tyler had 
 employed in order to prevent the repeal of the law imposing re- 
 strictions on British trade. 
 
 On July 2, 1783, appeared the royal proclamation, interdicting 
 the "West India trade to the citizens and vessels of the United 
 States. This foretold the result. On the 3d day of September, 
 1783, the definitive treaty of peace was signed at Paris, repeating 
 
 ' Kives' MadisoD, i., p. 501. 
 
102 LETfEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 the very terms of the provisional treaty of the year before. All 
 the fond anticipations of a liberal commercial arrangement fell at 
 once to the ground. 
 
 Nor did the evil rest here. The English, after the surrender 
 of the British prisoners, entirely omitted fulfilling the obligations 
 resting upon them by both the provisional and definitive treaties. 
 The slaves were never surrendered, and the posts on the frontier 
 were actually held by English troops for a period of thirteen 
 years. In the unfortunate policy that prevailed with reference 
 to the treaty of peace were sown the seeds of infinite future 
 trouble. The commercial treaty of Jay, in 1794, only irritated 
 the sore. The arrogance of England persisted in monopoly, 
 and added insult to injury, till the only recourse was the 
 sword. Tiie treaty of peace handed Virginia's tobacco over in 
 complete monopoly to England ; her wise men looked to a stronger 
 constitution to counteract the evil ; but unfortunately the salutary 
 check of a two-thirds vote on commercial questions was aban- 
 doned, and legislation amounted too often to a mere difference 
 of numbers, to-wit: seven ISTorthern States are more than six 
 Southern.' 
 
 The Assembly met in adjourned session during the fall of 1783. 
 The news of the royal proclamation of July 2nd, soon to be fol- 
 lowed by tidings of the definitive treaty, and a better knowledge 
 of " certain measures now pursuing by some European States hav- 
 ing a tendency materially to injure the general trade of America,"^ 
 occasioned one common outcry from Maine to Georgia. 
 
 The good hard specie of the Tories at ISlew York' contributed 
 its due share to saving the bill encouraging their migration from 
 defeat. As passed, however, it excepted all those who had ap- 
 peared in arms against their country, those who had been members 
 of the Board of Refugee Commissioners in New York, and those 
 who had owned a privateer during the war employed in cruising 
 
 ' " I hope that my fears are groundless, but I believe it as I do my creed, that 
 this government will operate as a faction of seven States to oppress the rest of 
 the Union." William Grayson, in the Virginia Convention of 1788. (Eobertson's 
 Debates, p. 204.) 
 
 * Bancroft's Const. Hist., i., p. 334. 
 
 ' " Let us have the magnanimity, sir, to lay aside our antipathies and prejudices, 
 and consider the subject in a political light ; those are an enterprising monied 
 people." Patrick Henry's speech ; Wirt's Henry, p. 237. 
 
THE TORIES. 103 
 
 against America. The enormities perpetrated by the Tories had 
 often been the theme of denunciation with the patriots. In Oc- 
 tober, 17S5, E. H. Lee wrote as follows: "The national mind (of 
 England) cannot continue long under the delusion created by the 
 most vindictive and abominable characters in the world. I mean 
 the Tory refugees, who by themselves, and by those who, for sinis- 
 ter purposes, have suffered themselves to be imposed upon by those • 
 people, are industriously keeping up on both sides the war a con- 
 tentious and mischievous spirit, to the great hurt of both coun- 
 tries." ' Saraudl Adams, writing on the same subject in Novem- 
 ber, 1782, declared: "Our citizens are in more danger of being 
 seduced by art than subjugated by arms.'" William Lee testi- 
 fied in jSoveniber, 1780: "To aid this plan (of invasion) the 
 Tories in England, or at least the intriguing characters among 
 them that came from North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, are 
 ordered back, and to submit to the present government there, that 
 they may serve as spies to the army and create dissensions and 
 distraction by their intrigues among the people." Finally Samuel 
 Adams asked significantly : " Should we not guard ourselves 
 against Britisli intrigue and faction ? Her (England's) emissaries, 
 under tlie guise of repenting refugees, schoolmasters, and other 
 characters, unless care is taken, may effect another revolution. 
 The Commonwealth of England lasted twelve years, and then the 
 4xiled King -^as restored with all the rage of faction and madness 
 of royalty." 
 
 At this distance of time, the opposition of Mr. Tyler to the 
 Tories after the peace may appear somewhat excessive; and no 
 •doubt he labored under the usual i-esentments of a long war. But 
 apart from the policy of restriction on foreign trade, for which he 
 was an -advocate, there were very good reasons in home politics 
 Tvhy just at this time the return of the loyalists should have been 
 Tiewed with suspicion, if not with downright uneasiness. It must 
 be remembered that monarchical forms in America had been but 
 recently exchanged for republican institutions ; and that a reversion 
 back to the old government was not an absurd fear, the celebrated 
 A?ias of Mr. Jefi'erson demonstrates. The history of the times 
 .shows that there was a formidable element in the country that saw, 
 
 ' Lee to Jefferson. Life of B. H. Lee, ii., p. 67. 
 
 ' S. Adams to A. Lee. Life of Arthur Lee, ii., p. 230. 
 
104 LETTEE8 AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 as Hamilton and John Adams saw, little hope in anything short 
 of a monarchy. In the eyes of the latter, the British constitu- 
 tion, " purged of its corruption," and amended so as to give the 
 popular branch " equality of representation," was the most perfect 
 constitution ever devised by the wit of man. In the eyes of the 
 former, the reformation proposed by Adams would have made it 
 impracticable. — " As it stood, with all its supposed defects, it was 
 the most perfect government that ever existed." ' This anti-re- 
 publican feeling manifested itself to a formidable extent in the 
 rise and rule of the Federal party during the last decade of the 
 eighteenth century. 
 
 The Virginia Legislature rested in its liberality with the refu- 
 gees. Enraged at the course of the English ministry, the news 
 of whose order of council now reached them, they quickly resolved, 
 nemine contradicente, that Congress should have the power to pro- 
 hibit the importation of the growth or produce of the British 
 West India Islands into the United States in British vessels, or " to 
 adopt any other measure which might tend to counteract the de- 
 signs of Great Britain with regard to American commerce." ^ And 
 simultaneously with this, the Legislature, "without a dissent- 
 ing voice," ' in the absence of the Lees, passed the impost act, in 
 accordance with the recommendation of Congress of April 18, 
 1783. "How we are to counteract," wrote Monroe, "the narrow 
 and illiberal system of commercial policy in the European powers, 
 and what connection we are to have with them, are questions of 
 the first import."^ "It was manifest," cried Edmund Randolph, 
 smarting under Tyler's opposition to the refugees,^ " that through- 
 out the last session (this session) Henry had one corps, K. H. Lee, 
 though absent, another, and the Speaker a third, founded on a 
 riveted opposition to our late enemies and everything that con- 
 cerned themP " 
 
 The Governor, by direction, communicated the act vesting Con- 
 gress with power to counteract the British monopoly in the West 
 Indies to the respective executive authorities of the other States ; 
 
 1 Kandolph's Jefferson, iv., pp. 450-'51. 
 
 2 Journal House Delegates, December 4, 1783. ' Spark's Washington, ix., p. 5. 
 •* James Monroe to K. H. Lee. Life of K. H. Lee, ii., p. 221. 
 
 =■ John Randolph, father of Edmund Randolph, sided with Dunmore, withdrew 
 from Virginia with him, and died in London in January, 1784. 
 
 " Bancroft's Const. Hist., i., p. 361 ; Randolph to Jefferson, May 1.5, 1784. 
 
SPEAKER TYLEb's EIVETED OPPOSITION. 105- 
 
 and he sent to the delegates of his own State a report of what had 
 been done. " This," says Bancroft, " is the first in the series of 
 measures through which Virginia marshalled the United States on 
 their way to a better union." ^ " The British," wrote Jefferson, 
 " are doing us another good turn. They attempt, without disguise, 
 to possess themselves of the carriage of our produce. This has 
 raised a general indignation in America. The States see, however, 
 that their Constitutions have provided no means of counteracting 
 it. They are therefore beginning to vest Congress with the abso- 
 lute power of regulating their commerce."^ 
 
 If the British did us a " good turn " by monopolizing our trade,, 
 the " riveted opposition " of Speaker Tyler did us a better in uni- 
 formly tugging at the bell to call the States to council. 
 
 ' Bancroft's Const. Hist., i., p, 148. ' Randolph's Jefferson, i., p. 344. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 1784—1786. 
 
 " My conduct throughout the Eevolution -will justify me. . . T wished Congress to have 
 -the regulation of trade. I was of opinion that a partial regulation alone would not suffice. 
 1 was among those members who, a few years ago, proposed that regulation." — John 
 Tyler, Sr. — (Robertson's Debates, p. 457.) 
 
 Agitation Otek Tbade. — Meeting of the Legislatuee in Mat, 1784. — Kesolu- 
 
 TIONS ON THE StATE AND FeDEEAL FINANCES. — CoMPULSOEY PeOCESS KeCOM- 
 
 MENDED. — Anecdote. — Beitish Debts. — Heney and Tylee Lead the Opposi- 
 tion TO THE TeEATY — HiSTOEY OP THE BeITISH DeBTS. — OthEB QUESTIONS IN 
 
 THE Fall op 1784. — The Bill to Prevent Fillibusteeing. — State and 
 National Finances Again. — Me. Tylee Proposes to Authoeize Amendments 
 OP the Confederation by Less Than a Unanimous Vote. — Adjournment of 
 THE Legislatuee. — The Regulation op Teade. — North and South Dueing 
 the Wak and After It. — Contest Between Harrison and Tylee foe the 
 House of Delegates. — Tyler Defeats Haeeison. . — Contest foe the Speakee's 
 Chair. — Harrison Defeats Tylee. — Debate on the Kegul ation of Trade. 
 — Me. Tylee's Alteenative Peoposition. — Elected Judge of the Admiralty 
 Couet. — Tylek Revives His Alteenative Proposition foe a Convention op 
 the States. — Its Passage on the Last Day of the Session. — Posthumous 
 Claim op Madison. 
 
 THE year 1784 was marked by intense excitement in the United 
 States over the question of trade. The American papers 
 resounded with denunciations of British monopoly. Mr. Tyler 
 looked upon these universal resentments as a full vindication of 
 the policy urged by him in the Virginia Legislature. 
 
 When the next General Assembly convened, in May, 1784, he 
 was re-elected to the speaker's chair without any opposition. The 
 debates immediately turned upon the state of the Union. Some 
 present action was necessary with regard to both the subjects of 
 revenue and trade. Mr. Henry arrived on the 14th of May, 
 and was strenuous for reinvigorating the Federal government, 
 " though without any precise plan." He was, on general principles, 
 in favor of a distress on the property of delinquent States. These 
 views he imparted to James Madison (who, after an honorable 
 
COMPULSOEY PEOCESS ON THE STATES. 107 
 
 ^service in Congress, had entered the Legislature), and to Joseph 
 Jones, the uncle of James Monroe, and a man of considerable 
 influence. Accordingly, resolutions were moved in the Committee 
 of the Whole, proposing population in the place of lands as the 
 future rule of contribution to the Federal government — the taking 
 of a census in the State, and the appropriating of a sum in blank, 
 as three-fourths of Virginia's arrears on the requisition of Congress 
 of October 30, 1781. A compulsory power on the property of 
 •delinquent States was added, whose adoption may appear some- 
 what repugnant to the doctrines always maintained by Virginia, 
 as to the confederate character of the Union. But there was in 
 fact nothing in the recommendation of such a power contrary to 
 the faith professed by Virginia. In all treaties, be their character 
 what it may, the good and the evil of the stipulations, ratified 
 by the parties, must be accepted alike. True, the compact may 
 be renounced by one of the parties for causfe ; but the other party 
 may hold him to a proper responsibility, should, in his opinion, this 
 cause be without just foundation. Thus, not only has the injured 
 party a perfect right, under the compact, to require the fulfilment 
 of its terms, but the employment of force may be justified to any 
 extent short of the extinguishment of the nationality of the 
 delinquent State.. 
 
 The question of trade was met by a resolution which proposed 
 to vest Congress with power to prohibit, for any term not exceed- 
 ing fifteen years, the importation or exportation of goods to or 
 ifrom Virginia, in vessels belonging to subjects of any power with 
 whom we had no commercial treaty ; the proviso being, that to all 
 acts passed by Congress in pursuance of the authority granted, the 
 assent of nine States should be necessary. 
 
 All the resolutions, thus submittted, received the endorsement of 
 the Legislature, excepting the third, which had reference to the lay- 
 ing of taxes.' When this came up for discussion, it appeared that 
 Henry, notwithstanding the attitude assumed by him as to the 
 ■employment of arms to enforce the requisitions of Congress, shrank 
 •from the adoption of measures which alone would have given any 
 weight to the recommendations of Virginia. Mr. Tyler, on the 
 •other hand, was warm in pressing the necessity of laying taxes 
 commensurate with all the public demands ; and in this he was 
 
 'Journal House Del., May Sess., 1784, pp. 11, 12. 
 
108 LETTERS AKD TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 supported by the great majority of the men of taleiJts and reputa- 
 tion in the Assembly. Nevertheless, so unpopular was the sub- 
 ject of taxation, that, in the end, only a duty of one and one-half 
 per cent, was added to the State impost appropriated to Congress,, 
 while the June tax was postponed until January following. " We 
 shall make a strange figure," wrote Madison on the 15th of June,. 
 " after our declarations with regard to Congress and the Continen- 
 tal debt, if we wholly omit the means of fulfilling them." 
 
 The popular effect of Mr. Henry's eloquence on the tax bill at 
 this time has been amusingly described by Judge Archibald Stuart,. 
 of Augusta, in Wirt's Dfe of Patrick Hemn/ : 
 
 The finances of the country had been much deranged during the war, and 
 public credit was at a low ebb ; a party in the Legislature thought it then 
 high time to place the character and credit of the State on a more respectable 
 footing, by laying taxes commensurate with all the public demands. With' 
 this view a bill had been brought into the House, and referred tea Committee 
 of the Whole, in support of which the then Speaker (Mr. Tyler), Henry Taze- 
 well, Mann Page, William Ronald, and many other members of great respect- 
 ability (including, to the best of my recollection, Richard H. Lee, and perhaps- 
 Mr. Madison) took an active part. Mr. Henry, on the other hand, was of 
 opinion that this was a premature attempt; that policy required that the- 
 people should have some repose, after the fatigues and privations to which 
 they had been subjected during a long and arduous struggle for independence.- 
 
 The advocates of the bill, in Committee of the whole House, used their ut- 
 most efforts, and were succe.ssful in conforming it to their views by such a 
 majority (say thirty) as seemed to ensure its passage. When the committee 
 rose, the bill was instantlj' reported to the house, when Mr. Henry, who had" 
 been excited and roused by his recent defeat, came forward again in all the 
 majesty of his power. For some time after he commenced speaking, the- 
 countenances of his opponents indicated no apprehension of danger to their' 
 cause. 
 
 The feelings of Mr. Tyler, which were sometimes warm, could not, on- 
 that occasion, be concealed, even in the chair. His countenance was forbid- 
 ding, even repulsive, and his face turned from the speaker. Mr. Tazewell 
 was reading a pamphlet, and Mr. Page was more than usually grave. After 
 some time, however, it was discovered that Mr. Tyler's countenance gradually 
 began to relax ; he would occasionally look at Mr. Henry ; sometimes smile ; his- 
 attention by degrees became more fixed; at length it became completely so; 
 he next appeared to be in g^od humor ; he leaned towards Mr. Henry ; ap- 
 peared charmed and delighted, and finally lost in wonder and amazement. 
 The progress of these feelings was legible in his countenance. 
 
 Mr. Henry drew a most affecting picture of the state of poverty and suf- 
 fering in which the people of the upper counties had been left by the war. 
 His delineation of their wants and wretchedness was so minute, so full of 
 
THE BErriSH DEBTS. 109 
 
 ■feeling, and wittfal so true, that he could scarcely fail to enlist on his side 
 •every sympathetic mind. He contrasted the severe toil by which they had to 
 gain their daily subsistence with the facilities enjoyed by the people of the 
 lower counties. The latter, he said, residing on the salt rivers and creeks, 
 •could draw their supplies at pleasure from the waters that flowed by their 
 •doors ; and then he presented such a ludicrous image of the members who 
 had advocated the bill (the most of whom were from the lower counties), 
 peeping and peering along the shores of the creeks to pick up their mess of 
 •crabs, or paddling off to the oyster rocks to rake for iheir daily bread,' as 
 ■filled the house with a roar of merriment. Mr. Tazewell laid down his 
 pamphlet, and shook his sides with laughter ; uveu the gravity of Mr. Pao-e 
 was affected ; a corresponding change of countenances prevailed through the 
 janks of the advocates of the bill, and you might discover that they had sur- 
 rendered their cause. In this they were not disappointed ; for on a division 
 Mr. Henry had a majority of upwards of thirty against the bill. 
 
 'At that day (and perhaps still) the poorer people on i he salt creeks lived almost ex- 
 •clasively on fish, passing whole days, and sometimes weeks, without seeing a gntin of 
 brtad. (?) 
 
 On another subject, almost as important as the revenue and" 
 trade of the country, Messrs. Henry and Tyler acted warmly in 
 unison. Men were divided at this time on the question how far 
 "the terms of the treaty of peace should he carried into eifect. 
 Messrs. Madison, E. H. Lee, Tazewell, Barbour, AVilson Gary, 
 It>richolas, and Stuart were in favor of the full performance of the 
 "treaty ; and that without inquiring whether or not a breach had 
 occurred first on the part of Great Britain. In this view Wash- 
 ington and Jefferson, outside of the Assembly, were understood as 
 •concurring. 
 
 Imposing as the authority was on this side of the question, there 
 were men entertaining the contrary view, whose patriotism was as 
 iar beyond suspicion. Considerations of personal interest un- 
 doubtedly did weigh with some. The British factors to whom 
 the farmers of Virginia, prior to the Revolution, entrusted the 
 sale of their tobacco, had found it greatly to their advantage to 
 ■encourage a system of long credits. In this way both the person 
 and the property of their creditors were made subject to their 
 ■control. It is estimated that the planters of Yirginia were in- 
 debted to British merchants ten millions of dollars. As it was 
 universally admitted that the British had committed the first in- 
 fractions of the treaty, by carrying off the slaves and records be- 
 longing to the United States, and which, by the terms of the pre- 
 liminary articles, were to be given up on application, the Yir- 
 
110 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 giiiians thought it but just that the right to sue in the courts of 
 Virginia for these ante-war debts should be withheld, until Eng- 
 land should have made amends for the first offence, by surrender- 
 ing the western posts in accordance with the treaty. " The hold- 
 ing of the western posts," says Bancroft, " had no connection with 
 this debt, and no proportion to it; for the profits of the fur trade,, 
 thus secured to Great Britain, in each single year very far ex- 
 ceeded the whole debt for which the collection was postponed." 
 
 The charge of interest crumbled into dust, when directed against- 
 the public record of John Tyler, whose stern course upon the sub- 
 ject of taxation lifted him far above the suspicion of pander- 
 ing to popular prejudices, and who, with Mr. Henry, led the op- 
 position in the Assembly. It was a genuine feeling with him that 
 the United States had, in all justice, a right to demand of Great. 
 Britain a surrender of the western posts, and until this was done 
 every step in advance was a sacrifice of national pride.^ 
 
 On a motion in the Assembly to repeal all laws that prevented 
 a due compliance with the stipulations of the treaty, the vote 
 stood thirty-seven to fifty-seven against it.^ But the Assembly 
 stated their case to the world in certain resolutions, which were 
 passed on the 23d of June, 1781, and which represented that,, 
 while the General Assembly would not interfere with the power 
 vested in Congress to make treaties, a due regard for the honor of 
 the country must compel them to postpone repealing the acts 
 passed during the war, interdicting the recovery of British debts- 
 until reparation was made for the infractions committed first by 
 the British Government, or " Congress should judge it indisjjens- 
 ably necessary^' that the stipulations of the treaty should be per- 
 formed.' 
 
 The question of the British debts came up again at the October 
 session of the same year. No answer had been received from Con- 
 gress to the resolutions passed at the last session, but a marked 
 change had taken place in the mind of the countiy from the inter- 
 vening exchange of the ratifications of the treaty. Madison, who- 
 had suffered a bad defeat at the last Assembly, attended the Legisla- 
 
 1 What subserviency and concession will do to dishonor the national name,. 
 tarnish the character of the people, and mortify the manhood of government, the 
 melancholy general history of the times, till 1812, suflSciently attests. 
 
 -Jour. House Del., May Session, 1784, p. 41. '■Ibid., pp. 72 73. 
 
PKOCEEDINGS OF THE ASSEMBLY. Ill 
 
 ture with all the sanguine expectation of youth. Benjamin Har- 
 rison's term of office as Governor had expired, and a resolution was- 
 adopted extending to him the Assembly's unanimous approbation 
 of his administration. Mr. Henry had been previously elected 
 as his successor, and was therefore out of the way. On the 15th 
 of November, shortly after the commencement of business. Gen- 
 eral Washington visited Richmond, to press his plans of internal 
 improvement for the State. Under such auspicious circum- 
 stances, no wonder that Madison thought it too bad that the- 
 work of complying with the terms of tte treaty should not be 
 carried through. He thought that even the Speaker, "the other 
 champion at the last session against the treaty, was at least half a 
 proselyte." 
 
 Propositions were finally adopted by both Houses relative to the 
 British debts, rejecting interest during the period of war, and 
 making provision for payments in seven annual installments. The 
 treaty of peace was not to be literally pursued, and the interval 
 between the first and last payments, in the judgment of the Speak- 
 er's party, left still a defensive weapon in the hands of the people, 
 in case the overture was not met by Great Britain in a correspond- 
 ing spirit of liberality But a most amusing accident defeated the 
 wishes of the national party, which I cannot do better than relate 
 in the words of Mr. Madison : 
 
 The delays attending this measure had spun it out to the day preceding the 
 one fixed for a final adjournment. Several of the members went over to 
 Manchester in the evening, with an intention, it is to be presumed, of return- 
 ing the next morning. The severity of the night rendered their passage back 
 next morning impossible. Without them there was no house. The impa- 
 tience of the members was such as might be supposed. Some were for stig- 
 matizing the absentees and adjourning. The rest were some for one thing 
 and some for another. At length it was agreed to wait till the next day. 
 The next day presented the same obstructions in the river. A canoe was sent 
 over for inquiry by the Manchester party, but they did not choose to venture 
 themselves. The impatience increased; warm resolutions were agitated. 
 They ended, however, in an agreement to wait one day more. On the morn- 
 inf of the third day, the prospect remained the same. Patience could hold 
 out no longer, and an adjournment to the last day of March ensued. The 
 question to be decided is whether a bill, which has passed the House of Dele- 
 gates, and been assented to by the Senate, but not sent down to the House of 
 Delegates, nor enrolled, nor examined, nor signed by the two speakers, and 
 consequently not of record, is or is not a law. A bill for the better regula- 
 tion of the customs is in the same situation. 
 
112 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 The subsequent history of the British debts answered the ques- 
 tion here propounded by Madison in the negative/ The bill did 
 not go into effect ; and to conclude the history of this once famous 
 subject, the prior settlement of the British debts was successfully 
 fought oS by Mr. Tyler until his withdrawal from the Legislature, in 
 1786,^ when Mr. Henry, having returned, the cudgel was taken up 
 by him with like result, until the new constitution went into effect, 
 ■and the courts of the United States were open to the creditors. 
 The Assembly of Virginia repeatedly declared its willingness to 
 conform in all good faith to the treaty ; and in December, 1787, 
 passed an act repealing all laws placing impediments in the way 
 of British creditors, but suspending its operation until England 
 should surrender the posts on the frontier. Yet the British per- 
 sisted to the end in holding the posts. It was actually not until 
 thirteen years after the treaty of peace that the British troops 
 were withdrawn; and Jay's treaty, in 1794, was a virtual justifica- 
 tion to the English government of all its high-handed infractions of 
 the treaty of peace. Not only did it agree to iiidemnify British 
 creditors for losses incurred since the peace through legal impedi- 
 ments,' but it entirely failed to provide compensation for the 
 slaves carried off by the British, contrary to the expressed terms 
 of the treaty, and whose value approximated the whole amount of 
 the British debt. Professing to be a commercial treaty, it yet 
 contained no provision in favor of tobacco — the foundation of our 
 foreign credit during the Eevolution and the pillar of Virginia 
 
 ' How much the treaty party drew upon their fears may be recognized by the 
 following extract from a letter of Washington to E. H. Lee, written after his 
 return home, on the 14th of December, 1784 : "It is said (how well founded, I 
 know not) that our Assembly have repealed their former acts respecting the British 
 debts. If this be true, and the State of New York have not acted repugnantly 
 to the terms of the treaty, the British government can no longer hold the western 
 posts under that cover ; but I shall be mistaken if they do not entrench them- 
 selves behind some other expedient to retain them, or appoint a time for surren- 
 dering them of which we cannot avail ourselves, the probable consequences 
 whereof will be the destruction of the works.'' — Sparks, ix., p. 80. 
 
 ' In 1786 Mr. Madison wiote : " The repeated disappointments I have sustained 
 in efforts in favor of the treaty make me extremely averse to take the lead in the 
 business again." — Mad. Writ., i., p. 262. 
 
 ' In 1802 the United States appropriated $2,664,000 in payment of British 
 creditors. (Laws of the United States (1815), Bioren and Duane, iii., p. 517.) 
 
THE BILL TO PUNISH FILLIBUSTBEING. 113 
 
 industry.^ This article, which, next to salt, is the product most 
 generally consumed by man — " there being no climate in which it 
 is not used, no nationality which has not adopted it," — the expected 
 source of untold riches to Virginia, was handed over, without com- 
 punction, as a free offering to British prohibitory duties, while the 
 ■courts of the United States construed the stipulations of the treaty 
 &s extending to debts ab-eady paid by individuals into the treasury 
 under the laws of the State.-* 
 
 Other questions of great and abiding interest engaged the at- 
 tention of the General Assembly at its session in the fall of 1784. 
 Under the auspices of Washington, schemes were matured having 
 in view the internal improvement of the State, and plans were 
 pushed to connect the waters of the east with the river Ohio, on 
 the other side of the Alleghanies. Anything great and compre- 
 hensive woke a responsive chord in the Speaker's mind. All the 
 influence of his distinguished office was freely given to aiding the 
 noble conceptions of Washington; and he had not forgotten the 
 ■example set by him when, at a later day, as governor of the State, 
 he urged in burning words the extension of the State highways, 
 manufactures, and schools. Yet, while so ready to promote these 
 vast plans for the advancement of the State, when it came down 
 to the necessary abandonment of individual rights for the general 
 benefit of society, he was tender and cautious lest tyranny might 
 ensue. It was this feeling that made him so ardently oppose Mr. 
 Madison on the bill, proposed by him, to punish tillibustering. 
 This measure was suggested by the danger of our becoming em- 
 broiled with Spain by the licentious and predatory spirit of some 
 ■of our western people ; and was by no means the least important 
 in that series of acts which, starting with the first written consti- 
 tution in history, and proceeding through the various bills of 
 the revisal, and attendant legislation, makes the early jurisprudence 
 of Virginia so glorious in the annals of the new world. The bill, 
 proposed -'by Madison, authorized the surrender of any citizen to 
 a foreign power, who should go beyond the limits of the United 
 
 ' In 1784 Madison wrote: "Your hiat for appropriating the slave tax to Con- 
 gress fell in precisely with the opinion I had formed and suggested to those who 
 
 are most attentive to our finances I wished for it because the slave-holders 
 
 are tobacco makers, and wiU generally have ?uird money, which alone will serve for 
 Congress.''''— Writings, i., p. 89. 
 
 ' Ware vs. Hyltou, 3 Dallas, p. 199. 
 
114 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 States and commit, within the acknowledged jurisdiction of the- 
 foreign sovereignty, " a crime for which, in the judgment of the 
 United States in Congress assembled, the law of nations, or any 
 treaty between the United States and foreign nations, requires him 
 to be surrendered." "The measure," says Madison, "was warmly 
 patronized by Mr. Henry and most of the forensic speakers, and 
 no less warmly opposed by the Speaker and some others. The op- 
 ponents contended that such surrenders were unknown to the law 
 of nations, and were interdicted by our declaration of rights." 
 There was unquestionably a great degree of force in the objections of 
 Speaker Tyler, and his position on the subject was not generally 
 negatived in the relations of nations, until after the negotiation of 
 the Ashburton treaty in 1812, in which ample provision was made 
 between Great Britain and the United States for the mutual sur- 
 render of persons charged with certain enumerated crimes. It is 
 remarkable that the plea of the Bill of Rights, put forward by 
 the Speaker against the iirst provisions of the Act of 1781, was in 
 later days resorted to by the abolitionists, to justify, against the 
 express intention of the Constitution, a refusal to surrender fugitive 
 slaves without a trial by a jury in the place where the arrest was 
 first made. The delicacy of the subject, and the importance of 
 the principle involved, as well as its liability in practice to abuse,, 
 enlisted the best efforts of Mr. Tyler ; and against the combined 
 influence of Henry and Madison he came within a single vote of 
 carrying the Assembly with him on the question, — the bill passing 
 the House by the scanty majority of forty-four to forty-three. By the 
 fifth section of the bill, Virginia led the way to making the prin- 
 ciple an accepted one in the international law of the world. The- 
 Governor was formally required to transmit copies of the act to 
 the governors of the colonies of such nations as might be in most 
 risk of injnry from disorderly citizens of Virginia. 
 
 The State and national finances received again the attention of 
 the House. Mr. Tyler had stood firmly by the Federal govern- 
 ment on the question of revenue, and had witnessed with patriotic 
 indignation the obduracy of Ehode Island in withholding the 
 grant of the power to Congress to levy the five per cent, impost, 
 which Congress had asked nearly four years before, and again de- 
 manded in 1783, in Madison's Report of that year. Finally, Con- 
 necticut, compelled by neighborhood to Rhode Island, to pay 
 
ME. TTLEe's proposition ON THE IMPOST. 115 
 
 tribute to her ports, passed an act making the consent of only 
 twelve States necessary to the operation of the impost within her 
 limits. 
 
 The patriotism of the Speaker could not be restrained. What 
 Connecticut granted from motives of interest, he wished Virginia 
 to grant fi-om considerations of high policy and virtue. Accord- 
 ingly, in the Committee of the whole House, Mr. Tyler moved a 
 resolution of the same purport as that which received the sanction 
 of Connecticut. The ex-Governor, Harrison, cordially extended 
 his aid in the debate; but Madison, from whom better things 
 were expected, spoke in opposition. The very principle, which 
 gave vitality to the new constitution in 1788, of less than a unani- 
 mous vote of the States, appears at first to have met defeat at 
 the hands of those who afterwards most zealously insisted on it. 
 
 Mr. Madison, in his letters, is cautious in touching on this topic ; 
 but the elaborate reasons which he gives for its rejection by the 
 Assembly are unquestionably the heads of his arguments in the 
 Committee of the "Whole against the proposition. These objections 
 were, "1, The appearance of a schism in the Confederacy, which it 
 would present to foreign eyes; 2, Its tendency to combinations of 
 smaller majorities of the States ; 3, The channel it would open for 
 smuggling ; goods imported into Khode Island in such case might 
 not only be spread by land through the adjacent States, but if 
 slipped into any neighboring port, might thence be carried, duty 
 free, to any part of the associated States; 4, The greater improba- 
 bility of a union of twelve States on such new ground than of 
 the conversion of Khode Island to the old one; 5, The want of 
 harmony among the other States which would be betrayed by the 
 miscarriage of such an experiment, and the fresh triumph and ob- 
 stinacy which Khode Island would derive from it."^ 
 
 Mr. Tyler's proposition received the approval of the Committee 
 -of the "Whole, and, as reported, read as follows : 
 
 Besolced, That it is the opinion of this committee, that an act ought to 
 pass to amend the act entitled " an act to provide certain and adequate funds 
 for the payment of this State's quota of the debts contracted bj- the United 
 States, so as to authorize the Congress of the United States to carry the same 
 into effect within this C'jmmoiiwealth, as soon as twelve States in the Union 
 shall have passed similar acts."* 
 
 ' Madison's Writ., i., p. 133. 
 
 « Journal House Del., December 13, 1784, p. 67. 
 
116 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 A committee was appointed by the Speaker, which afterwards 
 brought in a bill pursuant to this resolution; but on the question 
 the action of the Committee of the Whole was reversed in the 
 House. 
 
 A law had been passed at the spring session of 1784:, discon- 
 tinuing semi-annual sessions of the Legislature, and providing for an 
 interval of a year between any two sessions. The first Legislature, 
 under the new regime, assembled in the fall of 1785 ; but before 
 that time had arrived, events had occurred affecting in the most 
 important degree the destiny of the States of the Union, and 
 which need a few words of explanation. 
 
 The question of revenue, finding a common solution in the 
 power proposed to be vested in Congress to regulate the trade of 
 the Union, came soon to be blended with it. The world had been 
 open to our trade ever since the treaty in 1783, but this was only 
 nominally the case; for, apart from the fetters of old time as- 
 sociations, our long siibjection to England had encouraged the 
 growth in other countries of those articles which, but for the in- 
 terdictions of English law, could have been drawn more readily 
 and cheaply from us. It was a prevailing idea at the time — an 
 idea which England has had sense enough to abandon since — that 
 the commerce of the nation was promoted by the policy of ex- 
 clusion. The higher the wall, the better for China ! Consequently, 
 no sooner was our young Republic a fixed fact among nations than 
 England, France, and Spain vied with one another in imposing 
 liigh duties and rigorous restrictions on our exports, so as to pre- 
 vent competition with what, perchance, was hot-housed in some 
 portion of their own dominions. The Spanish went so far as to 
 lay an embargo on the free navigation of the Mississippi at New 
 Orleans. 
 
 It had been Mr. Tyler's opinion, that these evils might have 
 been obviated by a firm stand, taken in the beginning against the 
 sapping processes of peace. He complained, that without necessity 
 or reason, but merely from the lack of sober precaution, we had 
 fallen, as before the Eevolution, into a galling vassalage to Eng- 
 land, rendered all the more unbearable by the widely different 
 relations that now prevailed between the two countries. 
 
 From the material standpoint, Virginia was the least affected 
 by the state of affairs, which now awakened the intense solicitude 
 
THE TEADE OF YIEGINIA AND THE NORTH CONTRASTED. IIT 
 
 of statesmen and the people at large. As a colony, Virginia 
 possessed no marine to compare with that of iJTew England. It 
 therefore followed, that the late exclusion of British vessels by 
 the war, while of actual advantage to the shipping interests of New 
 England, was a very serious blow to our State. Our trade perished 
 for the absence of ships to carry it. On the other hand, the 
 Northern States had been beneiited by the war in more than one 
 respect. Xot only had their ships to experience no competition, 
 but that part of the Union had been for years the chief theatre of 
 the disbursement of moneys of both the English and American 
 governments. " Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard 
 his spots ?" — and it ought not to excite the surprise of the 
 reader, that the appetite of the Northern men for turning an 
 honest penny kept pace with their unquestioned earnestness in 
 behalf of the American cause. Nor should we fail to make every 
 allowance for this exhibition of zeal to advance their private 
 interest, whatever the judgment of Washington may have been, 
 whose Yirginia education peculiarly unfitted him to sympathize 
 with the rigid economy of those who surrounded him during the 
 first years of the Revolution. ^ In ITSCi, while Virginia suffered 
 from the scarcity of coin to such an extent as to allow the pay- 
 ment of taxes in specific articles, Tom Paine, in his Crisis, de- 
 scribed the rivers of the North, " as beautiful with large and 
 valuable vessels," the stores "filled with merchandise," and the 
 produce of the country '' having a ready market and an advanta- 
 geous price." "Gold and silver," said he, "that for a while 
 seemed to have retreated again within the bowels of the earth, 
 have once more risen in circulation, and every day adds new 
 strength to trade, commerce and agriculture." 
 
 The return of peace precisely reversed the state of trade in Vir- 
 
 'WashiDgton, writing on the 27th of March, 1778, from Valley Forge, la- 
 mented: -'The situation of matters in this State is melancholy and alarming. 
 We have daily proof that a majority of the people in this quarter are only re- 
 strained from supplying the enemy with horses and every kind of necessary 
 through fear of punishment ; and, although I have made a number of severe 
 examples, I cannot put a stop to the intercourse.'' In October of the same year, 
 he wrote as follows :— "To make and extort money in every shape that can be 
 devised, and at the same time decry its value, seems to have become a mere 
 business and an epidemical disease." In another letter ho expresses his longing 
 for a gallows five times as high as Haman's, to hang all peculators, speculators, 
 extortionists and tovee,i&\\ers.— Sparks, v., p. 300; Ibid., vi., p. 92. 
 
118 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 ginia and in S"ew England. The ships of England once more 
 swung at anchor in the ports and rivers of Virginia, and the trade 
 went briskly on in tobacco and grain. The same prosperous out- 
 look, in a more or less modified degree, was the case in the other 
 Southern States of the Union. 
 
 "Our internal trade," wrote Madison, in August, 1785, "is 
 taking an arrangement from which I hope good consequences. 
 Ketail stores are spreading all over the country, many of them 
 canned on by native adventurers. Some of them branched out 
 from principal stores at the head of navigation." ^ Hard money had 
 now become abundant in Virginia, and in 1786 Washington bore 
 witness to the prosperity of the State, when he wrote to Hum- 
 phreys : " Peace and tranquillity prevail in this State. The Assem- 
 bly, by a very great majority, .... have rejected an application 
 for paper money, and spurned the idea of fixing the value of 
 military certificates by a scale of depreciation." ^ 
 
 How different was the condition of the ISTorthern section of the 
 Union at this time ! There the severest distempers were every- 
 where displayed. England had furnished markets for more than 
 three-fourths of the exports of the eight Northern States, which 
 consisted chiefly of fish, oil and rum. Now these exports were laid 
 under the pressure of onerous restrictions, and the l)ounties once 
 furnished by England were, of course, withdrawn. 
 
 As a consequence, out of three hundred vessels once engaged in 
 the whale trade, it is said that scarcely one remained afloat. Listead 
 of rivers, as in 1780, "beautiful with large and valuable vessels," 
 stores "filled with merchandise," and a "ready market" for the 
 produce of the country, misery and famine stalked throughout New 
 England. " Who," asked General Pinkney, in the South Carolina 
 convention, " have been the greatest sufferers in the Union by our 
 obtaining our independence? I answer, the Eastern States. They 
 have lost everything but their country and their freedom. It is 
 notorious that some ports to the eastward, which used to fit out 
 one hundred and fifty sail of vessels, do not now fit out thirty ; tliat 
 their trade of ship-building, which used to be very considerable, is 
 now annihilated ; that their fisheries are trifling, and their mariners 
 in want of bread." ^ In August, 17S5, Madison wrote that "the 
 machinations of Great Britain had produced much distress and 
 
 ' Mad. Writ., i., p. 174. ' Sparks, ix., p. 224. » Elliot's Debates, iv., pp. 284-5. 
 
LOCAL KESTEICTIONS. 119 
 
 Tioise in the Northern States, particularly in Boston, from whence 
 the alarm had spread to New York and Philadelphia." He 
 dreaded " a breach in the Conf ederacj'," unless Virginia attended 
 to their complaints.^ 
 
 Yet, while Virginia presented so pleasing an appearance of order 
 a,nd prosperity, and its resentment of England's policy was due, in 
 great degree, to mortified pride, there was still abundant reason, 
 from a material standpoint, why she too should be dissatisfied 
 with the condition of her foreign trade. The tobacco and rice of 
 the Southern section met with little favor from continental tariffs. 
 Jiven before the Ke volution, the duties on tobacco imported into 
 England had been complained of, but now they were increased to 
 Tates of prohibition, while the rice of South Carolina languished 
 under similar burdens. Nor was this all. Though Virginia had 
 few ships compared with New England, her marine was not con- 
 temptible, and the hope had been strongly entertained that, under 
 the new order of things, with fair and equal chances, it would soon 
 acquire a most respectable character. The development of this 
 marine was entirely precluded by the high duties on tobacco and 
 the closure of the British West Indies, with which, of old, a brisk 
 .and lucrative trade was kept up from the ports of Alexandria and 
 Norfolk in Virginia owned ships.^ 
 
 While interest, pride and patriotism animated the North, pat^ 
 riotism, pride and interest animated A'irginia in devising a remedy 
 ior existing evils. This remedy was sought at first in separate 
 State action, retaliating on Great Britain. The effects of such a 
 policy were soon apparent in the complaints that rose on all sides. 
 Maryland and Pennsylvania, by adopting a lower scale of duties, 
 •drew off the trade of Virginia to their own ports. Baltimore, then 
 an inconsiderable village, is said to have received in this way the 
 first impulse to its present greatness. Connecticut resented a simi- 
 
 ' Madison's Writ, i., p. 174. 
 
 2 In Mair's Bookkeepiog (1760), pp. 331-2, we read: "The produce or com- 
 Taodities of the growth of Virginia and Maryland are pitch, tar, turpentine, plank, 
 clapboard, hogshead and barrel staves, shingles, wheat, flour, biscuit, Indian corn, 
 beef, pork, tallow, wax, butter and live stock, such as hogs, geese and turkeys. 
 These they generally export, in small sloops of their own, to the West India 
 Islands, particularly to Barbadoes, Antigua, and St. Christopher's ; and, in return, 
 ■bring home rum, sugar, molasses and cash, being mostly Spanish coins, viz., pis- 
 toles of all sorts, from doubloons, value that currency £i 7s. 6d. , to chequias, value 
 10s. 6d., and pieces of eight (dollars)." 
 
120 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 lar conduct on the part of Massachusetts, and imposed a heavier 
 duty on imports from the latter than on imports from Great 
 Bi'itain. Diverse regulations prevailing in each State, reflecting- 
 minds came rapidly to conclude that a better plan would lie in vest- 
 ing Congress with full power over trade. 
 
 The Legislature of Virginia had, in 1783, taken a most impor- 
 tant step to this conclusion. The bill that passed in the fall of 
 that year, it will be recollected, authorized Congress to prohibit 
 the importation in British vessels of the growth or produce of the 
 British West India Islands, or "to adopt any other mode which 
 might most effectually counteract the designs of Great Britain." 
 At the succeeding May session, in 1784, the authority granted 
 Congress was extended to one, as already noted, to interdict, under 
 certain qualifications, the importations of all nations with whom we 
 had no commercial treaty. The conflict arising from partial State 
 regulations had, in 1785, widened the idea still further. Monroe 
 made a report in Congress in March of that year, recommending, 
 " as an efiicient and perpetual remedy," that the ninth article of 
 the Articles of Confederation should be amended so as to confer 
 upon the United States, in Congress assembled, the exclusive right 
 and power of regulating the trade of the States as well with 
 foreign nations as with each other, and of laying such imposts and 
 duties upon imports and exports as might be necessary for the 
 purpose — the proceeds to accrue to the use of the State in which 
 the same should be payable, and provided that every such act of 
 Congress should have the assent of nine States.^ 
 
 The report in Monroe's hand lingered before Congress. 
 Kichard Henry Lee, the zealous champion of the States, and the 
 senior delegate of Virginia in Congress, took stand against tlie 
 proposed grant, and drew startling pictures before Monroe's eyes 
 of the danger of centralization. Lee wrote to Madison on August 
 11, 1785:" 
 
 It seems tome clear, beyonrl doubt, that the giving Congress a power to legis- 
 late over the trade of the Union would be danf;eroiis in the extreme to the five 
 Southern or staple States, whose want of ships and seamen would expose 
 their freightage and produce to a most pernicious and destructive monopoly. 
 With such a power, eight States in the Union would be stimulated by ex- 
 tensive interest to shut the doors of monopoly, that by the exclusion of all 
 rivals, whether for purchasing our product! or freighting it, both of these 
 
 ' Sparks, ix., p. 506. 
 
JEALOUSIES OF THE SOUTH. 121 
 
 might be at the mercy of our East and North. The spirit of commerce 
 throughout the world is a spirit of avarice, and would not fail to act as above 
 stated. "What little difficulty there would be in drawing over one of the five 
 to join the eight interested States must be very discernible to those who have 
 marked the progress of intrigues in Congress.' 
 
 The spirit of Lee's doubts diffused itself into the breast of Mon- 
 roe and the representatives of the three more Southern States. 
 They reasoned " that Maryland had a great commercial port, and, 
 like Delaware, excelled in naval architecture, and these joining the 
 seven Northern States, might vote to themselves the monopoly of 
 the transport of southern products. Besides, Virginia, more than 
 any other State in the Union, was opposed to the slave trade, and 
 Virginia and all north of her might join in its absolute prohibi- 
 tion. The three more southern States were, therefore, unwilling 
 to trust a navigation act to the voice even of ten ; and in his re- 
 port Monroe substituted eleven States for his first proposal of 
 nine."^ 
 
 The enthusiasm of Virginia cooled with the approach of autumn ; 
 and the idea became popular with many of limiting the grant of 
 power over trade to a short term of years, but retaining the provi- 
 sion as to the consent of nine States. 
 
 Madison became discouraged. " The only circumstance," said he, 
 in his letter, dated August 7, 1785, " which promises a favorable hear- 
 ing to the meditated propositions of Congress is, that the power which 
 it asks is to be exerted against Great Britain, and the proposition 
 will consequently be seconded by the animosities which still pre- 
 vail in a strong degi-ee against her." ^ On the twentieth of the 
 same month, he wrote, saying, " If anything should reconcile Vir- 
 ginia to the idea of giving Congress a power over her trade, it 
 will be that this power is likely to annoy Great Britain, against 
 
 whom the animosities of our citizens are still strong The 
 
 price of our staple since the peace is another cause of the inatten- 
 tion of the planters to the dark side of our commercial affairs. 
 Should these or any other causes prevail in frustrating the scheme 
 of the Eastern and Middle States of a general retaliation on 
 Great Britain, I tremble for the event. A majority of the States, 
 deprived of a regular remedy for their distresses by want of a 
 
 Eives, ii., p. 31-2. ^ Baniroft's Const. Hist., i., p. 1115. 
 
 ' Madison's Writings, i., p. 173. 
 
122 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 federal spirit in the minority, must feel the strongest motives to 
 some irregular experiments."' ^ 
 
 The peculiarity of Madison's mental parts is manifested very, 
 .strikingly in the few sentences quoted as above. There is, indeed, 
 .something excessively calm and tranquil about the writings of 
 Madison which may excite our admiration and love, but which 
 never awakens our enthusiasm. A philosopher more than a states- 
 man, — and yet a statesman of the rarest type, — he had the faculty 
 of viewing the events of the day with the same composure and 
 calculation as a spectator, reclining in some secluded retreat, would 
 look out upon an ocean whitened with the agitation of a mighty 
 storm. This philosophic cast explains the fact, why there are so 
 many inconsistencies in his public views at diiferent stages of liis 
 life ; and why, as during his presidency, his cautiousness seemed 
 .at times to degenerate into actual timidity. Though no more than 
 four years had elapsed since Virginia was prostrate under the 
 iron hoof of the invader, her homes in flames, and her citizens of 
 both sexes in hourly peril of the sword, Madison could write as if 
 Jie was speculating coolly about the affairs of some far distant 
 land, and, "chaste as the icicle that's curdled by the frost from 
 purest snow, and hangs on Dian's temple," seemed to have scarcely 
 more sympathy with the fires of those animosities that burned in 
 Yirginia hearts. Thus Madison looked upon the monopoly ex- 
 •ercised by England, not with resentment, but as a fortunate means 
 to give power to the Federal government. 
 
 It was different with John Tyler, a democrat in every thought 
 of his head and every feeling of his heart. Legislating on the 
 ardent instinct of principle, he had only to be assured of the 
 necessities of society to urge, with all his soul, a prompt and effi- 
 cient remedy. Such springs of action, oftentimes, lead men to 
 lengths of entliusiasm never reached by those that make philosophy 
 and expediency the single test of life. The course of Mr. Tyler, 
 in pressing the grant of the i-evenue impost and the regulation of 
 trade, was a proof of this. Filled with the thought, he had stood 
 forth with Col. Harrison, in 1781, and procured the passage of an 
 act vesting in Congress the power to levy, in a manner unqualified, 
 a, five per cent, impost; the act to continue in force till the full 
 and final discharge of the national debt. So long as the necessity 
 
 ' Madison's Writings, i., pp. 173-'4. 
 
TYLEe's ZKAL foe a BETrEE UNION. 123 
 
 -existed, so long Mr. Tyler had been in favor of yielding the means 
 to meet it in the most thorough-going manner. Sectional abuse 
 ■was thought to be guarded against, since no higher duty was to 
 be levied than what already obtained as the revenue point in all 
 the States. This act was subsequently suspended, when, contrary 
 to the expectations of the Legislature, some of the other States 
 refused to join in the grant. TTe have seen how the bill, thus 
 suspended, was finally repealed in December, 1782, by the House 
 of Delegates falling under control of the Lees ; how, in the spring 
 session following, Tyler's name was mentioned by Mr. Jefferson 
 first among those in favor of a re-enactment; how in the fall of 
 the year, the impost was again re-enacted witkout a dissenting voice; 
 how, in the spring of 1TS4, he stood conspicuously forth, contend- 
 ing against the power of Henry's eloquence for measures of taxa- 
 tion which should amply meet the requirements of both the State 
 ■and the national credit; and how at length, with Governor 
 Harrison by his side again, and provoked at the obduracy of Ehode 
 Island, he moved to break down the barriers of unanimity, and 
 make the consent of only twelve states instead of thirteen, necessary 
 to the present operation of the impost within Virginia. And if, 
 according to Madison, the times were so fair in Yirginia, and the 
 price of tobacco so high, making hostility to England the only 
 <;ircumstance which promised a favorable hearing to the proposi- 
 tions on trade, then Tyler again stood forth as the man possessing 
 the confidence of the people, capable and able to procure the 
 •desired increase of power. Hostility to England he entertained ; 
 but that hostility proceeded from no poison of heart which cherishes 
 hatred for its own sake. Kather did it arise from the loftiest 
 feelings of human nature, which made him sympathize with the 
 3)resent sufl:*erings of Massachusetts, almost as much as he would 
 have done with Virginia, had circumstances been reversed. Mas- 
 sachusetts was a member of that Union to which Virginia belonged, 
 and an injury inflicted upon the former was, in point of honor, an 
 injury to Virginia and to him. The fliglit of four years — what- 
 ever Madison may have thought — contained hardly balm enough 
 in its wings to make him or the people of Virginia forget the 
 ■enormous injuries inflicted by the ruthless invasion of Cornwallis 
 in 1781. And the open and shameless infractions of the treaty 
 ■of peace by the British, in detaining the forts and refusing to pay 
 
124 LETTEES AND TIJVIES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 for the slaves, were not the sort of thing to produce in a man of 
 as warm feelings as John Tyler a stoical indifference to the just 
 demands of national honor. 
 
 Just at this time, a striking proof of Mr. Tyler's popularity in 
 the State was afforded by the people of his native county. Gover- 
 nor Harrison's term of office had expired on the 29th of JS'ovem- 
 ber, 178-i, when, by the Constitution, he ceased to be eligible for 
 the chief magistracy. During the session in the fall of 1784, he 
 was elected to a seat in the Legislature. Here he was soon brought 
 into collision with Mr. Tyler. The Governor sighed for his old 
 place as speaker, then occupied by Mr. Tjder ; and it was felt from 
 the first that the contest which soon rose in Charles City for the 
 new House of Delegates was one for the speaker's chair itself. 
 The canvass accordingly, though in a limited sphere, excited un- 
 usual interest throughout Virginia. The result was in favor of 
 Mr. Tyler. Harrison was defeated, and Edmund Pendleton thus 
 describes the extent of Mr. Tyler's victory over one of the greatest 
 popular favorites of Virginia: "Governor Harrison has lost his 
 election in Charles City, which he imputes, I hear, to the intrigues 
 of his old friend, the Speaker, and is, as usual, very angry that he 
 should meet witli this reward from the people for thirty-six years' 
 faithful service." 
 
 The Governor felt the blow all the more severely', since he had 
 just filled the highest office in the State. The feeling of morti- 
 fication wrought him up to a pitch of resolve. He hurried down 
 to Surrey, where he had an estate, intending, in case of a rebuff 
 there, to throw another die for the borough of Norfolk. But, for- 
 tunately, he was not put to this last desperate expedient. The elec- 
 tion in Surrey occurred some three weeks after that in Charles City, 
 and the "intrigues" of his rival did not extend so far. He was 
 accordingly returned, with his son. Carter H. Harrison, as a dele- 
 gate from the county of Surrey, to carry the contest to the battle- 
 field of the House itself. 
 
 The Legislature, which assembled in the fall of 1785, proceeded 
 to ballot for a speaker on the 24th of October. The attendance 
 of members was notoriously tardy, and the friends of Col. Harri- 
 son chanced to be in a scanty majority. As things turned out,. 
 Harrison was elected speaker by a majority of six — a result in 
 which he was much aided by his extensive family connections (pro- 
 
SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON TEADE. 1 25 
 
 bably the most extensive in the State), and the unpropitious calls 
 at home which necessitated the absence of many of Mr. Tyler's 
 friends. 
 
 Harrison's victory was shortly afterwards nearly frustrated by 
 an impeachment of his election in the County of Surrey, on the 
 ground that the interval of his removal there was not sufficient to 
 constitute him an inhabitant. A charge of non-residence was 
 bronght against iiim in the House, decided against him in the com- 
 mittee of privileges by the casting vote of the chairman, and re- 
 versed in the House by a very small majority.' Harrison thus 
 prevailed in this new field of contest ; but the shock of his con- 
 flict with Mr. Tyler followed him for several years after. At the 
 elections the following year, he was defeated in Surrey, and also in 
 Charles City, where he made a second experiment. It was not 
 till the next year that he succeeded in so far regaining the favor 
 of Charles City as to be reinstated a representative.^ 
 
 The great object that immediately engaged the attention of the 
 Legislature, after the election of speaker, was the question of 
 trade. Petitions poiired in from Norfolk, Portsmouth, Suifolk, 
 and Alexandria denouncing British restrictions and praying relief. 
 On the simple question of vesting Congress with the grant of 
 power over trade the Committee of the Whole was nearly unani- 
 mous.^ A special committee was appointed, consisting of Messrs. 
 Prentis, Tyler, Madison, Henry Lee, Merriwether Smith, Brax- 
 ton, Ponald, Innes, and Bullitt, to draw up a bill to authorize the 
 ■delegates of this State in Congress to give the assent of the State 
 to a general regulation of the commerce of the United States, 
 nnder certain qualifications. Mr. Prentis, the chairman, was a 
 ■warm friend of Mr. Tyler, had nominated him for speaker, and 
 been one of the judges appointed along with him to the bench of 
 the Admiralty Court, in 1776. Thus, to say nothing of the others, 
 the first three members on the committee had the special qualifi- 
 cation of familiarity with commercial subjects. 
 
 On the 14th of November, 1785, the committee reported, 
 through Mr. Prentis, certain commercial propositions, the objects 
 of which, as the provisions expressed, were to secure a reciprocal 
 •Stipulation of privileges from foreign nations, and to raise a suffi- 
 cient revenue for Federal purposes. 
 
 ■ Madison's Writings, i., p. 212. ' lUd., i., pp. 262, 319. = Ibid., i., p. 200. 
 
126 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 The first object was to be attained by vesting in Congress a- 
 power to prohibit vessels, belonging to any nation which had no 
 commercial treaty with the United States, from entering any port' 
 thereof, or to impose duties on such vessels and their cargoes as 
 might be deemed necessary, — the proceeds to be carried into the 
 State treasuries. And to attain the second object, Congress was- 
 to be vested with a power, as by act already provided, to collect 
 duties not exceeding five per cent., — the proceeds to be carried into 
 the Federal treasury. As a further provision for regulating the 
 trade, the States were to be deprived of the power to impose duties- 
 on goods, imported by land or water, from any other State, except 
 where the importation was prohibited at the same time from alL 
 other places whatsoever. 
 
 The grants of power to Congress, contemplated by the propo- 
 sitions, were limited by the following qualification : 
 
 " That no act of Congress, that may be authorized as hereby proposed, shall 
 be entered into by less than two-thirds of the confederated States, nor be in 
 
 force longer than years, unless continued by alike proportion of votes- 
 
 within one year immediately preceding the expiration of the said period, or 
 be revived in like manner after the expiration thereof, nor shall any impost 
 whatsoever be collected by virtue of the authority proposed in the second 
 article after the year 17 — ." 
 
 The propositions, as reported with this qualification, were- 
 printed and went to the Committee of the "Whole. ^ Here they 
 were combated first on the general merits. Col. Harrison, the- 
 Speaker, who hitherto had stood by Mr. Tyler as a champion of 
 the Federal government, now took alarm. His objections to the 
 proposed grant of the regulation of trade may be gathered fi-om 
 his letter to Washington, in answer to one from the latter, of the- 
 2ith of September, 17S7, enclosing the new Constitution, and 
 desiring his views thereon. Acknowledging the " overcautious- 
 ness of age," Col. Harrison expressed to Washington his decided- 
 conviction that the grant to Congress of the power to regulate 
 trade would, in time, make the States south of the Potomac 
 little more than appendages to those north of it.^ In the Com- 
 mittee of the Whole, Harrison, Thruston,' and Corbin'' "were 
 
 1 Madison's Writ, i., p. 216. 'Sparks, ix., p. 266. ^ Charles Mynn Thruston. 
 ^ Francis Corbin. He afterwards defended the Constitution in the conyeution of 
 
 1788. 
 
DEBATE ON THE COMMERCIAL PEOPOSITIONS. 127 
 
 bitter and illiberal against Congress and the Northern States, 
 beyond example.^ Thruston considered it as problematical 
 whether it would not be better to encourage the British than the 
 Eastern marine. Braxton^ and Smith' were of the same views, 
 though absent at the crisis of the question. The ground of gen- 
 eral merits was, however, soon exchanged for that of the per- 
 petual duration of the grant, which was reduced to twenty-five 
 years — the term proposed by Madison's address of April IS, 1783, 
 and incorporated also in the act of the General Assembly, passed 
 in pursuance thereof, in the fall of 1783. Thinking that such a 
 term might prove too favorable as a compromise, the unconditioned 
 enemies of the grant sought next to reduce it to thirteen years. 
 On the 30th of Xovember, the propositions came out of the Com- 
 mittee of the Whole, in the amended form of a report relieved of 
 the revenue feature, and embracing only the subject of trade.'' 
 The question of revenue was left to the operation of the statute 
 of 1783, already passed on that subject. This statute confined 
 the grant of the impost of five per cent, to a term of only 
 twent^^-five years, and hence the effort, in the first instance, to put 
 it on the same perpetual footing as the general trade. 
 
 The qualifying clause was also simplified, and read, " That no 
 act of Congress that may be authorized, as hereby proposed, shall 
 be entered into by less than two-thirds of the confederated States, 
 nor be in force longer than thij^teen years." A motion was made 
 to amend by adding, " ZTnless continued by a like proportion of 
 votes within one year itnmedintely preceding the expiration of the 
 
 ' Madison is followed above, and he doubtless represents, in terms somewhat 
 too harsh, the feelings animating Governor Harrison. Harrison, as Commissioner 
 to Congress, in 1781, had resented the supineness of the Morth, and the conduct 
 of Khode Island since had produced in him a very indifferent opinion of the 
 Eastern people. In the Convention of 1788 he said: "I am not prejudiced 
 against New England, or any part. They are held up to us as a people from 
 whom protection will come. Will any protection come from thence for many 
 years ? When we were invaded, did any gentlemen from the Northern States 
 come to relieve us? No sir; we were left to be buffeted. General Washington, 
 in the greatness of his soul, came with the French auxiliaries, and relieved us 
 opportunely. Were it not for this, we should have been ruined. I call Heaven 
 to witness that I am a friend to the Union." 
 
 ' Carter Braxton. ^ Mei-riwether Smith. 
 
 ■•The propositions, as reported on November 14th, are to be found in Sparks' 
 Washington, ix., p. 507, and as amended and reported on the 30th of November, 
 1785, in EUiot, i., p. 114. See also House Journal of those dates. 
 
'128 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 . said period, or he revived in like manner after the expiration 
 thereof.''^ This would have made the qualifying clause about what it 
 was as at first reported. The division on this amendment showed 
 
 ■ the members' hands. Twenty-eight voted aye, among whom were 
 John Tyler and his colleague, Henry Southall, — Zachariah Johnson, 
 Archibald Stuart, Joseph Jones, and James Madison. Seventy- 
 nine voted against the amendment. The vote then recui-ring on 
 the propositions limited to thirteen years, tliey were agreed to by 
 the House without division, and Mr. Alexander White deputed to 
 
 . carry them to the Senate for their concurrence.^ 
 
 The passage of the bill in this form appears to have pleased no 
 one. The extreme State-rights men hated the proposed power 
 under any limitation, while the friends of Congress wanted a more 
 extensive grant; yet there was a large number, and among them 
 Mr. Tyler, who thought the grant, as obtained in its present crip- 
 pled state, better than nothing. Kescission might relegate the 
 whole matter to risk and uncertainty. Instead of the " temporary 
 grant standing in the way of a permanent one," as Madison feared, 
 Mr. Tyler believed that, while the term of thirteen years was too 
 short, the good, experienced from the honest operation of that very 
 grant, would be an irrefragable argument to continue it, or even 
 make it permanent. Hence, when it was proposed to rescind the 
 bill next day, Mr. Tyler voted against the repeal, while Madison 
 voted in favor of it. The bill was actually rescinded by a majority 
 of sixty against thirty-three votes ; and it is interesting to note, 
 that while Mr. Tyler and many of those who voted the day before 
 to extend the duration of the grant, were now in favor of main- 
 taining it as the best they could get, Mr. Madison and Charles 
 Mynn Thruston, the latter the inveterate enemy of the grant of 
 power, voted together to effect its repeal. 
 
 Commissioners had been appointed by the State of Virginia, to 
 meet and confer with commissioners from the State of Maryland, 
 for the purpose of regulating the jurisdiction of the two States 
 over the waters of the Potomac Eiver and Chesapeake Bay. 
 The enlightened men who constituted that commission met at 
 Mount Vernon, on the 28th of March, 1785, and settled the terms 
 of such a compact. While passing on this project, they could not 
 help bewailing the unfriendly relations between Maryland and 
 
 1 Journal House Del., Nov. 30, 1785, pp. 66, 67. 
 
 to 
 
CONVENTION OF THE STATES SUGGESTED. 129 
 
 Yirginia in the matter of conflicting duties, which cut severely at 
 liheir mutual prosperity. Why should not uniformity prevail? 
 Determined, in a spirit of patriotism, to use their best cndeaYors to 
 •obviate the difficulty, they recommended in a supplemental report, 
 lo be sent to the Legislature of either State, the annual appoint- 
 ment of commissioners, who, amicably meeting, should determine 
 ■on common rates for both Maryland and Yirginia, according to 
 the exigencies of commerce. These recommendations, along with 
 the compact agreed upon regarding the navigation of the rivers, 
 Potomac and Pokomoke, were first submitted to the Legislature of 
 Maryland, and that State, ratifying both the compact and the sup- 
 plemental report, proposed by way of amendment that their neigh- 
 bors, Pennsylvania and Delaware, should be invited into the same 
 system of commercial policy. 
 
 The proceedings at Annapolis were well known in Richmond. 
 The plan of a general convention, to amend the defects of the 
 confederation, had long been mooted. Barely a year before, 
 Piehard Henry Lee had written from Congress that the calling of 
 a general convention, to revise the Articles of Confederation, was 
 .suggested by many there. Mercer, who had said that sooner than 
 reinstate the impost "he would crawl to Pichmond on his bare 
 inees," in a letter written from Trenton the same day, " saw no 
 hope but in a convocation of the States," to place the confederated 
 government on a respectable basis — and added that there would 
 be a motion made, early in the ensuing Congress, for such a con- 
 vention.^ In the committee, of which Messrs. Tyler and Madison 
 were members, and which had introduced the commercial proposi- 
 tions already mentioned, the whole subject came under review. 
 Why not make the plan, suggested at Mount Vernon, of a con- 
 vention of commissioners annually from the States of Virginia 
 and Maryland, to keep up a uniform system of commercial regula- 
 tions, the basis of a general convention of the States— an idea in 
 one -form or another so long entertained? Tliis question rose 
 naturally to each mind. 
 
 And what were the defects in the Articles of Confederation 
 universally admitted to exist? What else, more especially, than 
 the absence of a power in Congress to regulate the trade of the 
 
 1 See Lee's and Mercer's Letters of Nov. 2G, 1784. Bancroft's Const. Hist., i., 
 !>. 397. 
 
130 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 whole country ? Let us try first, thought they, the simpler expe- 
 dient of a grant of power by the State, and in case of failure, as- 
 the next best expedient, the plan of a convention of States. Ac- 
 cordingly, resolutions going to the latter point were "kept in. 
 reserve,"^ to be brought forward on the "miscarriage of the- 
 printed propositions." ^ 
 
 The rescission of the original propositions, in their crippled form,, 
 occurred on the first of December, and their further discussion 
 leading to no satisfactory result, they were the same day perma- 
 nently laid on the table. Of all the advocates of the grant to 
 Congress, the "influential"' Mr. Tyler had "most the ear"*" of 
 the House. By common consent the subject was left to him, in 
 its new form of an alternative proposition convoking an assembly 
 of the States. On the failure of the original propositions, he 
 "immediately,"* on the first of December, introduced the alterna- 
 tive, which had been thus kept waiting, and urged it with warmth 
 and power upon the House. Two days after, Randolph wrote 
 that "a lengthy and earnest debate had been held on the propriety 
 of vesting Congress with a control of commerce," ' and he added : 
 "But the advocates for the measure will scarcely succeed, so strong 
 are the apprehensions, in some minds, of an abuse of power." On 
 the fifth, the resolutions of the Maryland Legislature were laid 
 before the Assembly by the Governor. Bunning in the same 
 direction as the proposition before the House, they served, by the 
 invitation extended to Delaware and Bennsylvania, to encourage 
 and strengthen the more general proposition of a convention of 
 all the States. The Legislature went off in a long wrangle over 
 measures respecting local restrictions on British trade, leaving Mr. 
 Tyler's motion suspended. On the 20th of December, Mr. Tyler 
 was comphmented by a re-election to the Court of the Admiralty 
 in the room of Benjamin Waller, resigned. On the 2Yth, he was 
 appointed on the committee with Madison to prepare a bill to 
 ratify the compact with Maryland regarding the navigation of the 
 Potomac and Pokomoke Bivers and Chesapeake Bay. 
 
 The close of the session approached, and still every effort at. 
 harmony on the vital question of trade had proved abortive. 
 
 'Madison's Writ, iii., p. 587. '' Ibid ., i. , ■g 217 . ^'EOioi, \., -p. lU. 
 
 ■i Madison's Writ, iii., p. 587. 'Madison's Writ, i, p., 217. 
 
 ''Bancroft's Const. Hist, i. , p. 470. 
 
A CONVENTION AT ANNAPOLIS CONVOKED. 131 
 
 By the 16tli of January, more than twenty-seven members had 
 gone home, as the last division, which occurred on that day, re- 
 corded only eighty members in attendance, whereas, on the 30th 
 of November, one hundred and seven had given their names 
 among the ayes and noes. 
 
 The members felt vexed and irritated; for their efforts to 
 come to some agreement on a subject as to which they all thought 
 more or less alike, had been sorely disappointed. The sun of the 
 last day' of the session dawned upon Richmond. But the per- 
 tinacity and determination of the late Speaker remained undi- 
 minished. The same high feeling which prompted Mr. Tyler to 
 propose that A'irginia should move without Rhode Island, at the 
 October session of 1784, and led him then into a warm and earnest 
 defence of Congress and the Union, now in this important emer- 
 gency inspired and animated him. Suddenly he "revived"^ his 
 bill for the politico-commercial convention. It presented to the 
 members an opportunity to redeem the whole session. The op- 
 portunity was embraced, and the bill was passed in the House by 
 a large majority, — meeting, however, with the irreconcilable op- 
 position of Corbin and Merriwether Smith. The same day it 
 passed the Senate and became a law. The commissioners ap- 
 pointed were the Attorney-General of the State, Edmund Ran- 
 dolph, — James Madison, Doctor "Walter Jones, St. Geo. Tucker^ 
 Merriwether Smith, George Mason, William Ronald, and David 
 Ross. The Assembly immediately adjourned; and thus the act 
 was consummated which, in the vastness of its results, was to set 
 the whole nation by the ears. The late Speaker had been the 
 first to detect a defect in one of the pillars that upheld the beau- 
 teous edifice of the Articles of Confederation, whose corner-stone 
 had been laid amid general rejoicing. Beyond any man in Vir- 
 ginia, he had tugged at the bell in the tower to summon to con- 
 sultation the skillful mechanics of the States ; and, lo ! he 
 marked, aghast, an eager, frightened crowd tearing at the sacred 
 structure, dismantling the roof, and cutting down the massive 
 pillars ; while out of the ruins he saw — or thought he saw — arising 
 the rno'o-ed form of a gloomy Bastile, with iron bars, dismal dun- 
 geons, frowning gates, and the sentry ever pacing with measured 
 tread upon the outer wall. 
 
 • Saturday, January 21, 1786. * Elliot, v., p. 111. 
 
132 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 " I wished Congress to liave the regalation of trade," exclaimed 
 he ; " but it never entered my head that we should quit liberty 
 and throw ourselves into the hands of an energetic government. 
 When I consider the Constitution in all its parts, I cannot but 
 dread its operation. It contains a variety of powers too danger- 
 ous to be vested in any set of men whatsoever." 
 
 A Posthumous Claim. 
 
 The part that Mr. Madison subsequently played in relation to 
 the Constitution of the United States, and the opposition of Mr. 
 Tyler to that instrument, have, in my opinion, imposed a wrong 
 coloring upon their views concerning the calling of the Annapolis 
 convention. Mr. Rives represents the alternative proposition 
 adopted by the Virginia Legislature as the first step in Mr. Madi- 
 son's programme of the new Constitution. The proposal of the 
 original propositions on commerce is treated as a kind of blind ; 
 and it is pretended that the keeping in reserve of the alternative 
 resolution, and the selection made of Mr. Tyler as the mover, 
 were all parts of Mr. Madison's subtle design. I think this is 
 clearly wrong. Both Mr. Tyler and Mr. Madison looked no fur- 
 ther than the regulation of trade ; and the latter at any time would 
 have joyfully accepted the original and more definite proposition. 
 The alternative resolution was regarded by both parties as only 
 the next best expedient. As a proof of this, Madison's own words 
 may be quoted, as written August 12, 1786: "Many gentlemen, 
 both within and without Congress, wish to make this meeting (at 
 Annapolis) subservient to a plenipotentiary commission for amend- 
 ing the Confederation. Though my wishes are in favor of such 
 an event, yet I despair so much of its accomplishment at the 
 present crisis, that I do not extend my views beyond a commer- 
 cial reform-. To speak the truth, I almost despair even of this."^ 
 
 Another point to be noticed is the claim set up after Mr. Madi- 
 son's demise, that to him belonged the authorship of the " alterna- 
 tive resolution." As both Mr. Tyler and Madison were on the 
 same committee, the subject was, of course, talked over in the com- 
 mittee room, and the scrihe may very well have been Mr. Madi- 
 
 ' Kivea, ii., p. 119. 
 
A POSTHUMOUS CLAIM. 133 
 
 son, without weakening the force of Mr. Tyler's merit. The idea 
 of a convention had been long familiar to the public mind, and 
 the resolution sets forth no principle like the celebrated resolu- 
 tions of 179S-'99. In 18.55, Mr. John C. Hamilton, son of 
 Alexander Hamilton, wrote to President Tyler, inquiring into the 
 truth of the alleged claim of Mr. Madison. The following extract 
 from Mr. Tyler's letter of reply is of interest : 
 
 July U, 1855. 
 I am but little inclined to combat the claim [of Mr. Madison], as it was 
 necessarily made to embody the views of my father, who is admitted to 
 have presented it and urged it through the House, and was by adoption as 
 thoroughly and completely his own as if he had penned it himself. There is 
 no peculiar merit in the composition, and the resolution embodies only a 
 single idea, viz. : that of investing Congress with full and complete powers 
 over the subject of commerce, — an idea which, no doubt from apparent neces- 
 sities, had forced itself upon the minds of others. 
 
 Mr. Madison, in his cotemporary writings, always alludes to the 
 resolution as the " resolution of Mr. Tyler." Mr. Tucker, who came 
 after him, is the authority for the statement. In his History of 
 the United States, i., p. 343, 7wte, he says : 
 
 Such jealousy then existed in Virginia against the Federal government 
 that Mr. Madison did not venture to offer his own resolution, but prevailed 
 upon Mr. Tyler, the speaker of the House of Delegates and the father of ex- 
 President Tyler, to offer it. This fact is stated on the authority of Mr. 
 Madison himself. 
 
 This statement does not pretend to be other than one on 
 memory, made after the lapse of many years. Mr. Tucker could 
 hardly mean by the term "prevailing" to cast hesitation on Mr. 
 Tyler in his course to secure the regulation of trade for Congress. 
 It happens that Mr. Tyler was not speaker at the time, as Tucker 
 says he was,' and it would indeed have taken a good deal of "pre- 
 vailing" on Col. Harrison, the real speaker, and the bitter op- 
 ponent of the proposed grant of power, to move in the question. 
 The fair statement is, that Mr. Tyler and Mr. Madison mutually 
 co-operated in the matter, and that neither exercised any prevail- 
 ing influence over the mind of the other. 
 
 A similar error attaches to the original commercial propositions. 
 
 ' Mr. Eives (ii., p. 77) makes a similar mistake in converting Mr. Tyler, an 
 ardent friend of the revisal, into an enemy of the same, by confounding him 
 with Col. Harrison. 
 
134 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 Sparks ("Washington, ix., p. 508) assigns them conjecturally to 
 Madison ; Hives assigns only the preamble, and that conjecturally. 
 (ii., p. 53.) Elliot, more zealous still, gives him the propositions 
 in the amended form of November 30th, and with the very 
 limitation of thirteen years which Madison opposed. Bancroft, in 
 his Constitutional History (i., p. 252, note), points out the error 
 of Elliot in this particular. 
 
 Query, May not Tucker have mistaken the commercial pro- 
 positions, as reported from the special committee, for the alter- 
 native resolution introduced by Mr. Tyler? 
 
CHAPTEE lY. 
 
 1786—1788. 
 
 " Twenty years will produce all the mischief tliat can be apprehended from the liberty 
 Reimport slaves. So long a lime will be more dishonorable to the American character than 
 to say nothing about it in the O institution. "—James Madison, in the Federal Convention. 
 
 "My earnest desire is that it shall be banded down to posterity that I have opposed this 
 wicked clause. . Unless it be expunged I shall vote against the Constitution. "—Johx 
 "Tyler, Sr., in iAc Virginia Convention. 
 
 X.\ST Session op Mk. Tyleb in the Leoislatuke. — Taxes and Papee Monet. 
 — Me. Tylee's Bill Against Dividing the State. — Re-election of Henky 
 
 AS GOTEENOE, — ThE CONTENTION AT AnNAPOLIS. — ThE OlD CoNEEDEEATION. 
 
 — Its Mebits and Defects. — Federal Contention of 1787. — Virginia Con- 
 tention OF 1788. — Speech of Me. Tyler. — Adoption of the Constitution 
 BY Virginia, with Amendments. — Slate Trade in the Federal Conten- 
 tion. — In the Virginia Contention. — Noble Speech of Tyler Against 
 Madison. — Slavery in Virginia Until 1832. — Bill of John Tyler to 
 Abolish the Slave Teade in the District of Columbia. 
 
 I HAVE narrated at some length, in the chapter preceding, the 
 course of Mr. Tyler in the Legislature on the subject of com- 
 merce. His exertions on other questions were as equally promi- 
 nent. I have only room to narrate two or three other incidents 
 ■of the session which concluded his career as a legislator. 
 
 Mention has been made of the distress existing at this time 
 at the North. It led to vain issues of paper money, stay-laws, 
 and remission of taxes, while insurrection reared its head and 
 secession left its den to raise its warning growl. In the fall of 
 1785, these discontents had spread in some degree southward. 
 Mason wrote from his home that " he heard nothing from the As- 
 sembly except vague reports of their being resolved to issue a 
 paper currency." Nevertheless, at the end of the session, Madison 
 reported that though " the itch discovered itself, no overt attempt 
 was made." The friends of relaxation turned to the alternative 
 more popular with the people, of remitting the taxes. Succes- 
 fiive postponements had thrown the whole tax of 1784 on 1785, 
 making four halves to be collected the same year. One of these 
 
136 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEKS. 
 
 halves had been remitted at the fall session of 1784, still leaving- 
 three halves to be collected. The crops, though fair, had been 
 somewhat injured by dry weather; and this fact, with the example 
 set northward and the restrictions on trade abroad, was made the- 
 groundwork of an argument for remitting entirely the half which 
 had fallen due in September, and of which a part had been col- 
 lected in specie. On the second reading, the bill to remit the taxes- 
 was carried by a majority of fifty-two to forty-two. A vigorous 
 effort was now made by Mr. Tyler and the party opposed to the 
 bill, and, as a consequence, it failed on the final question by two 
 votes. But this result had been obtained by compromise only. A 
 brief postponement was subscribed to by the tax party, and Mr> 
 Tyler being appointed chairman of a special committee, reported 
 a bill providing for postponing distresses until the March following,, 
 and admitting facilities in the place of specie, while the September 
 tax was set forward to November. " Our public credit," wrote Mad- 
 ison at this time, " has had a severe attack and a narrow escape." 
 Mr. Tyler, at a later period, passed severe judgment upon that class- 
 of legislators, who make the starvation of the State the high object 
 of their policy. " So inconsiderable," said he, " have taxes been 
 in the worst of times, no instances of oppression have occurred ;" 
 yet "he who can go back from the Assembly and tell his constitu- 
 ents he has saved a penny, secures his popularity against the next 
 election. This is a low, narrow system, that men who are better 
 taught are always above." 
 
 The party in favor of paper issues fared even worse at the suc- 
 ceeding Legislature. The question of paper money was among 
 the first with which the session opened. The discussion was- 
 faintly supported by a few obscure patrons of the measure, and 
 on the vote it was thrown out by eighty-five against seventeen. 
 Finally, in November 1787, at the next succeeding session, resolu- 
 tions were unanimously adopted, condemning the policy of mak- 
 ing anything else but gold and silver a tender in payment of debts,, 
 "as contrary to every principle of sound policy as well as of jus- 
 tice." 
 
 During the same session of 1785-6, Mr. Tyler introduced a bill, 
 aimed at the treasonable proceedings of certain restless parties in 
 southwest Virginia, for the formation of a new State, within the 
 limits and without the consent of Virginia. This bill, passed at 
 
ME. Tyler's bill against dividing the state. 13T 
 
 the same session with the call of the convention at Annapolis, may 
 be properly regarded as part of the res geHce; and its terms will 
 serve to show how remote it was from the intention of the Legis- 
 lature, in advising a revision of the Constitution to yield a particle 
 of the ultimate sovereignty of the State. Virginia, while consent- 
 ing at the same session generously enough to the independence of 
 Kentucky, thus emphatically asserted her claims to absolute free- 
 dom and sovereignty : 
 
 An act punishing certain offences, and vesting the Governor with certain 
 powers. 
 
 Section. I. Whereas it is the true interest and policy of this Common- 
 wealth, that the constitution, sovereignty and independence thereof, should 
 at all times be maintained and supported, and it is highly criminal in any 
 persons to alienate the citizens of the State from their attachment and alle- 
 giance to the same : 
 
 Sec. II. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That any person 
 or persons who shall erect or establish, or cause and procure to be erected or 
 established, any government separate from or independent of the government 
 of Virginia, within the limits thereof, unless by Act of the Legislature of this 
 Commonwealth fur that purpose first obtained; or who shall in any such 
 usurped government, hold or execute any office, legislative, executive, judici- 
 ary, or ministerial, by whatever name such office may be distinguished or 
 called : or who shall swear or otherwise solemnly profess allegiance or fidelity 
 to the same ; or who shall, under pretext of authority derived from, or protec- 
 tion afforded by, such usurped government, resist or oppose the due execution 
 of the laws of this Commonwealth; shall be adjudged guilty of high treason, 
 and shall be proceeded against and punished in ths same manner as other 
 traitors may be proceeded against and punished by the laws now in force. 
 
 Sec. III. And be it further enacted. That every person who shall attempt 
 to establish such government by any other means than with the assent of the 
 Legislature of this Commonwealth; and in pursuance of such attempts, shall 
 join with any other person or persons in any overt act for promoting such 
 attempts; or who shall, by writing or advised speaking, endeavor to instigate 
 the people of this Commonwealth to erect or establish such government, with- 
 out such assent as aforesaid, shall be adjudged guilty of a, high crime and 
 misdemeanor, and on conviction, shall be subject to such pains and penalties, 
 not extending to life or member, as the Court, before whom the conviction 
 shall be, shall adjudge. 
 
 Sec. IV. And be it further enacted, That in case any combination for 
 establishing such government shall become so powerful as to obstruct the 
 due execution of the laws of this Commonwealth in the ordinary' course of 
 proceeding, within any county or counties thereof, it shall and may be law- 
 ful for the Governor, with the advice of the Council, to call out the militia of 
 this State to suppress such combination, and to employ them in the same 
 manner as he may do by law in cases of invasion or insurrection. 
 
T.38 LETTBES AND^TIMES OF THE TTLEE8. 
 
 The General Assembly, to express their appreciation of the 
 noble efforts of Washington to promote internal improvements 
 within the State, had voted him a number of shares in the stocks 
 of the James River and Potomac River Companies. But "Wash- 
 ington refused the shares as a personal gift, desiring only to be 
 •allowed to exercise his discretion as to their direction. He after- 
 wards conveyed them to Liberty Hall Academy, which in his honor 
 was, in 1812, named " Washington College." A special committee, 
 of which Mr. Tyler was chairman, and on which James Madison 
 stood second, reported a bill in accordance with the wishes of 
 Washington. This bill was subsequently adopted by the General 
 A.ssembly. 
 
 The ceremony of Mr. Henry's re-election to the chair of state 
 •catches my eye as it passes along the Journal of the House. The 
 House proceeded to the election of a governor on the 25th of Ko- 
 Teraber, 1785. The warm relations of Mr. Tyler with Mr. Henry 
 were recognized hj his appointment as first on a committee of 
 three, — Messrs. Page and Carrington being the other two, — to ex- 
 amine the ballot boxes. Patrick Henry being declared to have 
 the majority of votes, on the next day Messrs. Tyler, Page, Madi- 
 son, Strother, and Underwood were appointed to acquaint Mr. 
 Henry of this new favor on the part of his State. Such were the 
 pleasant courtesies of that day between the executive and legisla- 
 tive departments. So much for Mr. Tyler's career in the Legis- 
 lature. 
 
 It remains now to trace the results of Mr. Tyler's call of the 
 convention at Annapolis. 
 
 This convention, which, as we have seen, had been directly due 
 to Mr. Tyler's zealous efforts to cure the imperfections of the 
 national government, adjourned with a recommendation to the 
 State legislatures to provide for a new convention at Philadelphia. 
 The States promptly fell in with the suggestion, and delegates 
 from the different States met in that city on the lith of May, 
 1787. But instead of imparting to the Articles of Confederation 
 such improvements as came legitimately within the sphere of their 
 mission, they fell to work to reconstructing the whole Constitution; 
 and in face of the clause which declared the old Union to be per- 
 petual, and emendatory by a unanimous vote alone, they provided 
 for the adoption of the new, by the assent of nine States only. 
 
FEDERAL CONVENTION OF 178Y. 139 
 
 'The manner of proceeding, entirely unauthorized, and the extent 
 ■of the changes made, immediately divided the nation into two 
 ;great parties, — those in favor and those opposed. Even Washino-- 
 ton M^rote : " There are some things in the new form (X will readily 
 -acknowledge) which never did, and I am persuaded never will, ob- 
 tain my cordial approbation." ^ Jefferson thought that "all the 
 good of this new Constitution might have been couched in three or 
 -four new articles to be added to the good, old, and venerable fabric."^ 
 
 Of course the constitutional party ascribed to the old form of 
 -government every evil that imagination could devise. The mo- 
 nopoly of England, the terrors of Shays' rebellion, the poverty of 
 the States just oat of a long and exhausting war, were all made, 
 Tvith the same contempt of reason, the evil results of the opera- 
 tion of the old Articles of Confederation.^ They were called a 
 "rope of sand," mainly because they did not prevent — what the 
 new government conspicuously has not prevented — commercial 
 panics and insurrections. 
 
 The old Articles were defective, 'tis true, but much of the failure 
 of the States in the past to comply with their Federal obligations 
 was fairly referable to the primitive condition of the times, and 
 the pressure of debt, public and private. The non-attendance on 
 
 ' Sparks, ix., p. 297. ^ Jefferson's Corresp., ii., p. 317. 
 
 ^ Grayson, in the Virginia Convention of 1788, effectually ridiculed the exag- 
 gerations of the Federalists : "Horrors," said he, "have been greatly magnified 
 since the rising of the convention. We are now told by the honorable gentleman 
 (Gov. Randolph) that we shall have wars and the rumors of wars ; that every ca- 
 lamity will attend us, and that we shall be ruined and disunited forever unless we 
 adopt this Constitution. Pennsylvania and Maryland are to fall upon us from the 
 north, like the Goths and Vandals of old. The Algerinee, whose flat-sided vessels 
 never come further than Madeira, are to fiU the Chesapeake with mighty fleets, 
 and to attack us on our front. The Indians are to invade us with numerous 
 armies on our rear, in order to convert our cleared lands into hunting grounds, and 
 the Carolinians from the South, (mounted on alligators, I presume, ) are to come and 
 
 destroy our commerce, and eat up our httle children The generality are 
 
 to attack us. Will they attack us after violating fheir faith in the first TJjiion ? 
 Will they not violate their faith if they do not take us into their Confederacy ? 
 Have they not agreed by the old Confederation that the Union shall be perpetual, 
 and that no alteration shall take place without the consent of Congress, and 
 the confirmation of the legislatures of every State ? I cannot think that there is 
 such depravity in mankind, as, after violating public faith so flagrantly, they 
 
 iShonld make war upon us also for not following their example These, sir, 
 
 ;are the mighty dangers that await us if we reject, — dangers which are merely im- 
 aginary and ludicrous in the extreme." — Elliot, iii., p. 277. 
 
140 LBTTBES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEKS. 
 
 Congress was barely greater than that on the Legislatures of the sev- 
 eral States. Since 1786, however, a great impi-ovement had taken 
 place. The Federal government had promptly vindicated its author- 
 ity against the rebellion, of Shays. A new loan had been readily 
 obtained from the Dutch, and advantageous treaties vrith Portugal 
 and Morocco had been concluded. The domestic debt had been 
 diminished by considerable sales of the western lands to various 
 companies and individuals. Two hundred vessels had entered and 
 cleared in the French West India Islands in one year. The lack 
 of separate departments of government had been obviated by the 
 establishment of competent bureaus, and Congress had passed an 
 act to adjust the public debt between the individual States and the 
 United States. The Federalists distorted things with a purpose,, 
 but this is the calm and unbiased picture of the French charge, 
 who had no interested feelings to subserve : ^ 
 
 [Otto to Vergennes.] 
 
 New York, February 10, 1787. 
 But if foreign affairs, my lord, are subject to delays innumerable, it must 
 Eot be inferred that Congress has been entirely idle since the peace. The 
 various departments have been arranged in the most perfect manner. A re- 
 gular system has been introduced into all the branches of the general ad- 
 ministration, and, but for the want of permanent revenues, the United States 
 •(vould be one of the best organized of governments. The departments of" 
 foreign affairs, of war, of finances, are in the hands of trusty and capable men, 
 whose integrity, wisdom and circumspection will stand every test. Secrecy 
 is much better observed than during the war. It is especially noticeable that 
 the different branches of the department of finances check each other so in- 
 geniously that the slightest malversation is impossible. But this fine structure 
 is, unfortunate!}', useless on account of the exhaustion of the treasury. 
 
 "Washington, whose leaning to a strong government is generally 
 recognized, thus expressed himseK, a few months earlier, relative 
 to the general aspect of the country:^ 
 
 It is not the part of a good citizen to despair of the Republic ; nor ought we 
 to have calculated that our young government would acquire in so short a 
 period all the consistency and solidity which it has been the work of ages to 
 give to other nations. All the States, however, have at length granted the 
 impost, though unhappily souic of them have granted it under such qualifica- 
 tions as have hitherto prevented its operation. The greater part of the 
 Union seems to be convinced of the necessity of Federal measures, and of in- 
 
 ' Bancroft's Const. Hist,, ji., p. 411. 
 ' Sparks' Washington, ix., p. 183-'4. 
 
THE COUNTET DNDEE THE CONFEDEEATION. 141 
 
 vesting Congress with the power of regulating the commerce of the whole. 
 ... In other respects our internal governments are daily acquiring strength. 
 "The laws have their fullest energy ; justice is well administered ; robbery, vio- 
 lence, or murder is not heard of, from New Hampshire to Georgia. The peo- 
 ple at large, as far as I can learn, are more industrious than they were before 
 the war. Economy begins to prevail, partly from necessity and partly from 
 choice. The seeds of population are scattered over an immense tract of 
 "Western country. In the old States, which wore the theatre of hostility, it is 
 wonderful to see how soon the ravages of war are repaired. Houses are re- 
 built, fields enclosed, stoclts of cattle, which were destroyed, are replaced ; and 
 many a desolated territory assumes again the cheerful appearance of cultiva- 
 tion. In many places the vestiges of conflagration and ruin are hardly to be 
 traced. The arts of peace, such as clearing rivers, building bridges, and es- 
 "tablishing conveniences for travelling, are assiduously promoted. In short, 
 the foundation of a great empire is laid, and I please myself with a persua- 
 sion that Providence will not leave its work imperfect. 
 
 The pleasaut picture painted by Washington regarding the 
 Union is very different from that awful, chaotic condition -which 
 the unlucky Articles of Confederation hzve been made responsible 
 for, and which appeared to Mr. Tyler to have had no foundation 
 except in the two particulars stated by Otto in his letter to Yer- 
 gennes. And these objections, which alone prevented the Con- 
 federation from being the "best organized of governments," pro- 
 mised soon to be removed. That the sound sense of the people 
 "would promptly recognize every exigency of government, and 
 liberally provide for it, seemed demonstrated at this time by the 
 unaminity which prevailed as to conferring on Congress the five 
 per cent, impost and the regulation of trade. These two new 
 powers seemed to Mr. Tyler all that was necessary to render the 
 national government efiicient and powerful, while it preserved, at 
 the same time, its confessed simplicity and economy. The grant 
 of the regulation of trade did not imply the entire surrender of 
 the custom house to Federal authority. -So long as the States em- 
 ployed it to collect revenue from imports, no inconvenience had 
 ■ever resulted. The policy of retaliation against England had 
 alone produced the difficulty; but prior to this, a common revenue 
 standard prevailed in all the States. The retention of the custom 
 house would have produced a free-trade system. It would have 
 compelled Congress to pursue justice in its domestic polity, and 
 not, by plundering one State or section, enrich another. Kevenue 
 
14:2 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 alone would have been looked to, — tlie only possible ground of com- 
 mon agreement.' 
 
 No wonder that the action of the convention at Philadelphia 
 gave rise to agitation. Everywhere, it excited heated comment 
 and discussion. The people of Virginia were decidedly opposed. 
 to it. If the Chancellors and Mr. Madison and the military 
 characters, like Washington and Henry Lee, were in its favor, Mr.. 
 Henry, Mr. Mason, Mr. Grayson, Mr. Monroe, the judges of the- 
 General and and Admiralty Courts, and most of the bar were 
 against it. According to Henry, in the ratifying convention of" 
 1788, "the great body of the yeomanry were in decided opposi- 
 tion to it."''^ Yet under the State constitution, which gave to each 
 county two representatives, the populous counties, opposed to the 
 Constitution, were not fairly represented. In the midland and 
 western counties the strength of the opposition was intrenched.. 
 The small counties, where the cavalier interest prevailed, were in 
 general in favor of the Constitution. When the convention met 
 in June, eight States had already adopted the Constitution; and it: 
 was urged that Virginia would be left out in the cold, unless she- 
 followed suit. 
 
 Charles City, though one of the Peninsula counties and the- 
 home of extensive land owners, was ardently democratic. It se- 
 lected its two most distinguished citizens to represent its views in 
 the convention, of opposition to the Constitution without a new 
 convention, to amend its defects. These were Col. Benjamin 
 Harrison and Judge John Tyler. 
 
 The convention assembled on the 2d of June, 1788. It was 
 composed of men who, taken in a mass, would bear favorable 
 comparison with the .Federal convention at Philadelphia, the year 
 before. If Madison, Pendleton, Wythe, Randolph, Nicholas,. 
 Henry Lee, Marshall, and Innes represented the advocates of 
 Constitution, Henry, Mason, Grayson, Harrison, Tyler, Merriwe- 
 ther Smith, and Monroe threw the immense weight of their- 
 character against it. Chancellor Pendleton was chosen president 
 
 ' See Barbaiossa's "Lost Principle," pp. 222-'3. 
 
 * Nineteen counties, adjacent to one another, -were over-whelmingly opposed to 
 the constitution. (Elliot, iii., p. 592.) In another place Henry said : "But, sir, 
 I am persuaded that four-tifths of the people of Virginia must have amendments- 
 to the ne-w plan to reconcile them to a change of their go-uernment." (Robertson,. 
 p. 115.) 
 
VIEGINIA CONVENTION OF 1788. 143 
 
 of the convention, Judge Tyler vice-president, and Chancellor 
 Wythe chairman of the Committee of the Whole. In the dis^ 
 cussions that ensued. Judge Tyler chose for the most part to 
 exert, in favor of amendments and a new convention, the silent 
 influence of his opinions, rather than to engage continuously in. 
 the turmoil of debate. That place belonged to the politicians, — 
 like Monroe, Grayson, Henry, and Madison, — who were not fet- 
 tered by the high responsibilities and gravity of the judiciary.. 
 And so, too, thought and acted all the members of the judiciary 
 present — the aged and learned chancellor, Edmund Pendleton; the 
 scarcely less able Wythe, the Honorable Judges Blair, Carrington, 
 Jones, and Eichard Cary. Yet Judge Tyler did not fail to ex- 
 press, in clear and emphatic terms, his objections to the proposed 
 constitution ; and to the neophytes who rallied so zealously in be- 
 half of it he said proudly : 
 
 My conduct throughout the Revolution will justify me. I have invariably 
 wished to oppose oppressions. 'Tis true I have now a paltry office. Away 
 with it ! It has no influence on my present conduct. 
 
 Judge Tyler's views, as expressed in the convention, may be 
 thus briefly stated. In the maintenance of the principle that all 
 power resides in the people, subject to their control, Mr. Tyler 
 was opposed to the concentration of power in any man's hands, 
 since history bore one continual testimony to the exercise of 
 oppression and tyranny on the part of government over the 
 people, the servant over the master, the creature over the creator. 
 He believed, therefore, that the old Articles should be gradually 
 built up to the desired point of efficiency, rather than that a strong 
 government should be instituted which would require amendments 
 to pull it down. Defects of principle, infringing inalienable rights, 
 he believed should be cured by a Bill of Eights, providing ex- 
 pressly for the right of trial by jury, freedom of speech, etc. ; de- 
 fects (f local consideration, by amendments protecting the min- 
 ority from the oppression of the majority, one section from the 
 tyrannv of the other, and the State from the loss of its independ- 
 ence and sovereignty. 
 
 The convention, notwithstanding the imperfection in the re- 
 presentation, was decidedly opposed to the Constitution in its form 
 as recommended by the Philadelphia convention ; but there was 
 a party of men who insisted that amendments could be ob- 
 
144 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 tained as well after ratification as before it. These were headed 
 by the then governor, Edmund Randolph — an able and accom- 
 plished speaker, and a man of great influence in the State. Like 
 Col. Mason, now one of the ablest champions of amendments, his 
 confidence in the new government — which both had done so much 
 in the way of framing at Philadelphia, whither they had attended 
 as representatives from Virginia — had beea terribly shaken by a 
 certain sectional turn given to the new articles adopted there. 
 Like Mason, he had left with an emphatic refusal to sign the 
 Constitution as it then stood, and was understood as holding out 
 for a second convention. 
 
 Madison, who led the Federalists in prohably the ablest display 
 of ratiocination ever witnessed in a constitutional assembly, put 
 forth at first a strong hand in favor of the Constitution's self- 
 suflScieney, in the form reported by the Federal convention ; but 
 soon finding that the convention was against him, began to make 
 reluctant concessions. In spite of his ingenious arguments, he 
 could not deny that there were ambiguities in every article of the 
 Constitution; and ceaselessly pursued by Henry, Grayson and 
 Mason, he gave way at every hour. On the 13th of June, Theo- 
 dorick Bland reported the two parties, after twelve days session, 
 " almost equally divided, each side boasting by turns of a majority 
 of from three to eight, on the final question of adopting or reject- 
 ing," although he really thought at this time that "there was a 
 decided majority for anterior amendments; that is, who do not 
 think it prudent to mount a hish-blooded, fiery steed without a 
 bridle." ^ The contest was continued for days of stubborn debate. 
 Madison attempted to make light of the concessions wrung from 
 him. On the 23d he wrote to Washington : " We got through the 
 Constitution, by paragraphs, to-day. To-morrow, some proposition 
 for closing the business will be made. On our side, a ratification 
 involving a few declaratory truths not affecting its validity, will be 
 tendered." How much more serious the condition of affairs was 
 than Madison represented it to be, is seen from the remarks of 
 ,Mr. Wythe, who next day read the form of ratification, described by 
 Madison as " declaratory truths," and added : " It appeared to him 
 most clearly that any amendments which might be thought neces- 
 .sary would be easily obtained after ratification, in the manner 
 
 ' Life of Arthur Lee i. , pp. 337-8. 
 
DEBATE ON THE CONSTITUTION. 145 
 
 proposed by the Constitution, as amendments were desired by all 
 the States, and had already been proposed by the several States. 
 He theuproposed that the committee should ratify the Constitu- 
 tio?}, and that whatsoever amendments might be deemed necessary 
 should be recommended to the consideration of the Congress which 
 should first assemble under the Constitution, to be acted on accord- 
 ing to the mode prescribed therein."^ 
 
 Henry immediately arose and attacked the ratification of "Wythe, 
 as inadequate and deceptive ; and after an eloquent speech pro- 
 posed a series of amendments nearly the same as those ultimately 
 adopted by the convention. " The amendments which will be pro- 
 posed," wrote Bland on the 13th of June previous, " will contain 
 simple propositions guarding the rights of the States from the 
 encroachments of and State factions in the general govern- 
 ment, and almost literally corresponding with those suggested by 
 Massachusetts, Carolina, and the main points of the committee of 
 
 Maryland "We object not against any powers which shall 
 
 not be hurtful. That the government shall want no aids for its 
 own support or execution, provided that such restraints shall be 
 imposed upon it as shall support and ensure the State privileges, 
 and the liberty of the individual against oppression." Henry was 
 answered by Governor Randolph. This gentleman had written a 
 letter, after reaching home from the Federal convention, in which 
 he stated in substance that he was opposed to the Constitution as 
 it stood, but would support it if there were no alternative. His 
 position, therefore, until the meeting of the convention was equiv- 
 ocal. The anti-Federalists claimed to see no danger, and professed 
 to be greatly surprised at Randolph's conversion to the Federal 
 side. But Randolph maintained that eight States had ratified, and 
 now nothing remained but a choice between the dissolution and 
 perpetuation of the Union. Having sided with the Federalists, 
 Randolph excelled them all in portraying the anarchy that would 
 ensue, if Virginia rejected the Constitution. He represented all 
 society in ruins, and drew dreadful pictures of the British debts. 
 These arguments, however, were considered by the anti-Federalists 
 as a matter of course, — since, to preserve consistency with his pub- 
 lished letter, he was compelled, in self-defence, to take the most ex- 
 treme view. 
 
 ' Elliot, iii., p. 578. 
 10 
 
146 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 In replying to Henry on the subject of "Wythe's ratification, 
 Kandolph maintained that it would operate as a condition prece- 
 dent to the adoption of the Constitution by Virginia.^ This view- 
 received even a stronger expression from Wilson Gary Nicholas, 
 who said : ^ " No danger whatever could arise, for these expressions 
 will become a part of the contract. The Constitution cannot be 
 binding on Virginia but with these conditions. If thirteen indi- 
 viduals are about to make a contract, and one agrees to it, but at 
 the same time declares that he understands its meaning, significa- 
 tion, and intent to be (what the words of the contract plainly and 
 obviously denote), that is not to be construed to impose any sup- 
 plementary condition upon him, and that he is to be exonerated 
 from it, whensoever any such imposition shall be attempted, — I 
 ask whether in this case these conditions, on which he has assented 
 to it, would not be binding on the other twelve. In like manner 
 these conditions will be binding on Congress. They can exercise 
 no power that is not expressly granted them." 
 
 The form of ratification, thus solemnly asserted by Randolph 
 and ISTicliolas as constituting the foundation of the compact of 
 Union between Virginia and the other twelve States, reads as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Virginia, to wit : 
 
 We, the delegates of the people of Virginia, duly elected in pursuance of a 
 recommendation from the General Assembly, and now met in convention, 
 having fully and freely investigated and discussed the proceedings of the 
 Federal Convention, and being prepared, as well as the most mature delibera- 
 tion hath enabled us, to decide thereon, Do, in the name and in behalf of the 
 people of Virginia, declare and make known, that the powers granted under 
 the Constitution, being derived from the people of the United States, may be 
 resumed by them whensoever the same shall be perverted to their injury or 
 oppression, and that every power, not granted thereby, remains with them, 
 and at their will: that, therefore, no right of any denomination can be can- 
 celled, abridged, restrained, or modified, by the Congress, by the Senate or 
 House of Representatives, acting in any capacity; by the President, or any 
 department ur officer of the United States, except in those instances in which 
 power is given by the Constitution, for those purposes ; and that, among other 
 essential rights, the liberty of conscience, and of the press, cannot be cancelled, 
 abridged, restrained, or modified, by any authority of the United States. 
 
 With these impressions, with a solemn appeal to the Searcher of hearts for 
 the purity of our intentions, and under the conviction, that whatsoever imper- 
 
 ' EUiolt, iii., p. 598. ^ jj,-Qr_^ jij^ p gog 
 
THE CONSTITDTION ADOPTED CONDITrONALLY. 147 
 
 fections may exist in the Constitution, ought rather to be examined in the 
 mode prescribed therein, than to bring the Union into danger by delay, 
 with a hope of obtaining amendments previous to tlie ratification: 
 
 We, the said delegates, in the name and in behalf of the people of Virginia, 
 ■do, by these presents, assent to and ratify the Constitution, recommended on 
 the seventeenth day of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty- 
 seven, by the Federal Convention for the Government of the United States, 
 hereby announcing to all those whom it may concern, that the said Constitu- 
 tion is binding jj^on the said people, according to an authentic copy hereto 
 annexed, in the words following. 
 
 " The powers granted nnder the Constitution," so ran the rati- 
 fication, "being derived from the people of the United States, 
 may be resumed by them, whensoever the same shall be perverted 
 to their injury or oppression." The saving here in favor of a re- 
 scission of the Constitution, in the discretion of the people, applies 
 unquestionably to the people of each State, and not of all the 
 States. Tliat the Federal party in the Virginia convention ad- 
 mitted this is be inferred, not only from the language of Ran- 
 •dolph and Nicholas, but from taking into account the position of 
 those whose votes could alone give them victory on the final ballot. 
 There was a small party, headed by Mr. Ronald, who insisted on 
 the recommendation of full guaranties to accompany the ratifica- 
 tion of Virginia. As soon as Nicholas had made the speech, 
 •quoted from as above, Mr. Ronald rose and announced his pur- 
 pose to vote against the Constitution, unless he saw amendments 
 one way or another introduced.^ Madison, wJio replied to Ronald, 
 affirmed, by his silence, the construction imposed by Nicholas on 
 the form of ratification introduced by Mr. Wythe, and observed, 
 "that he would be the last to oppose any such amendment as 
 "would give satisfaction to any gentleman, unless it were dan- 
 gerous."^ A private letter of Madison, written the same day, 
 •confirms the view here taken. The convention not only recog- 
 nized the ratification of Wythe, as a condition precedent on the 
 p)art of Virginia, but the Constitution would never have been car- 
 Tied, had ''thei'd" been any suspicion that the sovereignty of the State 
 had been surrendered. "The convention," wrote Madison on the 
 37th of Jime, 1788, "came to a final adjournment to-day. The 
 ■enclosed is a copy of their act of ratification, with the yeas and 
 nays. A variety of amendments have been since recommended, 
 
 ' Elliot, ii., p. 626. ^ Hid., iii., p. 626-7. 
 
148 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEllS. 
 
 several of them highly objectionable, but which could not hepar-r 
 ried." ^ 
 
 The Constitution, as adopted by Yirginia, was not only guarded 
 by a condition precedent, but a resolution was unanimously taken 
 to recommend to Congress — to be incoporated into the body of the- 
 compact of Union — Mr. Henry's amendments, consisting of a Bill 
 of Eights, to supply all defects of principle, and twenty other 
 provisions intended chiefly to obviate northern ascendency, and pre- 
 serve beyond cavil the sovereign individuality of the separate States.. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's speech on the last day of debate in the Committee 
 of the Whole is full of the glow of his patriotic character. It is- 
 remarkable that he and all the other anti-Federalists were more 
 afraid of direct taxation than any other power granted to Congress.. 
 Here they made a great blunder. Had the national government, 
 been confined to this source of revenue, the State privileges would 
 have been put upon a plane of absolute safety. Each State under 
 this system would have paid only its due proportion of the public 
 burdens, and no more ; while the odiousness of the tax would have 
 converted every citizen into an interested supervisor over the ex- 
 penditures of the national government. On the contrary, the anti- 
 Federalists sought zealously to confine the Federal government to 
 raising revenue from duties. Under the tariff, the tax is lost in_ 
 the price of the articles, and the consumption of the taxed articles- 
 must vary in every State. Thus there can be neither economy in 
 the expenditures nor justice in the administration of the govern- 
 ment. The Southern States were speedily made to bear a double 
 burden. Having no manufactures, they in fact paid the revenues 
 of government; and paying the revenues, they had to encounter 
 that extravagance which must always obtain when the people- 
 cannot see how much they are paying those who rule them. Mr. 
 Tyler spoke as follows: 
 
 Mr. Chairman: I should have been satisfied with giving my vote on the 
 question to-day; but as I wish to hand down to posterity my opposition to- 
 this system, I conceive it to be my duty to declare the principles on which I 
 disapprove of it, and the cause of my opposition. I have seriously considered 
 the subject in my mind ; and when I consider the effects which may happen to- 
 this country from its adoption, I tremble at it. My opposition to it arose first 
 from general principles, independent of any local consideration. But when 
 I find that the Constitution is expressed in indefinite terms, — in terms which, 
 
 ' Madison to Washington, Madison's Writings, i., p. i02. 
 
SPEECH OF MH. TYLER. 149 
 
 -the gentlemen who composed it do not all concur in the meaning of, — I say, 
 that when it is thus liable to objections and different constructions, I find 
 T30 rest in my mind. Those clauses which answer different constructions will 
 he used to serve particular purposes. If the able members who composed it 
 •cannot agree on the construction of it, shall I be thought rash or wrong to 
 pass censure on its ambiguity ? 
 
 The worthy member last up has brought us to a degrading situation— that 
 Tve have no right to propose amendments. I should have expected such lan- 
 guage had we already adopted a constitution, which will preclude us from this 
 -advantage. If we propose to them to reconsider what they have done, and 
 not rescind it, will it be dictating to them 7 I do not undertake to say that 
 ■our amendments will bind other States. I hope no gentleman will be so weak 
 as to say so. But no gentleman, on the other hand, will deny our right of 
 proposing amendments. Wherefore is it called dictatorial ? It is not my 
 ■wish that they should rescind but so much as will secure our peace and 
 liberty. We wish to propose such amendments to the sister States as will 
 reconcile all the States. Will gentlemen think this will dissolve the Union ? 
 
 Among all the chimeras adduced on this occasion, we are intimidated with 
 the fear of being attacked by the petty princes of Europe. The little preda- 
 tory nations of Europe are to cross the Atlantic and fall upon us ; and to 
 avoid this we must adopt this government, with all its defects. Are we to be 
 frightened into its adoption ? 
 
 The gentleman has objected to previous amendments, because the people did 
 notlinow them. Have they seen their subsequent amendments ? — [Here Mr. 
 Innes rose, and explained the difference, — that previous amendments would be 
 binding on the people, though they had never seen them, and should have no 
 opportunity of considering them before they should operate ; but that subse- 
 •quent amendmeuls, being only recommendatory in their nature, conld be re- 
 viewed by the people before they would become a part of the system ; and if 
 they disapproved of them, they might direct their delegates in Congress to 
 alter and modify them.] 
 
 Mr. Tyler then proceeded : I have seen their subsequent amendments, and, 
 ■although they hold out something like the thing we wish, yet they have not 
 ■entered pointedly and substantially into it. What have they said about di- 
 rect taxation ? They have said nothing on this subject. Is there any limi- 
 tation of, or restriction on, the Federal judicial power ? I think not. So 
 that gentlemen hold out the idea of amendments which will not alter one 
 dangerous part of it. It contains many dangerous articles. No gentleman 
 here can give such a construction of it as will give general satisfaction. Shall 
 we be told that we shall be attacked by the Algerines, and that disunion will 
 take place unless we adopt it ? Such language as this I did not expect here. 
 Little did I think that matters would come to this when we separated from 
 the mother country. There, sir, every man is amenable to punishment. There 
 is far less responsibility in this government. British tyranny would have been 
 more tolerable. By our present government, every man is secure in his per- 
 son and the enjoyment of his property. There is no man that is not liable 
 to be punished for misdeeds. I ask, What is it that disturbs men when 
 
150 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 liberty is in the highest zenith ? Human nature will always be the same. 
 Men never were nor ever will be satisfied with their happiness. 
 
 They tell you that one letter's alteration will destroy it. I say that it is 
 very far from being perfect. I ask, if it were put in immediate operation, 
 whether the people could bear it — whether two bodies can- tax the same spe- 
 cies of property. The idea of two omnipotent powers is inconsistent. The 
 natural tendency must be either a revolt or the destruction of the State gov- 
 ernments, and a consolidation of them all into one general system. If we are 
 to be consolidated, let it be on better grounds. So long as climate will have 
 effect on men, so long will the different climates of the United States render 
 us different; therefore a consolidation is contrary to our nature, and can only 
 be supported by an arbitrary government. 
 
 Previous and subsequent amendments are now the only dispute ; and when 
 gentlemen say that there is a greater probability of obtaining the one than, 
 the other, they accompany their assertions with no kind of argument. What 
 is the reason that amendments cannot be got after ratification ? Because we 
 have granted power; because the amendments you propose will diminish 
 their power and undo some clauses in that paper. This argument proves to 
 me that they cannot be serious. It has been plainly proved to you that it is- 
 impracticable. Local advantages are given up, as well as the regulation of 
 trade. When it is the case, will the little States agree to. an alteration? 
 When gentlemen insist on this, without producing any argument, they will 
 find no credulity in me. Another convention ought to be had^ whether the 
 amendments be previous or subsequent. They say another convention is 
 dangerous. How is this proved? It is only their assertion. Gentlemen tell 
 us we shall be ruined without adoption. Is this reasonable? It does not 
 appear so to me. 
 
 Much has been said on the subject of war by foreigners and the Indians;, 
 but a great deal has been said in refutation of it. Give me leave to say that, 
 from the situation of the powers of Europe at this time, no danger is to be 
 apprehended from thence. Will the French go to war with you if you do not 
 pay them what you owe them ? Will they thereby destroy that balance, to- 
 preserve which they have taken such immense trouble? But Great Britain 
 will go to war with you unless you comply with the treaty. Great Britain, 
 which, to my sorrow, has monopolized our trade, is to go to war with us un- 
 less the law of treaties be binding. Is this reasonable? It is not the interest 
 of Great Britain to quarrel with us. She will not hazard any measure which 
 may tend to take our trade out of her hands. It is not the interest of Holland 
 to see us destroyed or oppressed. It is the interest of every nation in Europe 
 to keep up the balance of power, and therefore they will not suffer any nation 
 to attack us without immediately interfering. 
 
 But much is said of the propriety of our becoming a great and powerful 
 nation. There is a great difference between offensive and defensive war. If 
 we can defend ourselves, it is sufficient. Shall wo sacrifice the peace and 
 happiness of this country to enable us to make wanton war ? 
 
 My conduct throughout the Revolution will justify me. I have invariably 
 wished to oppose oppressions. It is true that I have now a paltr office. I 
 
SPEECH OF ME. TYLER. 151 
 
 am willing to give it up. Away with it ! It has no influence on my present 
 conduct. I wished Congress to have the regulation of trade. I was of opinion 
 that a partial regulation alone would not suffice. I was among those mem- 
 bers who, a few years ago, proposed that regulation. I have lamented that 
 I have put my hand to it, since this measure may have grown out of it. It 
 was the hopes of our people to have their trade on a respectable footing. But 
 it never entered into my head that we should quit liberty and throw our- 
 selves into the hands of an energetic government. Do you want men to be 
 more free, or less free than they are ? Gentlemen have been called upon to 
 show the causes of this measure. None have been shown. Gentlemen say 
 we shall be ruined, unless we adopt it. We must give up our opinions. We 
 cannot judge for ourselves. I hope gentlemen, before this, have been satisfied 
 that such language is improper. All States which have heretofore been lavish 
 in the concession of power and relinquishment of privileges have lost their 
 liberty. It has been often observed (and it cannot be too often observed), 
 that liberty ought not to be given up without knowing the terms. The gen- 
 tlemen themselves cannot agree in the construction of various clauses of it; 
 and so long as this is the case, so long shall liberty be in danger. 
 
 Gentlemen say we are jealous. I am not jealous of this House. I could 
 trust my life with them. If this Constitution were safer, I should not be 
 afraid. But its defects warrant my suspicions and fears. We are not passing 
 laws now, but laying the foundations on which laws are to be made. We 
 ought, therefore, to be cautious how we decide. When I consider the Consti- 
 tution in all its parts, I cannot but dread its operation. It contains a variety 
 of powers too dangerous to be vested in any set of men whatever. Its power of 
 direct taxation, the supremacy of the laws of the Union, and of treaties, are ex- 
 ceedingly dangerous. I have never heard any manner of calling the president 
 to account for his conduct, nor even the members of the democratic branch of the 
 government. We may turn out our ten members, but what can we do with 
 the other fifty-five? The wisdom of Great Britain gave each State its own 
 legislative assembly and judiciary, and a right to tax themselves. When they 
 attempted to infringe that right we declared war. This system violates that 
 right. In the year 1781, the Assembly were obliged to pass a law that forty 
 members could pass laws. I have heard many members say that it was a great 
 departure from the Constitution, and that it would lead to aristocracy. If 
 we could not trust forty, can we trust ten ? Those who lay a tax ought to be 
 amenable to the payment of a proportionate share of it. I see nothing in their 
 subsequent amendments going to this point: that we should have a right to 
 tax ourselves. But gentlemen say that this would destroy the Constitution. 
 Of what avail, then, will their subsequent amendments be ? Will gentlemen 
 satisfy themselves that, when they adopt this Constitution, their country will 
 be happy? Is not the country divided? Is it a happy government which 
 divides the people and sets brother in opposition to brother? This measure 
 has produced anarchy and confusion. We ought to have been unanimous, and 
 gone side by side, as we went through the Revolution. Instead of unanimity, 
 it has produced a general diversity of opinions, which may terminate in the 
 most unhappy consequences. We only wish to do away ambiguities, and 
 
152 LETTKES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 establish our rigbts on clear and explicit terms. If tbis be done, we shall 
 be all like one man — we shall unite and be happy. But if we adopt it in its 
 present form, unanimity or concord can never take place. After adoption we 
 can never expect to see it amended, because they will consider requests and 
 solicitations for amendments as in a high degree dictatorial. They will say: 
 You have signed and sealed, and you cannot now retract. 
 
 When I review all these considerations my heart is full, and can never be at 
 peace, till I see these defects removed. Our only consolation is the virtue of 
 the present age. It is possible that, when they see the country divided, these 
 politicians will reconcile the minds of their countrymen, by introducing such 
 alterations as shall be deemed necessary. Were it not for this hope, I should 
 be in despair. I shall say no more, but that I wish my name to be seen in the 
 yeas and nays, that it may be known that my opposition arose from a full 
 persuasion and conviction of its being dangerous to. the liberties of my 
 country. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, that in failing to confine the 
 general government to direct taxes, the Virginia Convention en- 
 tirely overlooked the advisability of inserting, among the amend- 
 ments recommended by the State, provisions whose adoption would 
 have given to the South an absolute guaranty of power. They 
 were too well aware that declaratory provisions merely, however 
 emphatic and certain in meaning, would never preserve their rights 
 and privileges, against the interpretation of interested persons. 
 The eighth Yirginia amendment required that "no navigation law, 
 or law regulating commerce, shall be passed without the consent 
 of two-thirds of the members present, in both Houses." This was 
 a real guaranty, always hitherto zealously insisted upon by the 
 South, and never surrendered until in the Federal Convention it 
 gave rise to a "bargain" which fixes an eternal stain upon the 
 characters of the men parties to it. Under the old Articles, no 
 treaty of commerce could be made without a similar requirement of 
 the assent of nine States. The terms of Monroe's renort in 1785, 
 and the Virginia commercial propositions of that year, put the 
 proposed grant of power over trade on the same footing as a com- 
 mercial treaty. In the Federal convention, the committee of 
 detail reported the guaranty in the form of the eighth Virginia 
 amendment. Immediately, a struggle arose between the South 
 and East. The East insisted upon a simple majority vote for the 
 passage of commercial laws, candidly declaring in the language of 
 Gorhatn, "that they had no motives to Union but a commercial 
 one." This declaration, however, accompanied as it was with 
 
THE NATIONAL " BAEGAIN." 153 
 
 "threats of secession, would not have availed them, had they not 
 "been able to bring to bear other and more powerful forces. The 
 States of Georgia and South Carolina were anxious for a continu- 
 ance of the slave-trade. Their bitterest opponent was Virginia. 
 They formed a "bargain" with the East, and notwithstanding that 
 in 1TS5, they deemed the consent of even eleven States inadequate 
 "to guard against the machinations of the East, they now, in return 
 for the votes of New England in favor of the slave-trade for 
 twenty years, consented to a majority vote simply for passing com- 
 Tnercial laws. The indignation of the Virginia representatives 
 was intense at this shameless combination. "Twenty years," 
 •cried Madison, " will produce all the mischief that can be appre- 
 hended from the liberty to import slaves. So long a time will be 
 more dishonorable to the American character than to say nothing 
 about it in the Constitution." Col. George Mason lamented " that 
 ^some of our Eastern brethren had, from a lust of gain, engaged in 
 this nefarious traffic." The effect, he said, of the provision to pass 
 ■commercial laws by simple majorities, "would be to deliver the 
 South, bound hand and foot, to the Eastern States, and enable 
 them to exclaim, in the words of Cromwell on a certain occasion, 
 ■' the Lord hath delivered them into our hands.' " In the end, neither 
 Mason nor Eandolph would sign the Constitution, Mason vowing 
 that "he would chop his right hand off first." 
 
 In the Virginia convention, which foUowed, Madison was com- 
 pelled to defend the section of the Constitution permitting the 
 :importation of slaves. He said that the Southern States would 
 not have entered into Union without it. " The Union was not in a 
 worse condition than before. Under the Articles of Confederation, 
 it might be continued forever, but by the clause in the Constita- 
 tion it would have to cease after twenty years. There was, in fact, 
 an amelioration of our circumstances." 
 
 Madison, with the aid of all his dialectics, could hardly reconcile 
 ihese arguments with his declaration at Philadelphia, "that twenty 
 years would produce aU the mischief that could be apprehended 
 from the liberty to import slaves." No one there voted on the 
 idea of any of his suppositions. He himself had voted against 
 the clause, notwithstanding the threats of the two Southern 
 States. The Eastern States had looked alone to their interest. A 
 firm stand taken on the question of importing slaves, instead of 
 
154 LETTEKS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 driving Virginia over to a Southern Confederacy, would have- 
 secured for the Constitution thousands of friends within the State. 
 It was true that the Articles of Confederation did not forbid the 
 slave-trade, but it might be interdicted at any moment by the con- 
 sent of the States. It, at least, did not take the evil, as the new 
 Constitution openly did, under the protecting aegis of its authority. 
 Mr. Tyler replied to Mr. Madison in a speech which, though im- 
 perfectly reported, does him iniinite honor: 
 
 Mr. Tyler warmly enlarged on the impolicy, iniquity, and disgracefulness 
 of this wicked traffic. He thought the reasons urged by gentlemen in de- 
 fence of it were inconclusive and ill-founded. It was one cause of the com- 
 plaints against British tyranny that this trade was permitted. The Revolu- 
 tion had put a period to it ; but now it was to be revived. He thought no- 
 thing could justify it. This temporary restriction on Congress militated, in 
 his opinion, against the arguments of gentlemen on the other side, that what 
 was not given up was retained by the States ; for, that if this restriction had 
 not been inserted, Congress could have prohibited the African trade. The 
 power of prohibiting it was not expressly delegated to them, yet they would 
 have had it by implication, if this restraint had not been provided. This 
 seemed to demonstrate most clearly the necessity of restraining them by a Bill 
 of Rights from infringing our unalienable rights. It was immaterial whether 
 the Bill of Rights was by itself, or included in the Constitution. But he con- 
 tended for it one way or the other. It would be justified by our own exam-- 
 pie, and that of England. His earnest desire was, that it should he handed 
 down to posterity, that he had opposed this wicked cause. He then reverted 
 to the clauses which enabled Congress to legislate exclusively in the ten miles 
 square, and other places purchased for forts, magazines, etc. ; to provide for 
 the general welfare ; to raise a standing army ; and to make any law that may 
 be necessary to carry their laws into execution. From the combined opera- 
 tions of these unlimited powers he dreaded the most fatal consequences. If 
 any acts of violence should be committed on persons or property, the perpe- 
 trators of such acts might take refuge in the sanctuary of the ten miles square, 
 and the strong holds. They would thus escape with impunity, as the States 
 had no power to punish them. He called to the recollection of the committee 
 the history of the Athenian who, from small beginnings, had enslaved his- 
 country. He begged them to remember that Cassar, who prostrated the 
 hberties of his country, did not possess a powerful army at first. , Suppose, 
 says he, the time should come that a king should be proposed by Congress. 
 Will they not be able, by the sweeping clause, to call in foreign assistance, 
 and raise troops, and do whatever they think proper to carry this proposition 
 into effect ? He then concluded, that imless this clause were expunged, he 
 would vote against the Constitution. 
 
 As may be supposed, all the amendments of Virginia containing 
 a guaranty of power were rejected by Congress. The all-neces- 
 
VIEGINIA AifD THE SLAVE TRADE. 155- 
 
 sary check on the passage of commercial laws of more than a ma- 
 jority was never obtained, and the South was literally handed over 
 to the North "bound hand and foot." South Carolina was at first 
 transported with the " bargain " she had made,' but the evil fruit 
 of the slave-trade only worked her and the whole South woe. 
 According to Dr. Dabney, more than 125,000 slaves were intro- 
 duced — chiefly through northern vessels — into the country be- 
 tween 1788 and 1808,' whose descendants in 1860 must, to my 
 mind, have verged on 1,000,000. 
 
 The pronounced attitude taken by Virginia at this period 
 against slavery and the slave-trade has been often cited, by way of 
 contrast, to shame the degeneracy of their descendants of the late 
 war times. Virginia certainly stood at the head of the States 
 during the Revolution in her sympathy with human rights in 
 their widest sense. But the least acquaintance with the history 
 of the State will show that, while the personal treatment of the 
 slaves by their masters continually grew milder, and kept pace 
 with the humanity of the age, there was no diminution, at any 
 time, of the real, heart-felt desire to remove the curse of slavery. 
 Expression, 'tis true, during the Kevolution was more open than 
 at a later day, but this was due to the obvious reason, that the 
 forces seeking the extermination of the evil operated mostly at 
 home, and did not originate in a section of the country hostile to 
 Southern interests. Jefferson and Madison were leading philan- 
 thropists in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and yet 
 they both lived to oppose the immediate emancipation programme 
 of the abolitionists. Southern statesmen soon learned, that openly 
 denouncing slavery was merely playing into the hands of their bit- 
 terest enemies. 
 
 The Virginia Gazette and the other periodicals of our early 
 history, as well as the Journal of the House of Delegates, con- 
 tain abundant evidence that the people of the Revolutionary 
 
 ' In the South Carolina Convention, a motion for postponement was overruled 
 by a majority of 46. "When the result was announced," says Ramsay, the his- 
 torian of the State, "an event unexampled in the annals of Carolina took place. 
 Strong and involuntary expressions of applause and joy burst forth from the nu- 
 merous transported spectators. The minority complained of disrespect ; unplea- 
 sant consequences were anticipated. The majority joined with the complaining 
 members in clearing the house, and in the most delicate manner soothed their 
 feelings." (Elliot, iv., p. 342.) 
 
 * Dr. Dabney's Defence of Virginia, pp. 58-9 
 
156 LETTEES'AND TIMES OF THE TTLERS. 
 
 -epoch were much beHirid their l6acl^i»s'ln their professions of zeal 
 for the slaves. It was not until 1782 that Virginia allowed 
 emancipation of slaves by will, though by that act more slaves were 
 freed than were liberated in Pennsylvania or Massachusetts. ^ The 
 ■passage of the bill, even at that late day, so shook the social struc- 
 ture of the State, that numerous petitions were speedily presented 
 praying a repeal. This result was nearly witnessed at the session 
 of the Legislature which met in the fall of 1785. A resolution 
 was early introduced into the House to that effect, and carried by 
 a vote of fifty-two to fifty-one.^ Mr. Tyler and Mr. Madison 
 TDoth voted against it. The proposition, however, eventually failed. 
 When at a later day during the same session, the attempt was 
 made to put th« adopted resolution into the form of an act, the 
 proposition was defeated by fifty-two to thirty-five. ^ 
 
 The feeling of hostility to slavery continually spread among the 
 people, and in 1816 the African Colonization Society was founded. 
 This was one of the most purely philanthropical schemes ever de- 
 Tised. It extended itself through the States by "aid societies;" 
 ^nd, while furnishing freedom to thousands of negroes, lent a 
 mighty impetus to the sentiment of philanthropy, which showed 
 itself in the many projects made public by Virginians for the 
 -emancipation of the slaves.^ 
 
 In Virginia, emancipation seemed bound to occur for the very 
 same reason that had brought it about in the North, — and this was 
 the annually increasing preponderance of the white population. 
 Thousands of slaves left yearly for the more Southern States, 
 while emigration from the North to the State, — especially to the 
 Tvestern part, — was steady and progressive. Rival interests soon 
 arose between the two sections of the State divided by the Blue 
 Kidge. The power of the west daily increased, and at length, 
 in 1829, the two parties met in convention. The old Constitution 
 had served its purpose, and now, like all old things, needed change. 
 The eastern men disliked to give up the power which they had 
 monopolized so long, but they could not, with all their wealth and 
 talent, entirely foil the attack of the sturdy mountaineers. A 
 
 'Bancroft's Hist U. S., Centennial Edition., vi , p. 304. 
 
 2 Journal House Del., 1785-'6, p. 29. ^ jour^^i House Del., 1785-'6, p. 110. 
 
 ■* Thomas K. Dew's scheme acquired a national reputation. Madison's Writ., iv., 
 pp. 274-' 80. ' 
 
SLAVERY IN VIRGINIA. 15T 
 
 compromise was effected. The eastern men gave up the equal 
 representation by counties, but made the west agree to allow their 
 slaves count according to Federal numbers, in the constitution of 
 the House of Delegates. In 1832, a step beyond this was taken. 
 The rising of the slaves at Southampton brought the subject of 
 emancipation in the most urgent manner to the attention of the 
 Virginia people. Thomas Jefferson Randolph, an east Virginian,, 
 and grandson of Thomas Jefferson, proposed that a select commit- 
 tee should be raised to report a scheme of emancipation. [Jpoa 
 this a most interesting debate ensued. The speakers on the sub- 
 ject from the west were, of course, more numerous, but there were 
 not wanting many representatives from the eastern counties who 
 vied with them in denouncing slavery. The importance of the 
 subject induced a postponement of action beyond the present ses- 
 sion, although a resolution was adopted — sixty-live to fifty-eight — 
 alleging that the Legislature was profoundly sensible of the great, 
 evil arising from the condition of the colored population of this 
 Commonwealth, but that "a further action for the removal of 
 slaves should await a more definite development of public opinion." 
 
 During the same year Senator John Tjder inserted in the Code, 
 prepared for the District of Columbia, a provision abolishing the 
 slave-trade in the District. He thus anticipated action on the 
 subject by upwards of eighteen years.^ 
 
 The sudden onset of the abolitionists in 1833 threw the tide of 
 emancipation violently back. Henceforth, the Virginians were 
 compelled to be on the defensive against foreign attacks on an 
 institution which they would have gladly sacrificed if left alone. 
 The charges so often reiterated, that after the invention of the 
 cotton gin, and the consequent enormous growth of the cotton 
 ti-ade, the Virginians went into a business of "slave-breeding" for 
 the Southern market, are as indecent as they are without the 
 slightest foundation in fact. Von Hoist utters a shameless libel 
 when he makes this assertion ; ^ but he is right in maintaining that 
 all the questions dividing the South and North were more or less 
 affected by the slavery question. I believe, however, that the 
 mere difference in the agricultural conditions of the South and 
 Xorth would have given rise to very much the same difficulties. 
 
 ' Letter of Mr. Tyler to H. S. Foote in 1850. See Vol. II. of this work. 
 ^ Von Hoist's Constitutional History, 1750-1828, p. 353. 
 
158 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEKB. 
 
 In one breath, Von Hoist talks of the universal spirit of the age 
 as hostile to slavery ; and then, in the next, makes slavery a pro- 
 gressive principle, which can only be destroyed by the sword. If 
 :slavery was a morally bad condition, then the inevitable operation 
 of nature, in favor of the good, was boand to remove it in the 
 course of time. The abolitionists, under their oriflamme of im- 
 mediate emancipation, endowed the institution with a foreign 
 -strength, by identifying it with the pride and manhood of the 
 South. The war of 1861 was not a war for slavery, but one 
 waged on the part of the South in vindication of their character, 
 as States arrogantly denied an equality in a Confederation of 
 States which they had always maintained were separately sovereign 
 and independent. 
 
 Note on the Slaveky Question. 
 
 The ''bargain" alluded to in the text as taking place between the Eastern 
 and extreme Southern States in 1787, was a repetition of what had ensued on 
 the adoption of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. A clause repro- 
 bating the African slave trade had been inserted by Jefferson in the original 
 draft, but it was struck out in complaisance to South Carolina and Georgia and 
 the northern brethren, who, " though their people had few slaves themselves, 
 yet had been pretty considerable carriers of them." (Randolpli's Jefferson, i., 
 p. 15.) The "bargain'' of 1787 may be understood from this fact. From 
 1771 to 1790, only 34,000 negroes were imported; but from 1788 to 1808, 
 125,000. (Dabney's Defence of Virginia, p. 58.) As late as 1856, the Em- 
 peror of Brazil reproached the ships of Boston and New York with complicity 
 in the slave trade on the South American coast. (Ibid., pp. 59, 60.) See 
 Mason's account of the " bargain " of 1788. (Elliot, iii., p. 604 ; Eobertson's 
 Debates, p. 431.) 
 
 Among the east Virginians, who advocated emancipation in the Legisla- 
 ture, in 1832, were Randolph, William H. Roane, William H. Brodnax, Bryce, 
 Hooe, Boiling, Mcllhaney, John Rutherfoord, etc. 
 
CHAPTEE V. 
 
 1788—1800. 
 
 " There are an infinity of people here waiting for offices. Many of them have gone home 
 -for want of money. This accounts for the ^reat number of patriots who were so very 
 -sanpnine for the new government." — William GRAy?ox,/yom the jirut Congresf under the 
 Constitution, (1789). 
 
 "I am at a loss to know "what our national char.icter is 7 Certain T am that it is not 
 what it has been even thirty jears ago. I believe it is degenerated into a system of stock- 
 jobbing, extortion and usury." — JOHX TvLEU, SB. (1810). 
 
 ^TJLE OF THE FeDEKALISTS. — StOCK-JOBBING, ExTOETION AND UsUET. — DeCAY OF 
 
 Ylbginia Tobacco. — William Grayson's Letters from the First Congress. 
 — Resistance of Virginia to the Federalists. — Victory of the Republicans. 
 — Mb. Tyler in the Judiciaby of the State. — The Judiciary Question. — 
 Opinion of Judge Tyler in Kamper vs. Hawkins. — Kent's and Story's Ex- 
 traordinary Omission. — Henry's Death. 
 
 BHITISH monopoly and foreign re-strictions constituted the 
 womb in which the present Federal Constitution was con- 
 ceived. The universal idea had been that retaliation would break 
 down foreign restrictions and compel the nations of the earth into 
 a system of free-trade. Duties would then be imposed for revenue 
 -only. "The system," said Jefferson, "into which the United 
 States wished to go was that of freeing commerce from every 
 shackle." ^ " Interdict the shipping and trade of Great Britain in 
 the same manner she has done those of these States," cried Wash- 
 ington. "This, and this only, will convince her of the illiberality 
 of her conduct towards us, or that her policy has been too refined 
 and overstrained, even for the accomplishment of her own pur- 
 poses."^ In the same strain talked all the American statesmen, 
 ■orators, and newspapers. The new government had been lauded 
 to the skies as the certain means to strike down the liaughty 
 foreigner. It is, therefore, somewhat surprising to hear James 
 Madison making this plaint in Congress as much as six years 
 after the ratification of the Constitution by Virginia. "As re- 
 taliation was the first object of the people in the steps taken 
 
 ' Rand. Jefferson, i., p. 366. '' Sparks, ix., p. 149.. 
 
160 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEKS. 
 
 for establishing the present government, it was universally ex- 
 pected to be the first fruit of its operation When th& 
 
 subject was discussed in the first Congress at New York, it was- 
 said that we ought to try the effects of a generous policy towards 
 Great Britain ; that we ought to give time for negotiating a treaty 
 of commerce; that we ought to await the close of negotiations for- 
 explaining and executing the treaty."^ 
 
 Years passed, but the energetic government was as far from 
 effecting the overruling object of its existence as the much 
 reviled Articles of Confederation. " Xe roi est mort ; vive 
 le roil" A regular worship of the Constitution became fash- 
 ionable with all parties. In spite of the "fatal ambiguities" 
 that existed in every article of it, and the discrepancy of 
 opinion that formed the people into two gigantic parties,, 
 which wrestled ceaselessly over its provisions, it constantly assum- 
 ed more and more the character of perfection. "When, in 1861,. 
 civil war stared every man in the face, the cry went up more 
 loudly than ever that " we are the admiration of the civilized 
 world, and present the brightest hopes of mankind."^ When ad- 
 miration became so exaggerated, it was natural that men should 
 not content themselves with praises of the present, but seek to ex- 
 alt that present by scornful revilings of the past. Thus, while the 
 battlements of the government were shaking like a reed in the 
 wind, men had the assumption to denounce the old Articles as "a. 
 rope of sand." They forgot that no theoretical checks could make 
 any government strong which was not founded on the interests of 
 the people. 
 
 Only here and there amid the vast multitude caine up a stubborn 
 voice, like that of John Tyler, retaining the independent tone of 
 the days of '88. "I had promised myself better things of the- 
 Eevolution," he said; and with a resolve "to die in the good old 
 cause," he kept himself aloof "from the speculation so destructive- 
 to morals" that had seized upon all classes of society, or that 
 "bitterness and detraction which stained the national character- 
 beyond reprieve." 
 
 Indeed, the scenes that ensued immediately upon the adoption 
 of the Constitution were calculated to stagger any honest man. 
 
 ' Annals of Congress, iii., p. 211. 
 
 ■^ See Von Hoist's Const. Hist., 1750-1832, chapter ii. 
 
161 
 
 "Washington was called by the unanimous voice of the people to 
 take the helm of the new government. He appointed Hamilton, 
 who had been his aid-de-camp, as Secretary of the Treasury. In 
 the organization of the government, this office was the all impor- 
 tant one, though nominally inferior to that of Secretary of State. 
 Hamilton's haughty mind revelled in authority, and he determined 
 to mould the still plastic government after a Csesarean model. 
 Where else should he look for the examples of his state-craft but 
 to England, with whom we were connected by so many visible and 
 invisible ties ? There he observed a national bank, and a funded 
 (debt. In applying these features of English polity to his own 
 country, Hamilton was too pure a man to favor one section at the 
 expense of another. It just happened that the Eastern States 
 ■owned an undue proportion of the Revolutionary • certificates of 
 •debt, which in most instances had been purchased from the sol- 
 diers at merely nominal rates. Madison wished to pay the pur- 
 chaser at the market price, and give the rest to the original holder. 
 Hamilton thought otherwise. He touched the wheel of govern- 
 ment and ground these certificates into solid gold. This act of 
 leger-de-main was called the " Funding Act." 
 
 Again, there was a second piece of jugglery, called the " Assump- 
 tion of the State debts." Some of the States, since the close of 
 the war, had made laudable endeavors to pay their obligations. 
 Others had received more than their share of advances from the 
 Federal government. No settlement had been made with each 
 other or the Federal government. To carry out his general plan 
 of strengthening the government by drawing about it the support 
 of the creditor class, Hamilton proposed the assumption, not in 
 net, but in gross, of the State debts. Massachusetts and the other 
 Eastern States, along with South Carolina, now and for some time 
 ■after their ally and coadjutor, were deeply and especially interested 
 in the proposition, it appearing from a list of the State debts ac- 
 companying the Secretary's report, that more than one-half of the 
 aggregate debts reported, were due from those States. The system 
 proposed was carried out in all its details, the State debts assumed 
 in gross ; and Gallatin declares that " the additional and unnecessary 
 debt created by that fatal measure amounted to $10,883,628.58," 
 — a large sum for that day. 
 
 IsTew England rallied enthusiastically to the support of Hamilton, 
 11 
 
162 LBTTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEEB. 
 
 and Mr. Jefferson, in his celebrated Anas, describes in vivid terms- 
 the scenes of stock-jobbing and speculation presented on every 
 hand. Couriers and relay horses were galloping by land, and 
 swift-sailing pilot boats were sailing by sea, and agents employed 
 in every State to buy up, for two shillings on the pound, paper 
 and certificates of debt, before the holders knew that Congress had 
 already provided for their redemption at par. The most extensive 
 demoralization was engendered. Men became arrayed, not on the 
 basis of principle, but on tliat of money-making merely ; illustrated 
 in the South by Yazoo swindles, and in the North by the low 
 practices of smuggling and shameless nullification of the Federal 
 laws of embargo and non-intercourse. 
 
 As old England furnislied the glorious opportunities for these 
 rich harvests in her system of politj^, the Federal crib-feeders felt, 
 too grateful to entertain any ill-feeling towards her. Complaints 
 only provoked a greater idolatry of the British constitution ; and 
 so it happened that ISTew England, — which had been the home of 
 Jacobinism, as manifested by Shays' rebellion, and had, in the 
 language of Madison, made retaliation " iheir policy" — put on 
 most the airs of monarchy and cherished most the English name.- 
 France, without whose aid the Revolution would probably have- 
 failed, was contemned ; and gratitude, according to Hamilton, be- 
 came a weak and "mean" sentiment in any nation. 
 
 For nearly twenty-five years the nation suffered from the effects 
 of the energetic rule of Hamilton and the other Federal leaders. 
 The government under the Articles of Confederation had been 
 reviled without limit ; but, admitted as its defects were, its impo- 
 tency was pleasing by comparison -with the energy of the new 
 government in encouraging scenes of sectional plunder, and in. 
 apparently losing itself to every just sense of national pride. " I 
 am at a loss to know," cried Governor Tyler in 1810, "what our 
 national character is. Certain I am that it is not what it has been 
 even thirty years ago. I believe it is degenerated into a system 
 of stock-jobbing, extortion, and usury." 
 
 The injurious policy pursued by the Federal government to 
 Virginia, — beginning with the year 1783, and running through the 
 funding, assumption, and banking acts of Hamilton, the tonnage,- 
 bounty, tariff, and internal improvement systems, — can never be 
 fully appreciated. Instead of the foreign duties on tobacco being 
 
DECLmB OF THE TOBACCO TEADE. 163 
 
 reduced by the energetic interposition of the government, they 
 were suffered to steadily increase. 
 
 The duty on imported tobacco in England was about 6^d. prior 
 to 1776. Until 17S7 it was lOd. In the latter year it was raised 
 to Is. 3d. ; from which rate it rose to is.; to be reduced, in 1825, 
 to 3s., to rise again to 3s. 6d., at which rate it now stands.' In 
 1793, the date of Jefferson's report on the commerce of the 
 United States in foreign countries, by Spain the introduction of 
 tobacco was prohibited; by Portugal it was prohibited; and in 
 France it was a monopoly, which the National Assembly ex- 
 changed for a duty of IS livres, 15 sous the quintal. 
 
 In 181:3, A. P. Upshur, the then Secretary of State, complained 
 of the enormous duty imposed by England on our tobacco, amount- 
 ing to 3s. per pound, or 800 per cent., at the port of exportation. 
 In France, the same monopoly continued as in 1793, "blocking 
 up all the avenues to the tobacco trade." In Austria a similar 
 monopoly prevailed. 
 
 The duties on the importation of tobacco exacted by the 
 principal nations of Europe, in 1855, appear from a report on 
 the commercial relations of the United States with all foreign 
 nations. (Thirty-Fourth Congress, first session.) By Kussia, six 
 roubles, or Sl:.50 per 110 pounds; by Austria, $12.12|- per 110 
 pounds ; but allowed to be imported only with the permission of 
 government. In Sardinia, tobacco was a government monopoly. 
 By Spain and the two Sicilies it was prohibited. So with regard 
 to other governments. Xow let us add to these impositions the tax 
 imposed by our ovvn government, recently reduced to eight cents 
 a pound. In 1883, Virginia paid into the national treasury for in- 
 ternal revenue taxes, 85,077,531.78, while all New England (six 
 States) contributed only 14,117,698.48.^ 
 
 ' Mair's Bookkeeping, Waterston's CyclopEedia of Commerce, Whitaker's English 
 Almanac for 1883. England draws nearly one-half of her customs revenue from 
 tobacco. Total customs revenue for 1881-2, £19,287,000 ; revenue from tobacco, 
 £8,838,176. 
 
 - It is a consolation to the writer to know that one man, at least, did his full and 
 complete duty by his State and country. In 1844, President Tyler negotiated, 
 through Henry Wheaton, a treaty for the almost free admission by the ZoUverein 
 States of Germany of our tobacco. The treaty was regarded by the President 
 as next in importance to the Texas treaty itself, and had been eagerly sought 
 after by every preceding administration. Yet Congress, from party reasons, failed 
 to ratify it. 
 
164 LETTERS AND TIMES OP THE TYLERS. 
 
 Tobacco was banished from its old planting grounds, and the 
 warehouses and villages along the creeks and rivers of Virginia rot- 
 ted away, leaving scarcely a sign behind to indicate where they once 
 stood. The marine' of Virginia perished, and her ports remained 
 stationary or went backwards. Millions upoVi millions of dollars 
 were drained from the State ; and soon, men in the North no 
 longer counted their money by the thousands, but by the millions, 
 and finally hundreds of millions. 
 
 Compare Virginia prior to 1790 with what she was subsequent 
 to it. In 1755, Dinwiddle put the population, white and black, 
 at 230,000.^ Massachusetts had at least 240,000. In twenty 
 years, or thereabouts, the population of Virginia had increased to 
 420,000, while that of Massachusetts was but 360,000. The dis- 
 parity was still greater in 1790, when the census estimated the 
 inhabitants of Virginia at 747,610, and put those in the State of 
 Massachusetts at barely more than half this number, to-wit, 
 378,787; and yet the difference in the social relations of the 
 ■States was the same before as after 1790. 
 
 It is beyond the limits of this biography to go into the details 
 ■of the administrations of Washington and Adams. "Washington 
 yielded reluctantly to the high-stepping policy of the times. He 
 hated the bank, got Madison to draw up a veto of it,^ and only 
 gave his approval to its establishment at the last hour. Parties 
 became known under the names of Federalists and Eepublicans. 
 The former were continually brought more and more in sympathy 
 •with England. The Tories formed in the beginning a nucleus for 
 the party, and around them gathered those very respectable char- 
 acters who loved a strong government for its own sake. Then 
 add to these the multitude to whom the government was endeared 
 because of the fat contracts arising out of its administration ; also, 
 those virtuous men of the counti-y, like Marshall, whom Shays' 
 rebellion had frightened into a distrust of the people. Not- 
 withstanding subsequent disclaimers, there was certainly in the 
 States a large body of men in favor of monarchy, who, if circum- 
 stances had encouraged a little further, would have come out in 
 their true colors. Immediately the contest arose as to the powei'S 
 of the government. The Federalists were in favor of granting to 
 it the utmost latitude of action, denied the sovereignties of the 
 
 ^ Letter to the Lords of Trade, Dinwiddie Papers, i. p. 387. 
 ^ See, on this point, Eives' Madison, iii., p. 171. 
 
FEDERALISM VS. EEPUBLICAi^ISM. 165 
 
 States, revived the monarchical doctrine of perpetual allegiance, 
 made the common law a part of the Constitution, and found in the 
 general-welfare clause an authority sufiicient to make the rest of 
 the Constitution a mere work of supererogation. Ceremonies and 
 titles were affected, and the excesses of the French republicans 
 were used as an argument to prove the incapacity of the masses 
 to perpetuate an orderly government. The national executive, 
 legislature, and judiciary were aU in the hands of the Federalists ; 
 and for a time the current ran swiftly and strongly on to complete 
 consolidation. Great as the odds were against her, Virginia 
 boldly prepared to stem the tide. The Alien and Sedition Acts 
 afforded her an opportunity, from their manifest unpopularity 
 and unconstitutionality, to launch an effective blow against the 
 united powers. The celebrated Virginia Kesolutions of 1798-'99 
 hurled back with tremendous strength the centralizing tendencies, 
 and the election of Jefferson completed the victory of a State 
 over Congress. 
 
 The following letters fi-om William Grayson, one of the two 
 first senators from Virginia, and remarkable as much for his elo- 
 quence as for his keen understanding of the conflicting interests of 
 the South and !N"orth, manifest very forcibly the intense appre- 
 hensions prevailing in even the beginning of the controversy. 
 They were written to Patrick Henry from the first Congress 
 under the new Constitution, and I believe have never been pub- 
 lished before.^ One word is necessary in explanation of their 
 contents. The restrictions of England had driven the people of 
 the East from shipping, the old industry, into manufacturing. 
 The vested interests, thus induced, soon learned to regard, with 
 wholly differing eyes, the burdens under which the people had 
 lately groaned. To them they were blessings, which compelled 
 a support of England and the " British party " in America. The 
 result had been widely variant in Virginia, where, agricultural 
 facilities predominating, the duties on tobacco tended merely to 
 divert labor into the less remunerative channels of raising grain. 
 
 [William Gkayson to Patrick Henry.] 
 
 New York, 12tt June, 1789. 
 Dear Sir: I arrived here about three weeks ago, in very poor condition 
 indeed. I had had a very severe attack of the gout in February, and the 
 
 ' I am indebted to Hon. William Wirt Heni-y for these letters. 
 
166 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEBS. 
 
 consequences of it have distressed me extremely ever since. I am now afflicted 
 with a diarrhosa, though I hope I am on the mending hand. 
 
 Your agreeable favor was handed to me about a week ago. With respect 
 to the unmerited attacks on your character, I think they deserve nothing but 
 contempt on your part. You have certainly adopted the dignified line of con- 
 duct, and I trust and hope you will persevere in it. Nothing would please 
 the author so well as to enter into a literary altercation with you. He would 
 expect to aggrandize himself from the character of his competition. In my 
 opinion, such ill-founded, bad digested calumny ought to give you no manner 
 of uneasiness. Such kind of attacks on characters that are high in the public 
 estimation have been so frequent, and are so well understood, as not to deserve 
 a moment's attention. Env}' and detraction, says Mr. Addison, is a tax which 
 every man of merit pays for being eminent and conspicuous. I- observe what 
 you say respecting Mr. Martin, and shall pay the most pointed attention 
 thereto. I shall write you further on this subject, perhaps in a post or two. 
 
 With respect to the Spaniards, they certainly retain the Natches in their 
 possession, under the supposition of conquest from the British, as also the ex- 
 clusive right of navigating the river Mississippi. It is also certain they en- 
 courage emigration from the United States. The case of Colonel Morgan and 
 his associates, as also of several other persons to whom they have granted 
 passports on their agreeing to become British subjects, is directly in point. 
 It is true, also, that their descendants, settled on St. Mary's river, encourage 
 the negroes of Georgia in running away from their masters, and these unhappy 
 wretches they afterward send to the Savannah, where they are sold to a com- 
 pany who put them to work in their mines. This information I had from one 
 of the Senators of G-eorgia, who, moreover, told me that there were several 
 complaints of this nature now resting with the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, 
 for the purpose of obtaining redress of Gardoqui. With regard to this navi- 
 gation of the Mississippi, a gentleman who appears to have the confidence of 
 the President informed me, he was clearly of opinion he would never consent 
 to the surrender of this right to the Spaniards for a moment. I hope and ex- 
 pect that this may be the case. However, if this information should be thor- 
 oughly founded, it is ver}' different from active exertions towards procuring 
 the immediate use of it for the benefit of the citizens of the U. S. It is said 
 that Gardoqui will leave this place in the course of the summer, for old Spain; 
 but this may or may not be true. I presume the event will depend very much 
 on his negotiations with the new government. 
 
 With respect to the lands lying on the Mississippi, bounded by 31° north, 
 Georgia claims the whole, and I believe does not mean to surrender a foot to 
 the United States. This I consider as a very great misfortune, for if the gov- 
 ernment had a greater property in that quarter, and which they might dis- 
 pose of for the payment of the general debts, they would perhaps become 
 more interested in the fate of the Mississippi. The old Congress had their eye 
 on this territory, and threw out several baits for the people of Georgia and 
 North and South Carolina to induce them to make a surrender of lands ; the 
 latter were prevailed on to give up a portion, perhaps half as large as the 
 Northern Neck of Virginia. 
 
LETTEE OF WILLIAM GEAYSON. 167 
 
 I am exceedingly sorry it is out of my power to hold out to you any flatter- 
 ing expectations on the score of amendments ; it appears to me that both 
 houses are almost wholly composed of Federalists. Though they call themselves 
 Antis, they are so extremely luke-warm as scarcely to deserve the appellation. 
 Some gentlemen here, Irom motives of policy, have it in contemplation to ef- 
 fect amendments which shall affect personal liberty alone, leaving the great 
 points of the judiciary, direct taxation, etc., to stand as they are ; their object 
 is, in my opinion, unquestionably to break the spirit of the party by divi- 
 sions. 
 
 I presume many of the most sanguine, after this, expect to go on coolly in 
 sapping the independence of the State Legislatures. In this system, however, 
 of divide impera, they are opposed by a very heavy column from the lit- 
 -tle States, who, being in possession of rights they had no pretensions to in 
 justice, are afraid of touching a subject which may bring into investigation or 
 -controversy their fortunate situation. Last Monday a string of amendments 
 was presented to the lower House ; these altogether respected personal liberty, 
 and I would now enclose you a copy did I not know that Parker had done it 
 already. Even these amendments were opposed by Georgia, New Hampshire, 
 and Connecticut ; they were, however, submitted to a Committee of the Whole 
 ■on the state of the nation, and it is thought will not be taken up again for 
 -one while. I understood that the mover was so embarrassed in the course of 
 -the business that he was once or twice on the point of withdrawing the motion, 
 and it was thought by some that the commitment was more owing to personal 
 Tespect than a love of the subject introduced. 
 
 In the Senate, I think that propects are even less favorable, although no 
 •direct proposition has yet been brought forward. I have suggested to my 
 colleague the propriety of bringing forward the amendments of the State 
 before the Senate, but he thinks it will be best to wait till they come up 
 from the representatives. 
 
 Before my arrival I understood there was a great deal to do about titles. A 
 <iommittee of the Senate reported the propriety of giving the President the 
 -title of his Highness and Protector of the Liberties of America, and I have no 
 •doubt but this folly would have been committed, if the lower House had not 
 refused their assent to the measure. Since I came here a question has arisen 
 on application of the clerk for instructions to designate the members in his 
 ■entries on the journals. On this occasion, I did not fail to express my disap- 
 probation of titles as inapplicable to Republican governments. I believe 
 -there are about four other members who think with me on this subject. How- 
 •ever the point was carried for the present ; that is, it was agreed this was not 
 the time for investigation. The members are therefore known by the names 
 •of John, Thomas, and Henry, according to the caprice of their parents. 
 
 Inclosed you have the bill for the imposts, by which you will see there is a 
 great disposition here for the advancement of commerce and manufactures in 
 preference to agriculture. I have marked all the amendments made in the 
 Senate that I at present recollect. The bill with the amendments is now 
 before the lower House. Tou will easily perceive the ascendency of the Eastern 
 interests by looking at the molasses, which is reduced to two-and-a-half cents. 
 
168 LETTEES Ai^D TIMES OF THE TILEES. 
 
 while salt continues at six cents, and with an allowance of a drawhack tc 
 their fish, etc. 
 
 A bill was reported yesterday for arranging the judiciary, by which all the 
 States are thrown into districts and circuits. I have only heard it read once,, 
 and of course know but little about it ; but as it is very important, as soon as it 
 is printed I will send you a copy. Another bill is before the Senate for dis- 
 criminating between American shipping and foreign shipping, and between 
 foreign shipping in alliance with those not in alliance. I shall be extremely 
 obliged to you for your sentiments on the doctrine of discrimination. 
 
 There is a bill now depending before the lower House for the collection of 
 the revenue. The ports already agreed on, particularly in the Eastern States,, 
 will swallow up a great part of the revenue, and have no other good effect 
 except that of creating dependents on the new government. The raising 
 money by impost has been thought very favorably of throughout America. 
 I am, however, of opinion, that considering the extent of our coasts, and the 
 impossibility of preventing smuggling, that it will be found on experiment to- 
 be the most expensive mode of raising money that could have been devised. 
 Satisfied I am it will be particularly injurious to the Southern States, who do- 
 not and cannot manufacture, and must therefore pay duties on everything 
 they consnme. The cry here is raise everything this way; and to be sure 
 this is goud policy with the States east of Maryland; some of the other States- 
 join in tlie cry, not because it is their interest, but because they are afraid of 
 trying any other mode of taxation. An excise is talked of, also a stamp duty,, 
 and I believe seriously aimed at by a good many ; but whether there will be 
 found a majority in both Houses for this sort of business, is more than I can 
 pretend to determine. If the Antis have their uneasy sensations, in my 
 opinion the Federalists are not altogether on a bed of roses. The creditors of 
 the domestic debt (the great supporters of the new government) are now look- 
 ing steadfastly on their friends for a permanent provision for their interest. But 
 how is this to be accomplished ? The impost, after deductions for smuggling, 
 cutters, tide-waiters, searchers, naval officers, collectors, and controllers, etc., 
 will not yield, after supporting the expenses of government, more than will 
 pay the French and Dutch interest, if so much. What is then to be done ? 
 Ah! there is the question. 
 
 There are an infinity of people here waiting for offices — many of them have 
 gone home for want of money. This accounts for the great number of 
 patriots who were so very sanguine for the new government. It is certain a 
 hundredth part cannot be gratified with places ; of course ninty-nine will be 
 dissatisfied. There has been a most severe attack upon Governor Clinton. 
 He has been slandered and abused in all the public newspapers for these five 
 months by men of the first weight and abilities in the State Almost all the 
 gentlemen, as well as all the professional men in the State— as well as all the 
 merchants and mechanics — combined together to turn him out of his office ; he 
 has had nothing to depend on but his own integrity and the integrity of an 
 honest yeomanry, who supported him against all his enemies. He did me the 
 honor of a visit yesterday, and gave me such an account of his business as 
 shocked me. As this gentleman is the great palladium of Republicanism in 
 
LETTER OF WILLIAM GEAYSON. 169" 
 
 this State, you may guess at the situation of Anti-ism here, as he did not 
 carry the election by more than five hundred or six hundred. 
 
 Many gentlemen here are of opinion that the Federalists aim at a limited 
 monarchy, to take effect in a short time. This, however, I doubt extremely,, 
 except in the Eastern States, who, I believe, if the question was left to them,, 
 would decide in favor of one to-morrow. They say, they have no surety in 
 their fisheries, or in the carrying business, or in any particular privileges- 
 ■without a strong government. Is it not strange that monarchy should issue- 
 from the East ? 
 
 Is it not still stranger that John Adams, the son of a tinker, and the crea- 
 ture of the people, should he for titles and dignities and pre-eminencies, and 
 should despise the herd and the ill-born ? It is said he was the primum 
 nobile in the Senate for the titles for the President, in hopes that in the- 
 scramble he might get a slice for himself. The committee of the lower House- 
 have reported five thousand dollars for his salary, at which he is much of- 
 fended, and I am in great hopes the House will still offend him more by re- 
 ducing it. 
 
 June ISth. — Since writing the above, I have been informed that Col. Con- 
 nelly has been in the district of Kentuchi, and made offers (in case of their 
 effecting independence of the Union) of the assistance of the British to pro- 
 cure the navigation of the Mississippi. I am not at liberty to tell you my 
 authority, but I believe it to be true. Perhaps, you may have heard it 
 before. 
 
 I have also procured a copy of Col. Morgan's handbill inviting a settlement, 
 under the authority of Spain, at New Madrid, near the mouth of the Ohio, on 
 the Spanish side. A copy of this document I shall send you ia my next, un- 
 less I should have time to copy it before this goes off. One article, at all 
 events, it maybe not improper to send you at this time, to-wit : "All persons 
 who settle with me at New Madrid, and their posterity, will have the free 
 navigation of the Mississippi, and a market at New Orleans free from duties 
 for all the produce of their lands, where they may receive payment in Mexican 
 dollars for their flour, tobacco, etc." 
 
 I am sure I have fatigued you by this time. I shall therefore conclude, with 
 one request, which is, that, as I shall write you frequently, and in all proba- 
 bility make free with men, measures, characters, and parties, that our corres- 
 pondence may be perfectly confidential and forever confined to ourselves. 
 This letter will go safe by a private hand. When I write by post, it will be 
 on general subjects. I remain, with the most sincere regard, your affectionate 
 friend, William Gkayson. 
 
 [William Gkayson to Patrick Henry.] 
 
 New York, September 29th, 1789. 
 Dear Sir : I have received your favor, for which I am exceedingly thankful ^ 
 indeed I was very uneasy at not hearing from you, apprehending some in- 
 disposition might have prevented you. I remain still in a low state of health,, 
 but hope to get better from a cessation of business and from exercise. 
 
 The session is this moment closed, and the members would have parted ii> 
 
170 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 tolerable tempei-, if the disagreeable altercations on the score of the seat 
 of government had not left very strong impressions on the minds of the 
 Southern gentlemen ; they suppose with too much reason that the same 
 kind of bargaining which took effect with respect to the Susquehannah, may 
 also take effect in other great national matters, which may be very oppres- 
 sive to a defenceless naked majority. The bill has been ultimately defeated in 
 the Senate, and the point remains open, but gentlemen now begin to feel the ob- 
 servations of the Antis, when they informed them of the different interests in 
 the Union, and the probable consequences that would result therefrom to the 
 ■Southern States, who would be the milch cow out of whom the substance 
 would be extracted. If I am not mistaken, they will, e'er long, have abun- 
 dant cause to conclude, that the idea of a difference between carrying States 
 and productive States and manufacturing States and slave States is not a 
 mere phantom of the imagination. If they reflect at all on the meaning of 
 protective duties, by way of encouragement to manufactures, and apply the 
 ■consequences to their own constituents, I think they would now agree that 
 we were not total!}' beside ourselves in the convention. In my opinion, when- 
 ever the impost bill comes into action, the friends of the South will be let into 
 some secrets that they do not or will not at present apprehend. You would 
 be astonished at the progress of manufactures in the seven eastermost States, 
 if they go on in the same proportion for seven years, they will pay very little 
 on imports, while the South will continue to labor under the pressure. This, 
 -added to the advantage of carrying for the productive States, will place them 
 in the most desirable situation whatever. 
 
 With respect to amendments, matters have turned out exactly as I appre- 
 bended, from the extraordinary doctrine of playing the after-game ; the lower 
 House sent up amendments which held out a safeguard to personal liberty in 
 a great many instances ; but this disgusted the Senate, and though we made 
 every exertion to save them, they are so mutilated and gutted, that in fact 
 they are good for nothing ; and I believe, as many others do, that they will 
 do more harm than benefit. The Virginia amendments were all brought into 
 view and regularly rejected. Perhaps they may think differently on the sub- 
 ject the next session, as Rhode Island has refused for the present acceding to 
 the Con.stitution, — her reasons you will see in the printed papers. There are 
 a set of gentlemen in both Houses, who, during this session, have been for 
 pushing matters to an extraordinary length ; this has appeared in their at- 
 tachment to titles, in their desire of investing the President with the power 
 of removal from oifice, and lately by their exertion to make the writs run in 
 his name; their maxim seems to have been to make up, by construction, 
 what the Constitution wants in energy. 
 
 The judicial bill has passed, but Avears so monstrous an appearance that I 
 think it will be felo-de-se in the execution. The amendment of Virginia, re- 
 opening this matter, has more friends in both Houses than any other, and I 
 still think it probable that this alteration may be ultimately procured. 
 
 Whenever the Federal judiciary comes into operation, I think the pride of 
 the States will take the alarm, which, added to the difficulty of attendance, from 
 the extent of the district in many oases, the ridiculous situation of the venue 
 
HIGH TIDE OF FEDERALISM. 171 
 
 ^nd a thousand other circumstances, will in the end procure its destruction. 
 The salaries, I think, are rather high for the temper or circumstances of the 
 Union, aad furnish another cause of discontent to those who are dissatisfied 
 "with the government. 
 
 I have made every exertion in favor of Mr. Martin ; but there have been 
 ^uch representations against him, that I fear he will derive no benefit from 
 anything in my power to effect. With respect to the lands at the Natohes, 
 -they are unquestionably, according to prevailing ideas, the property of Geor- 
 gia; but the Spaniards are in the actual possession, and hold it by force. 
 ■Georgia some time ago offered tn cede a great part of their State, including this 
 territory, to Congress ; but the cession was so loaded, as they conceived, with 
 unreasonable conditions, that they rejected it. It is highly probable that the 
 present treaty will produce peace with the Creeks, and that excellent lands 
 may be procured reasonably on the Altamaha. If I can be of any service to 
 _you, in this or any other matter, your commands will be a pleasure. 
 I remain, with the highest respect. 
 
 Your affectionate friend and most obedient servant, 
 » William Grayson. 
 
 P. Henry, Esq., Prince Edward. 
 
 In resisting the tide of Federalism and monarchy, the Legisla- 
 ture of Yirginia was ably assisted by the State judiciary. They 
 had to contend with great odds, having to repel the formidable as- 
 saults of the Federal courts, with such men as EHiet and Marshall 
 as Chief Justices, holding their places for life, and Federalists to 
 the heart's core. Nevertheless, the great natural right of expatri- 
 ation was triumphantly maintained by them, and the compact of 
 the Constitution saved from strangulation by the common law. 
 No man had a greater hand in effecting this result than Judge Ty- 
 ler, as will be sufficiently seen as we progress. With stern independ- 
 ence, he and his associate judges of the Admiralty, James Henry 
 and Eichard Cary, had opposed the Constitution, and the Federal- 
 ists, in the general distribution of the offices, took, of course, es- 
 pecial pains to pass them by. Instead of appointing Judge Tyler as 
 judge of the District Court of Yirginia, which succeeded to the 
 functions of the old Admiralty Court, President Washington ap- 
 pointed Cyrus Griffin, late President of Congress and the Conti- 
 nental Court of Appeals, to preside " over my old office, because," 
 wrote Tyler to Jefferson, in 1810, "I was not for the new Federal 
 government without previous amendments, and, of course, could 
 not be trusted in the British debt cases. This kind of conduct be- 
 _gan the strong distinction which has embittered the cup of life, and, 
 in a great measure, produced a spirit of retaliation, when the Re- 
 
172 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLBES. 
 
 publicans prevailed; but the British influence had the best share- 
 of the above policy in the beginning, and so it has, at this time, in 
 almost all our measures." 
 
 The services of Judge Tyler, in bringing about the Annapolis 
 convention, certainly entitled him to better treatment; but there 
 was no lack of just such cases where the two first Presidents plainly 
 exercised the power of removal, notwithstanding the Federalists- 
 affected to regard their action as in contrast to Jefferson's. The- 
 judges of the Admiralty Court were, however, not neglected by 
 Virginia. In anticipation of the organization of the Federal 
 courts, they were transferred, in December, 1788, to the bench of 
 the General Court. As in the Kevolution, so after it, the "Brit- 
 ish influence" operated to very little extent in the Old Dominion.. 
 
 Reserving other particulars of Mr. Tyler's course in the judiciary 
 of the State for another place, I come now to consider his action 
 in relation to the assertion of a principle pronounced by Lord 
 Brougham " the greatest refinement to which any state of circum- 
 stances has ever given rise or to which any age has ever givea 
 birth." 
 
 The question whether the judiciary is justified in pronouncing- 
 void a legislative act contravening the Constitution, raises now no 
 difference of opinion; but in 1788 or thereabouts, the same unan- 
 imity did not exist. The settlement of the question was only an- 
 other victory won over the monarchical bias of the times. In 
 England there was no written constitution, and the judiciary has 
 to this day no power whatever to declare any act of the law-making 
 power inoperative. Parliament is omnipotent, and, as to the per- 
 petual convention of tlie sovereign people of England, it can have- 
 no law to itself but what it chooses to observe as such. Accord- 
 ingly, in Virginia, at this time, a disposition prevailed with a very 
 respectable class to ascribe a similar character to the Legislature. 
 Even Jeiferson leaned that way, while Madison was so blind to the 
 peculiar beauties of the principle of the conservative power of the 
 judiciary that, in the Federal convention, he saw no other way to 
 prevent the overthrow of the Constitution by State action than in 
 vesting the Senate of the United States with a power to negative 
 all State laws — a proposition more consolidating than any other 
 ever advanced. Mr. Jefi"erson was not as pronounced as Madison,, 
 but his opposition to the Virginia Constitution tended decidedly 
 
THE JUDICIARY QUESTION. 173 
 
 against the establishment of the true doctrine. Mr. Jefferson's 
 objections to this instrument dates from an early day. Edmund 
 Randolph says, in his MS. History of Virginia: 
 
 Mr. Jeffersoa, who was in Congress, urged a youthful friend ' in the con- 
 "vention (of 177B) to oppose a permanent constitution, until the people should 
 (elect delegates for the special purpose. He dcniud the power of the body 
 .elected (as he conceived them to be agents for the management of the war) to 
 .exceed some temporary regimen. The member alluded to communicated 
 the ideas of Mr. Jefferson to some of the leaders in the House — Edmund Pen- 
 dleton, Patrick Henry, and George Mason. These gentlemen saw no distinc- 
 ■tion between the conceded power to declare independence, and its necessary 
 consequence, the fencing of society by the institution of government. Nor 
 were they sure that to be backward in this act of sovereignty might not imply 
 z, distrust whether the rule had been wrested from the king. The attempt to 
 postpone the formation until a commission of greater latitude, and one more 
 ■specific, should be given by the people, was a task too hardy for an inexpe- 
 Tienced young man. 
 
 Such being the views of Mr. Jefferson, it seemed somewhat 
 inconsistent that he should afterwards submit to that convention, 
 whose authority he denied, a plan of a constitution.^ The adop- 
 tion of George Mason's, instead of his own, may have added zest 
 to his after efforts to secure a revision. Madison, his protege, 
 made continual efforts to get the Legislature to summon a new 
 ■convention; but every acknowledgment is due to his opponents 
 ior foiling him in this design as long as our institutions remained 
 yet in their infancy. Speaker Tyler and Patrick Henry cham- 
 p)ioned the Constitution, and, having a clearer insight into the 
 subject than either of "the critical and speculative gentlemen" 
 mentioned, saw that to destroy the old Constitution of 1776 was 
 not only to strike at the very root of our sovereignty as a State, 
 established under its sacred aegis, but to discredit and weaken the 
 great principle itself of the overruling power of the courts. It 
 was, principally, due to their efforts that the convention suggested 
 by Madison was not called, and that the Constitution of Mason — 
 the first written in the world — remained the constitution of the 
 State, unaltered in any particular, for a period of fifty-three 
 years. 
 
 In the meantime, the j udiciary question had arisen for consideration 
 in the courts. In 1782, upon the Attorney-General moving in the 
 
 ' Randolph, the "youthful friend," was at that time but nineteen. 
 - Eandall's Jefferson, i. p. 195. 
 
174: LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE 'JTLEES. 
 
 General Court that execution should be awarded on the judgment; 
 obtained by the Commonwealth against three persons convicted 
 of treason, the prisoners plead a resolution of the House of Dele- 
 gates pardoning their treason, and exempting them from all pains- 
 and penalties. The case ' being adjourned to the Court of Ap- 
 peals, the cause was argued by several distinguished gentlemen. 
 For the prisoners, it was contended that the act of 17T6, confin- 
 ing the pardoning power, in such cases, to the two Houses of the- 
 General Assembly, was contrary to the Constitution, and therefore 
 void, and that the House of Delegates, according to its terms, was- 
 the sole source of the same. But the court thought otherwise; 
 the constitutionality of the act of the Assembly was maintained,, 
 and the resolution of the House, without the concurrence of the 
 Senate, declared incomplete in law. Pendleton, the president of 
 the court, did not choose to regard the act of the House of Dele- 
 gates as indicative of an intention to usurp power, since, by send- 
 ing their resolution to the Senate for their concurrence, they 
 appeared to have suspended its operation until the concurrence of 
 the Senate could be obtained. He, therefore, only cautiously 
 touched upon the main question in dispute, alluding to it as a 
 "tremendous question," and expressing the hope that the wisdom 
 and prudence of the Legislature would prevent the disagreeable 
 necessity of ever deciding it. The great soul of George Wythe,, 
 the chancellor and member of the court, — a man deserving in 
 every way of the name Judge Tyler gave him of the " American 
 Aristides," — could not restrain itself. In a magnificent burst of 
 eloquence — rendered ten times more forcible than the celebrated 
 language of Coke to the king, by the exceeding purity of his 
 character — he cried: 
 
 Whenever traitors shall be fairly convicted by the verdict of their peers, 
 before the competent tribunal, if one branch of the Legislature, without the 
 concurrence of the other, shall attempt to rescue the offenders from the sen- 
 tence of the law, I shall not hesitate, sitting in this place, to say to the Gene- 
 ral Court, "Fiat justiHa, mat ccelum ;" and to the usurping branch of the 
 Legislature, "you attempt worse than a vain thing; for, although you cannot 
 succeed, you set au example which may convulse society to its centre." Nay . 
 more, if the whole Legislature — an event to be deprecated — should attempt to 
 overleap the bounds prescribed to them by the people, I, in administering the 
 public justice of the country, will meet the united powers at my seat in this 
 
 ^ Commonwealth t)«. Caton et al., p., 4 Call, pp. 5-21. 
 
THE JUDICIAEY QUESTION. 1Y5- 
 
 tribunal; and pointing to the Constitution will say to them, here is the limit 
 of your authority ; hither shall you go, but no further. 
 
 The next step presented itself in January, 17S8, when the Legis- 
 lature passed an act providing for District Courts, and imposing 
 upon the judges of the Court of Appeals the extra duties of judges 
 in the new courts. The Supreme Court of Appeals, at their suc- 
 ceeding April session, — present, Edmund Pendleton, Geoi-ge 
 Wythe, John Blair, Paul Carrington, Peter Lyons, William Flem- 
 ing, Henry Tazewell, Kichard Cary, James Henry, and John 
 Tyler, — considered the act a direct assault upon the independence 
 of the judiciaj-y, as asserted by the fifth article of the Bill of 
 Eights and the third of the State Constitution. They accordingly,, 
 in a most elevated and dignified remonstrance (which may be seen 
 in Fii'st Virginia Cases, p. 98, et se^.), protested against the invasion, 
 and maintained the authority of the court in language that seems 
 to soar on the wings of virtue : 
 
 " For vain would be the precaution," said they, " of the founders 
 of our government to secure liberty, if the Legislature, though re- 
 strained from changing the tenure of judicial ofiices, are at liberty 
 to compel the resignation by reducing salaries to a copper, or by 
 making it a part of the official duties to become hewers of wood 
 and drawers of water ; or if, in case of a contrary disposition, they 
 can make salaries exorbitant, or by lessening the duties render of- 
 ficers almost sinecures. The independence of the judiciary is in 
 either case equally annihilated." 
 
 Upon the reception of this remonstrance, the Legislature acted 
 in a manner worthy of their golden age. Called together by 
 proclamation of Governor Randolph, on the twenty-third of June, 
 1788, they promptly suspended the operation of their law ; and in 
 this acted a part all the more commendable, since it was directly 
 repugnant to the example set by Ehode Island a little time before. 
 In September, 1786, the Supreme Court of that State decided that 
 the recent act of the Legislature, emitting paper money, was un- 
 constitutional. For this the judges were arraigned before the 
 Legislature, and after a deal of disgraceful controversy, were dis- 
 charged from their offices in the following October. 
 
 The extra-session of the Legislature of Virginia, in June, 1788, 
 was speedily followed by the regular meeting in the fall. The 
 Assembly, seeking to obviate the constitutional difficulty, while 
 
176 LETTERS AST) TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 -they preserved the feature of District Courts, whose desirability 
 was universally recognized, made a new organization of the Su- 
 preme Court, and cut down the number of judges to five, who 
 were to be commissioned as such, and sit in that Court only. But, 
 once more they were guilty of an oversight. Under the old re- 
 gime, the judges of the Admiralty, General Court, and Chancery 
 Court were ex officio judges of the Supreme Court; and the direct 
 operation of the law amounted to the amotion from office of the 
 whole bench of the Supreme Court, and the appointment of new 
 judges in their places. Accordingly, at a session held in Kich- 
 •mond, on the fifth of March, 1789, the old Court of Appeals, — 
 present, Edmund Pendleton, George Wythe, John Blair, Peter 
 Lyons, William Fleming, James Mercer, Eichard Parker, Pichard 
 Cary, and John Tyler, — noticed this new invasion by record of 
 ^ourt. At the same time, cordially recognizing the salutary 
 character of the system recommended, they imitated the example 
 •of conciliation lately set them by the Legislature, and of their own 
 free will resigned their ofiices, declaring that while " they solemnly 
 protested against every invasion of the judiciary establishment, or 
 any deprivation of office in any other line than as pointed out in 
 the Constitution, they were willing to make any voluntary sacrifice 
 for the attainment of so desirable an object as the establishment 
 of courts which, by the expeditious administration of government, 
 will not only give that relief to suffering creditors, which has 
 already been too long withheld from them, but contribute much 
 to the increase of industry and improvement of the morals of the 
 people." ^ 
 
 Subsequently, the subject, in its collateral aspect of the validity 
 of the Constitution, came up in 1791. Hugh Dowdall was in- 
 dicted in the District Court of Dumfries for passing counterfeit 
 money against the form of an act of the convention of Virginia. 
 Found guilty by the jury, he tendered in arrest of judgment 
 .several reasons, — one being that "that said ordinance was passed 
 subsequent to the formation and passing of the Bill of Eights, 
 .and could not have the force of a law of the Legislature ;" and 
 another, that "the said convention were not delegated, authorized, 
 or empowered by the people to legislate for them generally, more 
 especially to make penal laws." The case being adjourned to the 
 ' See Cases of the Judges, i CftU's Eeports, p. 135. 
 
THE JUDICIARY QUESTION. 177 
 
 ^General Court, that body, represented by Judges Preiitis, Tyler, 
 Henry, and Koane, declared that "the indictment against the 
 prisoner is good and sufficient in law, and that the plea of the said 
 prisoner in arrest of judgment on the jury's verdict ought to be 
 •overruled."^ 
 
 But the General Court, in the celebrated case of Kamper vs. 
 Hawkins,^ for the first time met the judiciary question in all its 
 significance. In 1793, the Legislature passed an act reducing into 
 one the several acts concerning the establishment and jurisdiction 
 of the District Courts, and assigning to the judges of the General 
 Court, who sat in these courts, the power to grant and stay injunc- 
 tions, hitherto appertaining to Chancery jurisdiction alone. Ac- 
 cordingly, in the District Court of Dumfries, a motion being 
 made for an injunction to stay proceedings in the judgment ob- 
 tained at the last term by Mary Hawkins vs. Peter Kamper, Judge 
 Eoane, who presided, adjourned the case over to the General Court 
 "for novelty and difficulty." The case came up before this tribu- 
 nal November 16th, 1793, — present, St. George Tucker, John Ty- 
 ler, James Henry, Spencer Eoane, and William Nelson, Jr., judges. 
 The court delivered their opinions seriatim, and never did men ap- 
 pear in a more honorable light than did these intrepid and daunt- 
 less guardians of justice, when, in the name of Virginia, they 
 unanimously asserted the authority of the convention of '76, and 
 the overruling power of the judiciary; and declared the law null 
 and void, as plainly violatoiy of the Constitution, which required 
 that all Chancery judges should be elected by ballot, and receive a 
 commission from the governor. 
 
 The opinion of Judge Tyler was characteristic. The subject 
 touched him in a tender spot, and appealed to those feelings which 
 made him all American. It necessitated a recurrence to first prin- 
 ciples, and as the English law chanced to afford no clew, he felt 
 the importance of justifying, by a vigorous example, those pre- 
 cepts, of which he was a most persistent champion — of reliance 
 on native thought and of avoidance of foreign ideas, exhibited in 
 the courts at this time by an affectation of English forms, and 
 •constant resort to English authorities. He met the whole subject 
 with power and effect, and the practical sagacity of his views on 
 & then darkened question, as well as on the topic, incidentally 
 
 ■ 1 Virginia Cases, p. 8. ° Ibid., i., p. 20. 
 
 12 
 
1Y8 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 touched on, of the union in one hand of chancery and common 
 law powers, has received the indorsement of the universal thought 
 of the present day. He began by replying to all the objections- 
 to the Constitution of the State: 
 
 I am saved much trouble in the investigation of this case, by the gentle- 
 men whose opinions have been already delivered with so much propriety and 
 sound reason, as it respects the question of the validity of the Constitution, 
 
 It is truly painful to me to be under the necessity of saying anything in 
 support of it at this day ; but since I am reduced to this necessity, I must be 
 indulged with a few observations on the subject. 
 
 I know it has been the opinion of some critical and speculative gentlemen, 
 of considerable merit and abilities too, that our form of government was not 
 authorized by the people, inasmuch as no instructions were given by the peo- 
 ple to the convention at the time the Constitution was established. 
 
 To investigate this subject rightly, we need but go back to that awful 
 period of our country when we were declared out of the protection of the then 
 mother country — and take a retrospective view of our situation, and behold 
 the bands of civil government cut asunder, and destroyed ; no social com- 
 pact, no system of protection and common defence against an invading tyrant 
 — in a state of nature, without friends, allies, or resources. In such a case 
 what was to be done 1 
 
 Those eminent characters to whom so much gratitude is, and for ever will 
 be due — whose names are enrolled in the annals of America, recommended a 
 convention of delegates to be chosen for that purpose, who were to meet 
 together for the express design of completely protecting and defending the 
 rights, both civil and religious, of our common country. The delegates were 
 elected and convened. What power had the people, therefore, that was not 
 confided to their representatives ? All their rights, all their power, all their 
 happiness, all their hopes and prospects of success, were most indubitably 
 entrusted to their care. They were not betrayed. The people did not say 
 to their representatives, so far shall ye go and no farther. Happy, indeed, 
 for this country that no such restraint was laid on them. 
 
 In order to protect and defend the common cause, then, a system of social 
 duties was formed. Without this what obedience could have been expected, 
 and how could a regular defence have been made? 
 
 A greit variety of departments were established, and those who were to ex- 
 ecute them must have been made responsible to some regular power. And 
 all this was to complete the great work of liberty. 
 
 Has not this policy been sufiiciently ratified by time and action 7 And if it 
 were possible to doubt, under these circumstances, has it not been sealed with*, 
 the blood of this wide extended empire ? And shall its validity be now ques- 
 tioned ? For what purpose ? To revert back to our former insignificancy ? 
 It cannot be. 
 
 Before I proceed to say anything on the adjourned case now under contem- 
 plation, I will beg leave to make a few observations on the opinion that some 
 
JUDGE TYLEE's opinion ON THE JUDICIARY QUESTION. 179 
 
 gentlemen have taken up of the impropriety of the judiciary in deciding 
 against a law which is in contradiction to the Constitution. 
 
 A little time and trouble bestowed on this subject, I am sure, would enable 
 any person, endowed with common understanding, to see the fallacy of such 
 sentiments. 
 
 What is the Constitution but the great contract of the people, every indi- 
 vidual whereof having sworn allegiance to it? A system of fundamental 
 principles, the violation of which must be considered as a crime of the highest 
 magnitude. That this great and paramount law should be faithfully and 
 rightfully executed, it is divided into three departments, to-wit: the legisla- 
 tive, the executive, and judiciary, with an express restraint upon all, so 
 that neither shall encroach on the rights of the other. In the Bill of Eights 
 many things are laid dowo which are reserved to the people — trial by jury 
 on life and death, liberty of conscience, etc. Can the legislature rightfully 
 pass a law taking away these rights from the people ? Can the judiciary pass 
 sentence without a conviction of a citizen by twelve of his peers? Can the 
 executive do anything forbidden by this Bill of Rights or the Constitution ? 
 In short, can one branch of the government call upon another to aid in the 
 violation of this sacred letter ? The answer to these questions must be in the 
 negative. 
 
 But who is to judge of this matter ? The legislature only ' I hope not. 
 The object of all governments is and ought to be the faithful administration 
 of justice. It cannot, I hope, be less the object of our government, which has 
 been founded on principles very different from any we read of in the world, 
 as it has ingrafted in it a better knowledge of the rights of human nature and 
 the means of better securing those rights. And were I inclined to borrow. a 
 sentiment from any man in support of my opinion (not as authority, but 
 merely argumentative), I should make use of the following one from the 
 celebrated Hume, in his essay on government, viz: "We are therefore to 
 look upon all the vast apparatus of our government as having ultimately no 
 other object or purpose but the distribution of justice, or, in other words, the 
 support of the judges. King and parliaments, heads and armies, officers of the 
 court and revenue, ambassadors, ministers, and privy-counsellors, are all su- 
 bordinate in their end to this part of administration." Hence, it may reason- 
 ably be inferred, that if the Commonwealth itself is subordinate to this depart- 
 ment of government at times, so therefore will necessarily be the acts of the 
 legislature, when they shall be found to violate first principles, notwithstand- 
 ing the supposed " omnipotence of parliament," which is an abominable in- 
 sult upon the honor and good sense of our country, as nothing is omnipotent 
 as it relates to us, either religious or political, but the Ood of Heaven and our 
 Constitution ! 
 
 • I will not in an extra-judicial manner assume the right to negative a law ; 
 for this would be as dangerous as the example before ns; but if by any legal 
 means I have jurisdiction of a cause, in which it is made a question how far 
 the law be a violation of the Constitution, and therefore of no obligation, I 
 shall not shrink from a comparison of the two, and pronounce sentence as my 
 mind may receive conviction. To be made an agent, therefore, for the pur- 
 
1»0 LBTTBES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 pose of violating the Constitution, I cannot consent. As a citizen, I sliould 
 complain of it ; as a public servant, filling an ofiSce in one of the great depart- 
 ments of government, I should be a traitor to my country to do it. But the 
 violation must be plain and clear, or there might be danger of the judiciary 
 preventing the operation of laws which might be productive of much public 
 good. These premises being admitted, as I think they must, I will now draw 
 a comparison of the law before us with the Constitution. The Constitution 
 declares there shall be judges in Chancery, judges of the General Court, etc. ; 
 and the first question that occurs is this — Can the office of a judge in Chancery 
 and common law be rightfully vested in the same persons, provided the ap- 
 pointment be regular? To which I answer, I see no incompatibility in the 
 exercise of these offices by the same persons ; for although they be distinct of- 
 fices, possessing distinct powers, they do not necessarily blend and run together, 
 because they are placed in the same hands. The judge who knows the powers 
 and duties of both, will well know how to keep them apart, — like the rays of 
 the sun, they radiate from one common centre, and may run parallel for ever 
 without an interference. But to this an ingenious and subtle argument is 
 •offered, and taken from the seventeenth Article of the Constitution, wherein it 
 is directed, that when the judges of the General Court are impeached, the Court 
 of Appeals shall sit in judgment; but all other officers of the government 
 shall be impeached before the General Court. Therefore, the Constitution 
 meant to keep the offices distinct, in distinct bands, because it is possible that 
 they maj' try one another, and perhaps form a combination in favor of the 
 fraternity. This is too nice a deduction, and is a better argument in favor of 
 an amendment of the Constitution, than of the question under consideration. 
 We cannot supply defects nor can we reconcile absurdities, if any there be; 
 this must be done by the people ; and were we about the business of amend- 
 ments duly authorized, it might be well to consider this point. But I cannot 
 see why a judge in Chancery, if he be a judge also of the General Court, may 
 not be tried by the Court of Appeals ; for if he be convicted of such a crime, 
 as he ought to be displaced from office in either capacity, he would hardly be 
 allowed to hold the other ; nor do I see why the judges of the General Court 
 ■cannot try their brothers in Chancery. 
 
 The Legislature, having a knowledge of this case, chose to trust the powers 
 in our hands, as in the case of the High Court of Appeals, who possesses both 
 chancery and common-law powers, and are yet impeachable before the Gene- 
 ral Court, who ought not to have a stronger sympathy or fellow-feeling for 
 each other than for all the judges. In this case we find the same possible in- 
 convenience : but it is barely possible to suppose that justice and the law will 
 not be the object of a court's decision, let who will be the culprit or object of 
 trial. We find the county courts possessed of these powers ; and I do sup- 
 pose, if the doctrine contended for, on this point, was sound, they would not' 
 have been suffered to have rested, from the beginning of the Revolution to 
 this day, in those courts ; and, without arrogating much to ourselves, we may 
 be allowed to hope the trust would be at least as vpell executed in our hands. 
 I have nothing to say with respect to the policy of the measure ; that will 
 speak for itself; and, moreover, it belongs to the Legislature to decide. 
 
JUDGE TYLEe's opinion ON THE JUDICIAEY QUESTION. 181 
 
 The next inquiry we are to make brings us pointedly to the comparison of 
 the law now under contemplation and the Constitution; and how does it 
 stand ? The Constitution says that judges in Chancery shall be appointed by 
 joint ballot of both Houses of Assembly, and commissioned by the governor 
 during good behavior, and for the most valuable purposes — to secure the in- 
 dependence of the judiciary. Contrary to this expresss direction, — which 
 admits of no doubt, implication, or nice construction, — that bane to political 
 freedom, — the Legislature has made the appointment by an act mandatory to 
 the judges, leaving them not at liberty to accept or refuse the office conferred, 
 which is a right every citizen enjoys in every other case — a right too sacred 
 to be yielded to any power on earth. But were I willing to do it, as it relates 
 to myself, as a judge I ought not, because it would frustrate that most im- 
 portant object before mentioned, intended by the Constitution to be kept sa- 
 cred for the wisest and best of purposes, to- wit: that justice and the law be 
 done to all manner of persons, without fear or reward. 
 
 For how would the rights of individuals stand when brought in contest with 
 the public, or even an influential character, if the judges may be removed from 
 office by the same power which appointed them, to-wit, by a statute appoint- 
 ment as in this case, and by a statute disappointment as was the case in the 
 Court of Appeals. Might not danger be apprehended from this source when 
 future times shall be more currupt? and yet, thank Heaven, the time has not 
 arrived when any judge has thus degraded his office or dignity as a man, by a 
 decision governed by fear or any other base motive; and I hope a long time 
 will yet elapse before this will be the case. But our Constitution was made, 
 not only for the present day, but for ages to come, subject only to such altera- 
 tions as the people may please to make. Let me now compare the law and 
 the Constitution in the other point ; that of the want of a commission during 
 good behavior, and the reasons will fully or forcibly apply. When I receive 
 the commission, I see the ground on which I stand ; I see that my own integ- 
 rity is that ground ; and no opinions, but such as are derived from base motives, 
 can be sufficient to remove me from office — in which case, whensoever an ap- 
 peal is made to me by an injured citizen, I will do him justice, as far as my 
 mental powers will enable me to discover it, without any apprehensions of an 
 unjust attack — that if the proudest sovereign on earth was in contest with the 
 lowest peasant that creeps through this vale of sorrow, yet should the arm of 
 justice be extended to him also. 
 
 To conclude, I do declare that I will not hold an office which I believe to 
 be unconstitutional ; that 1 will not be made a fit agent to assist the Legislature 
 in a violation of this sacred letter; that I form this opinion from the convic- 
 tion I feel that I am free to think, speak, and act, as other men do upon so 
 great a question ; that as I never did sacrifice my own opinions for the sake 
 of popularity in the various departments I have had the honor to fill, how- 
 ever desirable popular favor may be, when obtained upon honorable principles ; 
 so now that I am grown old, I cannot depart from those motives which I have, 
 both in public and private life, made my standard. I concur, therefore, most 
 heartily with my brothers who have gone before in the last two points, that 
 the law is unconstitutional, and ought not to be executed ; the injunction 
 
182 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 therefore must be overruled, — and this opinion I form, not from a view of the 
 memorials, nor from writers, who knew not the blessings of free government, 
 but as they were seen and felt through the prospects of future times, — but 
 from honest reason, common sense and the great letter of a free Constitution." 
 
 The principle, thus eloquently affirmed by Judge Tyler and his 
 colleagues in the case of Kamper vs. Hawkins, received afterwards, 
 in 1801, the solemn sanction of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States.-' Mr. Call, in his comments upon the case of the Com7non- 
 vjealth vs. Caton et al., decided in 1782, pronounces it the first 
 case occurring in the United States in which this question came 
 under review ; and Mr. Kives, in his " Life and Times of Madi- 
 son," notes ^ with surprise that such standard writers on American 
 constitutional law as Story and Kent, while professing to trace 
 with minute accuracy the successive steps in its history, should 
 have overlooked the decisions pronounced upon it by the courts of 
 Yirginia, which undoubtedly led the waj' in the discussions and 
 settlement of the question upon the grounds on which it now rests 
 with general acquiescence. The oversight of Story and Kent is all 
 the more strange, since the case of Kamper vs. Hawkins attracted 
 universal attention at the time, and the opinions of the judges, in 
 connection with other interesting matter, were given to the public 
 in convenient book form the year following.^ 
 
 ^ Marbury «s. Madison, 1 Craneh, 137. ■' Eives, ii., p. 26, note 2. 
 
 ' One of these Uttle works, "Presented to Judge Tyler by 'VVilLiam Tatham," 
 lies before me. It is described as compiled by a "gentleman of the bar," doubt- 
 less the donor, and printed in ITIU, at Philadelphia, by A. McKenzie & Co., No. 
 126 South Front Street. Besides the opinions of the judges in the case of Kamper 
 lis. Hawkins, it contains the " Keiuonstrsnce of the Supreme Court of Appeals" in 
 1788, the Bill of Kights, and the State Constitution, to which is added the Con- 
 stitution of the United States, prefaced by the following advertisement : 
 " Adveetisement. 
 
 "Although this case is a contest between two individuals in its origin, yet, con- 
 sidering it as one which involves the dearest rights and interests of the community 
 by its creating a ground of nice and criticnl enquiry between the legislative and 
 judicial departments of the particular State, and taking into view the extensive 
 field of law learning (into which the respective judges of the General Court have 
 advanced with very sound and able arguments), as one applying not only to the 
 respective States, but to the correlative departments of the Federal government, 
 the editor has thought it proper to annex hereunto the Constitution of the United 
 States."' 
 
 The " Wilham Tatham," to whose kindness to Judge Tyler I am indebted for 
 the copy in my possession, is humorously alluded to in George Wythe Munford's 
 "Two Parsons," p. 212. He was at one time a man of influence and position. 
 
DEATH OF HENKY. 183 
 
 Political feeling grew more and more embittered as the 
 eighteenth century drew to its close. Party spirit ran mountains 
 high ; and the Alien and Sedition Acts made the old patriots be- 
 lieve that monarchy — an evil only to be equalled by tlie end of all 
 things — was nigh. Certain it was, there were many questionable 
 schemes on foot to perpetuate the rule of the "aristocrats," which 
 found their consummation in Adams' "midnight appointments," 
 and the disgraceful attempt, favored by him, to betray the nation 
 into the clutches of Aaron Burr. The victory of Jefferson over the 
 machinations of his enemies made him an idol in the eyes of the 
 Kepublicans, who trembled for the fruits of the Revolution. The 
 important points of constitutional construction brought before the 
 courts, excited in the breast of Judge Tyler a keen interest in the 
 political world ; and after a manner he lived over his career in the 
 Legislature in the person of his nephew, Samuel Tyler, who was 
 a member of the same in 1798-99, and voted for the celebrated 
 Virginia Kesolutions. Samuel Tyler afterwards became one of the 
 lights of the Virginia bench, and died in the high office of Chan- 
 cellor, in the year 1812. 
 
 Judge Tyler's fi-iend, the illustrious Henry, died in June, 1799. 
 Alarmed at the French excesses in Europe, Henry, at the special re- 
 quest of Washington, who had previously offered him the post of 
 Chief Justice, had come out, shortly prior to his death, in defence 
 of the Alien and Sedition Laws, and had grown vastly popular with 
 those who had hitherto spared no pains to detract from him. Thus, 
 many of his old friends fell from him in his old age. But Judge 
 Tyler, with all his warm feelings in behalf of popular principles, 
 was too sincere in his friendships to allow them to be shaken by 
 political heats. From the faded MS. of Judge Tyler to William 
 Wirt, I decipher the following in allusion to Henry : 
 
 It seems that the close of his life was clouded in the opinion of many of 
 his friends, supposing that he was attached to the aristocratic party ; but 
 however much he might have [erred in] his opinions in his aged and infirm 
 state, [I felt it] impossible he could be an aristocrat. [His conceptions] were 
 too well fixed; his love [of liberty grew] always tenfold [stronger], I lament 
 that I could not see him [before he died] ; he sent me a message expressing 
 his desire to satisfy me how much he had been misrepresented. "Men might 
 differ in ways and means, and yet not in principles," said he. ' 
 
 ' The words in brackets mine ; manuscript obliterated where they occur. A 
 portrait of Patrick Henry, the gift of the orator to Judge Tyler, was long pre- 
 
184 LETTEES AITD TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 served in the latter's family. In 1862, the silver and valuables at " Sherwood! 
 Forest," the residence of President Tyler, were removed for greater safety to Eich- 
 mond, where, on the conflagration of the city, in 1865, they perished. The por- 
 trait of Henry was among the things destroyed. A lithograph copy, however, is 
 preserved by Hon. William Wirt Henry in Kichmond, as also is another, I believe,, 
 by the family of the late Hugh Blair Grigsby, LL. D. 
 
OHAPTEK VI. 
 
 1800—1808. 
 
 '* I have sexen more children, three of them sons, whom I am educating, but at a great 
 cost, which almost exhansts me, together with riding over the country half my time, for a- 
 paltry salary, neglecting ray little fortune at home and my profession. But one knows 
 not how to avoid j'ielding to the call of a country he loves, however weak may he his 
 efforts to serve it."— John- Tylkk, Sb., (1S04). 
 
 Me. Ttlek as Judge of the Genekal Coxjkt. — Geeenway. — Patbick Henbt and 
 Wat Ttleb. — Deaths of Mes. Tylee and Anne Contesse Semple. — Pophlaeitx 
 of Judge Tylee. — John Tylee, Second Son of Judge Tylee. — Anecdotes of- 
 His Childhood. — Entees College. — Lettees of His Fathee on Expateia- 
 tion. — Geaduates at Seventeen. — Studies Law. — Coeeespondence of Judge 
 Tylee with Peesident Jeffeeson. 
 
 THE General Court was tlie supreme criminal tribunal in Vir- 
 ginia, the Supreme Court of Appeals possessing only civil 
 jurisdiction. At the first organization of this court, in October, 
 1777, it consisted of five judges, but the number continually in- 
 creased until, in 1830, there were as many as twenty. The juris- 
 diction originally appertaining to the court was varied and ex- 
 tensive, embracing all matters at common law. The delays in- 
 separably incident to its constitution led to the establishment of 
 District Courts, by act of 22nd of December, 1788, which consider- 
 ably lessened its business. The General Court, by the act of 25th 
 of December, 1788, was made to consist of ten judges, and they 
 were made judges of the District Courts. Each district consisted 
 of several counties. Two judges were to sit in each District Court 
 according to semi-annual allotments. Questions of law in civil 
 cases might be adjourned to the General Court, and there decided, 
 and writs of mandamus might issue from it to the District Courts. 
 The District Courts remained until February, 1808, an important 
 feature in the political system of the State. In that year they 
 were abolished ; and Circuit Courts, or Superior Courts of Law in 
 each county of the State, substituted in their stead. The General 
 Court was not abolished until the year 1852. 
 
186 LETfEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEKS. 
 
 For twenty years Judge Tyler uninterruptedly performed the 
 duties of a judge of the General Court of Virginia. The life of 
 a judge is ordinarily as even and as nniform as the law he makes 
 his guide. He may sit an interested spectator, and observe the 
 agitations which toss hither and thither the politician and the 
 statesman, but it is very rarely the case that those agitations invade 
 the serenity of his own tribunal. There the calm and tranquil 
 ^aspect of justice bids the elements be still, and the life of the 
 judge glides along, affording no exciting materials for history, but 
 thrice blessed in the manifold benefits diffused by him, in the just 
 discharge of his functions, upon all society. Such, in its generality, 
 Tvas the tenor of Judge Tyler's life in the State judiciary. It may 
 be, therefore, dismissed with but few further remarks. 
 
 It is true that, in a new government like ours, based upon entirely 
 jiew principles and ideas of human right, the office of the judge in 
 the first part of the century was exposed to far more disturbance 
 ihan in other and older countries. Storms indeed did assail Judge 
 Tyler in his office, and we have seen with what high moral courage 
 he and his associate judges vindicated, against the usurpations of 
 the legislative branch of the government, the independence of the 
 ■courts. There were occasions, also, not a few in number, when 
 the State judges were called upon to repel with equal intrepidity 
 the invasions of the courts of the Federal government, in their 
 monstrous pretensions to a universal common law jurisdiction. In 
 all these scenes the soul of Judge Tyler never quailed, and on the 
 bench of the General Court, as in after days on that of the Dis- 
 trict Court of the United States for Virginia, measuring his powers 
 by the side of Chief-Justice Marshall, he repelled with an un- 
 daunted hand the encroachments, from whatever direction they 
 proceeded, upon the State and Federal Constitutions, the rights of 
 the individual and the liberties of the people. Wlien the General 
 Court convened, with such men as John Tyler, St. George Tucker, 
 Henry Tazewell, and Spencer Roane as judges presiding, the fire 
 that burnt upon the altar sent the most cheering ray__into the hearts 
 of the afflicted and oppressed. From his high tribunal Judge 
 Tyler loved to encourage young men just beginning the practice 
 of the law With gentle words and kindly admonitions. Call, in his 
 Sketches of the Judges of the Supreme Court, says, " He was very 
 attentive to young lawyers upon their first coming to the bar, and 
 
18T 
 
 •did everything in his power to put them at ease and inspire them 
 "with confidence. His conversation was familiar, his heart benevo- 
 lent, his friendship sincere." President Tyler has given a pleasing 
 instance, received from the lips of the celebrated lawyer, John 
 Wickham, of this disposition of the Judge to lighten the embar- 
 rassment of young men at the bar.' 
 
 Judge Tyler's duties, under the law for District Courts, called 
 him all over the State. Wherever he went, he carried his cheerful 
 ■disposition with him. ISTow he held his court at Suffolk, in the 
 •eastern part of the State, and now at Winchester, in the west ; and 
 though these journeys, as a judge of assize, had their annoyances 
 and fatigues, they had their pleasures also, in the many joyful 
 faces that waited everywhere his coming, and the warm hands that 
 pressed his own, and welcomed him to the hospitality of their 
 homes. Modern notions may affect to sneer, but there was never 
 known in the history of the world a more pure, happy, and joyous 
 -society than that which existed in the State at this time. 
 
 The Judge kept up his habit of rhyming to the last, and his old 
 MS. poetry book was often taken out to jot down some sudden 
 fancy. My eye lights on a poem dated " May 10, 1805, Fredericks- 
 burg District Court," entitled " On seeing a lady walking in her 
 .garden in a melancholy mood not long after the loss of her hus- 
 band." In his verses, which my limited space finds too long to 
 insert entire, he undertakes to cheer the dejection of Delia, ad- 
 vises her to " cease her walks of solitude," check " the heaving 
 sigh and melancholy tear," and look to "future prospects," full 
 ■of joy. 
 
 " 'Tis time that face should now again display 
 Those smiles which once did such light bestow." 
 
 He even composes in mind on the august bench itself. " Sit- 
 ting on the bench at Brunswick," he applies to his own case the 
 lesson suggested to Delia: 
 
 " Twelve months have passed sinpe I was here, 
 Po quickly time runs on ; 
 Where I may be another year — 
 To Heaven is only known. 
 
 " Since, then, my days must pass away, 
 And all my joys decline, 
 
 ' In his Lecture on "Kiohmond and its Memories." See next chapter, p. 222. 
 
188 LETTEES AND TIME8 OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 My life shall be one holiday — 
 My future bliss divine.'' 
 
 Sickness befalls him in his travels, — the " sufferings of the soul,"' 
 the "excessive pain." Philosophy is in vain essayed; reason, pa- 
 tience, " all yield to torments which seem beyond control." In 
 this hour of agony he feels the " balm " which true friendship be- 
 stows upon the distressed. In a poem, addressed " To a lady in 
 w-hose house I was taken very ill, and received singular attention. 
 and kindness," he pours out his blessing upon her household and. 
 family. 
 
 So universal a favorite was Judge Tyler, that he was made in' 
 the course of his career the guardian of twenty-one children, whom 
 he saw settled and promoted in life. These, with his own band 
 of children, did indeed make Greenway a bird's nest full of 
 young. What merry scenes there were — what sweet rejoicings — 
 when the Judge, returning from his circuit, would again approach 
 the confines of his home ! How his neighbors hailed his coming, 
 and crowded to pay their respects to one they so deeply loved 
 and revered! A large, spreading willow stood in front of the 
 mansipn, and there, when the season permitted, the host sat for- 
 hours conversing with his friends, reading his law books, or the 
 Gazette and Enquirer; and there his wards and his children ga- 
 thered about him, to drink in the sweet strains of his violin or- 
 listen to his vivid relation of Revolutionary events. Two lines of 
 cedars swept from the gate to the door of the house, while back, 
 on either side, receded the fields of corn, of pasture, of wheat and 
 tobacco.^ Through the green and shady avenue, how often th& 
 
 ' Green-n-ay, the home of Judge Tyler, probably deserves a more extended no- 
 tice than the text gives. Such a notice is given, in a very business-like and 
 characterietic manner, by the Judge himself. It appears that, in 1805, he enter- 
 tained the idea of selling his estate and moving to Williamsburg, -where his sons, 
 Wat and John, had been put to college. The following is the advertisement 
 -which he inserted in the Enquirer at the time : 
 
 \_Fro7n the Richmond Enquirer, of tieptember 15, 1805.] 
 Fob Sale on Private Contract, 
 Green-way, the seat on which 1 now reside, including Mons-Sacer and the Court- 
 house tenement, containing in all 1,200 acres of fertile, level farming land (re- 
 serving one acre of consecrated ground). The -whole is bounded by two navigable 
 creeks, emptying into James river before the door and forming a bay, therefrom 
 1,400 yards only; 25 miles to Petersburg by -water, 30 to Kichmond by land, and 
 28 to WiUiamsburg. The Court-house tenement has on it a large insured tavern,- 
 
GEEENWAY. 189 
 
 ligh-mettled horse, that conveyed on his back some merry visitor, 
 dashed, witli arching neck and elastic tread, from the gate to 
 
 with six rooms, one of which is 32 feet by 20 in length and breadth, arched in the 
 middle, and used for entertainments : also, all necessary out -houses, a good garden, 
 and a fine well of water, dry cellars, stores, etc., for the use of a commercial 
 business, which are now occupied to advantage in that line. This is au excellent 
 place for stock, fish, and fowl in their seasons ; and enough of corn, wheat, and 
 oats may be made, by common industry, for the consumption of the tavern. This 
 tenement has 200 acres of land annexed to it, and rents for £100 a year. 
 
 Geeenway contains ."iOO acres, well improved. On it is a genteel, well finished 
 dweUing-honse, containing six rooms, all wainscoated, chair-board high, with fine 
 dry cellars the full length of the house, which is 56 feet; also every other buildiug 
 which a reasonable person could wish or desire, to-wit : a handsome study, store- 
 house, kitchen, laundry, dairy, meat-house, spinning-house, and an ice house 
 within the curtelage ; a barn 40 by 34 feet, two granaries, two carriage houses, 20 
 stalls for horses, a quarter for house-servants ; a handsome octagon pigeon-house, 
 well stocked; and several other houses for slaves; a well of water (so excellent 
 that I can drink it with delight after returning from a mountain circuit) ; a large, 
 fertile garden, abounding with a great variety of shrubs, herbs, and beautiful 
 flowers, well enclosed. The buildings new and well covered with shingles. 
 
 JIons-Sacee contains 500 acres more or less, ou which is a neat, small dwelling, 
 a mill begun on a never-faiUng stream, one mile from James river and emptying 
 itself therein. This farm is remarkably level and highly improvable, is in a fine 
 -settlement for wheat and timber, so that the manufacturiug business may be car- 
 ried on to great advantagf , as also the sawing of timber, now so much in demand. 
 About half this estate, inclusive, is under fine fire wood and timber, and scarcely 
 a gall nor a wash on any part of it. The ague and fever has not visited a white 
 person for twenty yens that I recollect. In short, there cannot well be conceived 
 a more agreeable situation in aU respects than this estate taken together. 
 
 tTiopiA I will also dispose of. This little estate lies in James City county; is 
 an island, airrounded by navigable water, near the mouth of the Chickahominy 
 river, containing 746 acres of high land and hard marsh, sufhoient for the support 
 -of 1,000 head of cattle in the month of May. The high land is rich, and produces 
 four and five baiTels of com to the acre. There are 100 acres of good timber ad- 
 joining the same. In the centre of this island is a very handsome hill, on which 
 a small but comfortable dwelling is built, affording a fine prospect over James 
 river for many miles. Here every necessary of life can be had, and many of its 
 luxuries, with little trouble . It overflows with milk and honey, when sufficient 
 stock is furnished to go upon it. It is remarkable for fine fruit, as the frosts seldom 
 or never affect it ; and no place in Virginia surpasses it for fish and wild fowl. 
 Trom this place quantitiee of hay might be transported by water to Kichmond, 
 Norfolk, or Petersburg. 
 
 Any kind of public securities will be taken for the above property ; or, if more 
 agreeable to the purchaser or purchasers, I will receive part in cash and the bal- 
 ance at convenient periods. Thirty or forty slaves and stocks of every kind may 
 be had if the estate is purchased all together. My lands on Clear Creek, Big 
 Licking, and Triplet, in Kentucky, I will also sell, or exchange for property in 
 Tlichmond. 
 
 It may be now enquired, why I should, in an advanced stage of life, part with 
 
190 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEKS. 
 
 where Judge Tyler sat, — it may be under the famous old willow,, 
 or it may be at the window of his office, whose shelves were well 
 stocked with the formidable tomes of that day. Nor was the- 
 Judge to be left behind by any gay riding visitor in the character 
 of the horses that he kept in his stable. He could point them to 
 his imported horses, Pantaloon and Komulus, whose pedigrees, in 
 spite of the democratic proclivities of their master, were alarm- 
 ingly " aristocratic," and which, like all Virginians, he prided in 
 keeping accurate and positiv^ely authentic. That the Judge shared 
 fully in the noted Virginia weakness (or virtue) for iine horses is- 
 attested by the following letter to his son-in-law : 
 
 [To Thomas E. Waggaman.J 
 
 EicHMOND, January lith, 1809. 
 
 Dear Sir: I received your letter by Mr. Barron, desiring a pedigree of 
 Sunbeam, which I thought you had with you, but which I have enclosed. I 
 received Patsy's also, and shall answer them soon. Mr. Lewis would pay no- 
 money for you, as Mrs. Byrd says; so be prepared, as she is a. Jine lady, and 
 will not like to be bamboozled. S. Tyler will soon pay me or Mrs. Byrd $260' 
 for Mrs. Noby, and get a bill. In a few days it will be known, and you shall 
 be notified of it. 
 
 Pill-Box is the dam to Sunbeam (who was by Saturn, the high-bred English 
 horse) , and to Chanticleer and Doctor, two horses of superior speed and bottom . 
 Chanticleer was supposed to be the best horse ever received in Virginia. Pill- 
 Box was by my imported horse Pantaloon, whose mares are in the highest re- 
 pute of any in the State. Pill-Box was full-blooded on every side, and of the- 
 Traveller and Jolly Eazor stock. 
 
 My love to all. Yours &c., John Tyier. 
 
 To Thomas E. Waqgaman, Nashville, Tenn. 
 
 Among the visitors that received the hospitalities of Green- 
 way were often gentlemen of distinction from a distance. Judge 
 Henry Tazewell, who became Senator of the United States, and 
 whose genius was to blaze out again in his son, Littleton Waller,, 
 
 an estate so convenient and agreeable in all respects. In the first place, in a little 
 time I shall be compelled by the unerring voice of nature to " quit this mortal' 
 coil," and it is right I should so adjust all my matters as to leave nothing for liti- 
 gation after my death. My years of regret will be, therefore, but few on that score. 
 Secondly, it is the best mode I can adopt for a fair division of what I possess- 
 among my children. And lastly, I am desirous of obtaining a situation more con- 
 venient and cheap for the education of my sons, which the savings from a narrow,, 
 parsimonious salary, and the profits arising from a much neglected estate, in eon- 
 sequence of my attention to public duties, can never support. 
 
 August 24. ^ John Tylee. 
 
 No sale, however, took place ; and Greenway continued to be the abode of the- 
 family until after Judge Tyler's death. 
 
JUDGE SPENCEE ROANE. 191. 
 
 the latter a man of acquirements and talents not surpassed b}' any 
 of the national lights — often crossed the threshold of Judge Ty- 
 ler's home. Judge Spencer Roane, himself one of the greatest 
 ornaments of the American judiciary, whose friendship for Judge 
 Tyler had begun on the floor of the Legislature, to be continued 
 undiminished for thirty years, came frequently. The eloquent 
 Hardy' came, and Patrick Henry; and when, in 1788, the Judge's 
 
 ' Samuel Hardy was a Congressman from Virginia, whose early death extin- 
 guished the most brilliant expectations. He died suddenly while a representative, 
 and the Legislature was called upon to do suitable honor to his memory. The fol- 
 lowing letter and poem of Judge Tyler set forth his character in the noblest colors, 
 and do honor to Mr. Tyler's benevolence of heart : 
 
 [John Ttlf.k to Pateiok Henby.] 
 
 Sunday Morning, Dec. 5th, 1785. 
 Slr : I received your favor, with the enclosed papers relative to the funeral of 
 our much lamented friend, Mr. Hardy, and acn of opinion his relatives should not 
 be made acquainted with the circumsi ances any farther than the manner in which 
 he was honored by his country. His father has been much injured by the war ; 
 his family is large, and such a sum as £150 would distress him greatly, as I know 
 he would most certainly encounter any difficulty rather than not pay it. 
 
 Surely a country blest with so great and good a man, both in public and in pri- 
 vate life, can never hesitate to discharge the expenses incurred by their orders. 
 
 'Tis a tribute justly due to genius and merit, that it would be a fault to pass by 
 unpaid; moreover, when we consider the principle to be truly republican, and 
 holding out inducements to the good and great, however indigent, to step forth iu 
 the public councils. I am with sincere respect. 
 
 Your Excellency's most humble servant, 
 Si^ Excellency, Gov. Henry. John Tylek. 
 
 October 18, 1785. 
 "Ah ! why, my soul, indulge this pensive mood? 
 Hardy is dead : the brave, the just, the good. 
 Careless of censure, on his youthful bier 
 The muse shall drop a tributary tear. 
 His patriot bosom glowed with warmth divine. 
 And oh, humanity ! his heart was thine. 
 No party interest led his heart astray ; 
 He chose a nobler, though less beaten way ; 
 Nor shall his virtues, then, remain unsung- 
 Pride of the Senate, and their guide his tongue. 
 That tongue no more can make e'en truth to please — 
 Pohte with art, and elegant with ease — 
 Fain would the muse augment the plaintive strain ; 
 Tho' the most flattering panegyric's vain. 
 When the brief sentence, 'youthful Hardy's dead,' 
 Speaks more than poet ever thought or said. " 
 [Note by the Judge.— These lines were written on the death of Samuel Hardy 
 Esq., late Member of Congress from Virginia. 
 
"192 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 eldest son, Wat Henry Tyler, was christened, Mr. Henry, wlio was 
 present, nervously asked "Why that name was selected?" To 
 which the proud mother replied: "We have so named him, sir, 
 after the two greatest British rebels — Wat Tyler and Patrick 
 Henry." Thither came also the historian of Virginia, John Daly 
 Bnrk, a young man of brilliant genius and imposing manners. He 
 was an Irishman, who had fled a fugitive from his native country 
 during the outrages and horrible atrocities perpetrated by the 
 English at the close of the eighteenth century, to subdae an in- 
 surrection which only wanted a little of restoring Ireland to free- 
 dom and independence. 
 
 Sitting one day on the steps of Trinity College in Dublin, he 
 observed several soldiers, leading to execution an unfortunate man, 
 who had been convicted of being concerned in the insurrection. 
 The hot blood of Burk caught fire at the sight, and calling upon 
 his fellow-students to follow him, he dashed to the rescue. The 
 arrival of the police prevented the rescue of the prisoner, and 
 Burk was pursued and compelled to fly for his life. Closely beset, 
 he entered the house of an acquaintance, a Miss Daly, an elderly 
 maiden lady, whom he immediately apprised of his situation. 
 With remarkable readiness, she so disguised him as to enable him 
 to escape by a back-way without recognition, while Burk's dog 
 kept the soldiers from the gate. Soon after Burk embarked for 
 America, assumed out of gratitude Miss Daly's name as his middle 
 name, and, landing in Boston, edited a newspaper. It happened 
 that his partner in the newspaper business was obnoxious to Presi- 
 dent Adams, while the Irish refugees — among whom, to say nothing 
 of Burk, were such distinguished men as Thomas Addis Emmet, 
 afterwards Attorney General of New York, O'Connor, McISTevin, 
 and Samson — were especially objects of governmental vengeance. 
 It was hinted to Burk that Adams intended to hand him over 
 to the British, who had a man-of-war in harbor, and would have 
 hanged him in half an hour. Accordingly, he escaped to New 
 York, where he wrote plays, and edited a paper. President 
 Adams went to see one of Burk's plays, called the "Battle of 
 Bunker's Hill," and became dreadfully offended at the Kepublican 
 sentiments of the same. He had a libel instituted against him 
 under the Alien and Sedition Laws; and Burk fled to Virginia, 
 where he met the warm reception of a martyr to tyranny. Thus 
 it was that he drifted to Greenway. 
 
JOHN D. BUEK. 193 
 
 Bark's manner was lofty and his actions and language impulsive. 
 He was a warm Republican, and deeply sympathized with Jeffer- 
 son's administration. His permanent residence was in Petersburg ; 
 and one day in 1808, news arriving of some fresh outrage, perpe- 
 trated on our commerce by the French, Burk, who was sitting at 
 a public table, incensed at the information, declared that "the 
 whole French nation were a pack of rascals." A Frenchman, by 
 the name of Coquebert, chanced to sit near, and hearing the 
 remark of Burk, demanded, in a tone that precluded explana- 
 tion, whether it was the intention of Burk to insult him. The 
 latter pretended not even to know the Frenchman, and impa- 
 tiently refused all explanations. The result was a duel. At the 
 first " fire," the pistols snapped and would not go off. Another 
 round was tried, when Burk was shot through the heart and ex- 
 pired immediately. The Frenchman, leaping on his horse, fled 
 the place and was never heard of more. 
 
 Burk's sudden death prevented him finishing the history, which 
 he had undertaken, of Virginia. It was afterwards taken up by 
 Skelton Jones' and Louis H. Girardin, and brought down in a 
 fourth volume to the close of the Revolution. The work is too 
 well known to need comment. It evinces genius of the liighest 
 order, and the Irishman fully repaid Virginia for the kind asylum 
 afforded him. 
 
 Burk was a delightful companion, and greatly superior to Poe 
 in the useful art of application, though inferior to him as a poet ; 
 yet he wrote superior poetry, and his history evinces originality, 
 and great and luminous powers of thought. While visiting G-reen- 
 way, he would often recite his verses when he came down to 
 breakfast in the morning, and President Tyler, who was then a 
 boy, used to describe, with inimitable humor, how, when Burk 
 wonld get to the most affecting part of liis effusion, the old house- 
 keeper, Mrs. Bagby, a very worthy but ve^y practical old lady, 
 would invariably give a prolonged sneeze, whose effect was to 
 completely demolish the sentiment of the poet and provoke a 
 more than audible smile on each face. At another time, Burk, 
 being at Weyanoke, asked a young lady to play on a little 
 organ then fashionable. Thus requested, the young lady com- 
 
 I Jones fell in a duel also, and the work was finally concluded by CSirardin. 
 13 
 
194 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLBES. 
 
 plied, and, having concluded what was really a meritorious per- 
 formance, waited modestly for the applause. 
 
 "Madam," said Burk, in his lofty manner, "Madam, you grind 
 admirably." 
 
 In 1813, the stepson of Burk, Dr. Henry Curtis, married Chris- 
 tiana, Judge Tyler's youngest daughter. Burk's only son by his 
 marriage to the widow Curtis, of Boston, was Junius Burk, late a 
 distinguished judge of Louisiana."^ 
 
 Judge Tyler's oldest daughter was named Anne Contesse, 
 after her grandmother, the French liuguenot doctor's daughter. 
 She was said to be a beautiful wom.an, with a clean Eoman-cut 
 countenance, and her sweetness and amiability have been abund- 
 antly recorded by her father. She married James Semple, of 
 Williamsburg, son of Parson Semple, of Wew Kent. Mr. Semple 
 became distinguished as a member of the Legislature, member of 
 the Council, professor of law at " William and Mary" College, and 
 a judge of the General Court. Anne died June 12, 1803, and 
 February 5, 1805, Judge Semple married Joanna Black McKenzie, 
 .a ward of Judge Tyler and a granddaughter of Joanna Tyler, 
 .sister of the marshal of the Yice-Admiralty Court. 
 
 The second daughter of Judge Tyler was Elizabeth Armistead, 
 who married John Clayton Pryor, of Gloucester, and died in 1824. 
 His third daughter was Martha Jefferson, who was born in 17S2, 
 shortly after the unanimous vote of thanks tendered to Mr. Jef- 
 ferson by the Virginia Legislature. The Speaker's heart went out 
 in a testimonial of affection and regard for that eminent man. In 
 itself, it is after a manner a vindication of Mr. Jefferson's course 
 during the distressing times of Cornwallis' invasion. Mr. Jeffer- 
 son found a wife in Judge Tyler's county. In 1Y73, soon after 
 Mr. Tyler's removal to the county, he married Martha Wayles of 
 the " Forest," in Charles City. Martha Jefferson Tyler married, 
 in 1805, Thomas Ennols Waggaman, brother of United States 
 Senator Waggaman, of Louisiana. She died in 1855, leaving nu- 
 merous descendants. 
 
 Judge Tyler's fourth daughter was Maria Henry, born in 1785, 
 while Mr. Henry was governor of the State. The " Henry" in her 
 name was given by the Judge in honor of the Governor. Maria 
 married John B. Seawell, Esq., of Gloucester county, and died in 
 
 ' See Campbell's Life of Burk. 
 
DEATH OF MES. TYLER. 195 
 
 1843. Two of her sons, John Tyler and Boswell, were men of 
 marked ability and extensive reputation. 
 
 The fifth child was Dr. Wat Henry Tyler, who was born in 1788 ; 
 lived to be a physician of eminence and character, and died in 
 July, 1862. Tlie sixth was John, the future pi-esident. The 
 seventh, William Tyler, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, and a 
 member of the State Legislature. Died in 1856. The eighth, 
 and last, was Christiana Booth, who married, in 1813, Dr. Henry 
 Curtis, and died in 1812. 
 
 There was one among the visitors at G-reenway whose arri- 
 val was welcome to none. Death crosses every thi-eshold, and 
 finds his way to every home. The first great domestic trouble 
 ■which cast a shadow around the hearth at Greenway was the death 
 of Mrs. Tyler, in April, 1797, at the early age of thirty-seven. A 
 .stroke of paralysis, received a short time before her demise, de- 
 prived her of the use of her hand, and prevented her from be- 
 guiling the hours with her sewing, — an occupation Tiniversally 
 esteemed by the ladies of that day in Virginia, as one particularly 
 becoming the sex. It was touching to see the assiduous attentions 
 of the Judge to the partner of his bosom under this great affliction. 
 Mrs. Tyler was wont to take great pride in beautifying her home, 
 and kept her front-yard at Greenway radiant with flowers of 
 every description. When she became unable to superintend them 
 herself, she found in her husband a most attentive substitute. 
 Tresh flowers, gathered by his hand, brightened her room every 
 morning; and until she grew too ill for sucli exercise, the Judge, 
 with a view to keep her in good spirits, would ride with her 
 •every day to the race-course, at Indian Fields, where the race- 
 horses were trained and exercised. Yet the tenderest care could 
 not abate the severity of the disease ; a brief period, and the suf- 
 ferer was no more. I find in the rare old thesaurium, the MS. 
 poetry book, quoted from more than once in the course of these 
 pages, the following poem, descriptive of this severe affliction to 
 the household at Greenway : 
 
 On the Death of Mart Tylee. 
 Elegy, April, 1797. 
 " Ah, dearest Mira, too severe my fate 
 
 Thus to be left aloue to mourn in endless pain, 
 To fly forever from thy long lov'd mate,— 
 Ah 1 never, never to return again. 
 
196 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 " How frail is life — so soon our pleasures end ; 
 Scarce one enjoyment ere 'tis snatched away, — 
 Not all our tears and sorrows for a friend 
 Can stop one moment fate's relentless sway. 
 
 " How oft together we have viewed with pride 
 The dear fond pledges of our chaster love ; 
 What tender cares did o'er each heart preside, 
 Which all a parent's best affections prove ! 
 
 "How oft together, hand in hand, we've traced 
 In sweet delight the garden's flowery walks; 
 Whilst I with nosegays her fair bosom graced. 
 And she would stoop to prop the bending stalks t 
 
 " But, ah ! no more for her the roses bloom. 
 The gaudy tulip sheds a silent tear ; 
 No more the hyacinth's sweet scents perfume. 
 The lilies hang their heads in sad despair. 
 
 " But Mira is to happier climes removed. 
 
 Displayed in beauties 'round the throne of God, 
 Cease, then, my soul to grieve, — though so much loved, 
 'Tis Heaven commands, — I must kiss the rod." 
 
 In another place, I find a poem written the following year on 
 his birthday. The sentiment which prevades it is of the same^ 
 sad vein as the preceding. 
 
 On My Bikthdat, 28th Feb., 1798. 
 
 " This day my years count fifty-one. 
 So swift my chequer'd time flies on ; 
 Too soon my pleasures have an end. 
 Too long my wayward cares depend. 
 But time well managed, though severe. 
 May prove, in truth, my friend sincere; 
 And teach me how my latter days. 
 In peace may close as life decays. 
 Be then my thoughts, while here below. 
 Employed on Heaven, not earthly show; 
 So, when prepared, be called on high. 
 To that blessed mansion in the sky. 
 Then will I cheerfully resign. 
 My life, my soul, to things divine ; 
 And mount with eagle's wings above, 
 Once more behold my long lost Love ; 
 There to remain in spiritual life. 
 With her, my dear departed wife ; 
 
DEATH OF ANNE C0NTES8E SEMPLE. 197 
 
 Who crowned my days with so much bliss, 
 That angels envied my caress, 
 And called her to high Heaven's abode, 
 To rank with saints and live with God." 
 
 Misfortunes, they say, never come singly. Tlie death of the 
 mother was followed by that of the first-born. Six years after 
 the death of Mrs. Tyler, Judge Tyler lost his oldest daughter, 
 Anne Contesse Semple. On this occasion he wrote the following 
 poem : 
 
 On the Death of Anne Contesse Semple. 
 
 Written by her ever adored and adoring father. 
 
 " Ah ! cruel death, why with such sway. 
 Approach a father's peaceful seat. 
 And snatch his dear first pledge away. 
 And all his hopes and prospects cheat? 
 
 "Prom early youth to her last day, 
 
 He ne'er looked on her with a frown ; 
 Nor e'er had he once cause to say 
 In word or deed she had done wrong. 
 
 "So mild her manners and discreet. 
 That malice seem'd ashamed to rise ; 
 In conduct uniform and sweet, 
 E'en envy tog forgot her lies. 
 
 "Ah ! what a sad delusion's here. 
 
 So frail, so vain are human things, — 
 To every bliss succeeds a tear. 
 Our fairest hope but sorrow brings. 
 
 " But ah ! 'tis done ; the will of Heaven 
 
 Must sure be just, and I obey ; 
 
 That precious jewel Grod had given, 
 
 He — only He — could take away. 
 
 " There rest in peace, lamented shade. 
 But oh ! look on a father's woe ; 
 And if that light can here pervade, 
 That beam celestial now bestow." 
 
 Before taking final leave of the old MS. poetry book, I extract 
 a piece of an entirely different character, which, while showing 
 the "pluck" for which the Judge was noted, exhibits very amus- 
 ingly the natural relief of the duellist at safely getting rid of "the 
 delicate aflfair of honor :" 
 
198 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 The Knight Errant. — February 13<^, 1800. 
 
 "A challenge was sent by a knight errant, meant 
 To produce not a drop of my blood ; 
 For though I accepted, how soon he retreated, 
 So perfect we each understood. 
 
 "Egad, how my heart, relieved from its smart, 
 Did leap to and fro like a spirit ; 
 He catch'd at the chances, I humored his fancies, 
 So parted — but whose was the merit?" 
 
 It seems, from the poems in the book, that the Judge retained 
 his fondness for young ladies to the end, and seldom wearied of 
 singing the praises of some fair " Delia ;" and the following note 
 in his own handwriting, appended to the poem above, explains the- 
 occasion of the difficulty commemorated by it : 
 
 A challenge was sent me by a certain gentleman for a supposed insult, 
 contained in a letter to a young lady : although he was not named, applying 
 general observations on various subjects to himself, thereby assuming the 
 character he wished not to be thought, and, instead of demanding an ex- 
 planation, (and he had better have said nothing), demands immediate satisfac- 
 tion, which was immediately accepted, and Capt. Colgin empowered to settle 
 the preliminaries; but he, more inclined to prevent a mischief than produce 
 one, convinced the gentleman of his error, and here the matter ended. 
 
 John Tyler, the second son of Judge Tyler, was born at Green- 
 way, on the 29th of March, 1790. Livy, the classic historian, has 
 set the example, followed more or less by every historian since, of 
 describing the portents preceding some important epoch in his nar- 
 rative. I, therefore, may be excused for mentioning one or more 
 remarkable incidents of the future president's childhood, leaving it 
 to the reader to form his own opinion as to how far they should 
 be considered as omens of his after prominence. The old people 
 of the family used to relate that one evening, as his mother sat at 
 the window at Greenway, while the rays of the moon's silver light, 
 chased one another into the room through the giant branches of 
 the grand old willow that caressed the house, the child, then an 
 infant in arms, happening to catch a glimpse of the glorious queen 
 of heaven, eagerly stretched out his hands and cried bitterly for 
 the moon. " This child," said the smiling mother, " is destined 
 to be a president of the United States, his wishes fly so high." 
 And as he grew up to the school-boy's age, with a slender frame,, 
 a very prominent thin Roman nose, silky brown hair, a bright 
 
JOHN TYLEE, SECOND SON OF JUDGE TTLEE. 199 
 
 blue eye, a meny, mischievous smile and silvery laugh, it is 
 hardly necessary to say that he was the favorite of the household 
 and the Judge's idol. The old liousekeeper, Mrs. Bagby, who 
 succeeded after Mrs. Tyler's death to the management of domestic 
 affairs at Greenway, had occasion more than once to pass judgment 
 on John, and ascribed his gentle actions and soft, easy bearing to 
 his mother. Yet his soul was not devoid of the fires of his father's 
 spirit, which blazed up when he was scarcely more than eleven 
 years of age, in the part played by him as ringleader in a rebellion 
 at school, occasioned by the harshness of his master, Mr. Mc- 
 Murdo. This episode in Mr. Tyler's life deserves narration, since 
 to the mind of the reader who lays importance on early indica- 
 tions of character, it may afford a solution to Mr. Tyler's after 
 course of " rebellion " against the tyranny of the Whig party and 
 the national government. 
 
 Mr. McMurdo is said to have taught in a school-house across the 
 main road from Judge Tyler's residence. This road, called the 
 " Kiver Koad," is one of the chief thoroughfares to Richmond from 
 Charles City Courthouse. The name and school of McMurdo 
 were, therefore, well known in the community. A great man, in- 
 deed, was the school-master of those early days. Far from being 
 bound by the sentimentaUty of the present times — within the 
 sphere of his school-room he was a lord — an autocrat — whose 
 authority was never questioned by parent or guardian. At that 
 period the Scotch school-master was an institution in the land. 
 And such was the nationality of McMurdo ; a Scotchman he, and 
 learned in the mysteries of arithmetic and the classics, one who 
 believed that there was more virtue in a bunch of birch switches 
 fresh from the swamp than all the moral suasion that could be 
 employed. Yet it would be a mistake to think that the soul of 
 McMurdo was naturally cruel or unsympathetic. Csesar, who 
 slew, without compunction, a million Gauls, is represented to have 
 been tender and amiable in his private relations. Oh, no ! it was 
 principle with McMurdo — mistaken it might be ; and the older he 
 grew, and the longer he taught, the more confirmed did he become 
 in his convictions, and the stouter he plied the birch, until his pu- 
 pil, John Tyler, said in after life, " it was a wonder that he did 
 not whip all the sense out of his scholars." But the day of reckon- 
 ing was nigh. Liberty was still dear to the American heart ; and 
 
200 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 one day, when McMurdo had been more than usually severe, the 
 boys rebelled. John and some of the larger boys tripped him up, 
 and began to tie his hands and feet. McMurdo scuffled bravely, 
 but upon little William Tyler, the smallest boy in school, throw- 
 ing himself upon him, he exclaimed, in imitation of the great 
 Eoman, " Et tu Brute .^" and ceased to resist. The boys firmly 
 secured him, locked up the school-house, and left with cheers of 
 triumph and derision. 
 
 The surprise of McMurdo was followed by despair. Hours 
 passed without any one coming to his relief. It was not till late 
 in the evening that a stray traveller, passing by, found the oppres- 
 sor hopelessly manacled on the scene of his daily tyrannies. The 
 traveller acted the good Samaritan, gained admittance, and released 
 him. Once free, the soul of McMurdo blazed with indignation. 
 Thirsting for vengeance, he forthwith repaired to Judge Tyler's 
 residence. To him he detailed the flagrancy of his sons' behavior, 
 and the degradation to which he had been subjected ; and conclud- 
 ing, waited for the word which should deliver the rebels to his 
 tender mercies. But the Judge, born and bred in the Revolution- 
 ary school, hated tyranny in any shape, and as he drew himself up 
 to his full stature, he seemed to tower in the majesty of principle. 
 Impressively he replied in the language of Virginia's motto, — 
 " Sic Semper Tyrannis P'' 
 
 Thus time went on, until in 1802, John was entered in the 
 grammar school of the college of " William and Mary," of which 
 his father was appointed a visitor in 1804. John boarded, while 
 in Williamsburg, with his brother-in-law. Judge James Semple, 
 and his room-mate was Judge Briscoe G. Baldwin, of Staunton, 
 father of the late distinguished John B. Baldwin. At " William 
 and Mary," his happy manners and precocious development made 
 him early the protege of Bishop Madison, president of that insti- 
 tution. His studies took the usual collegiate range. He was es- 
 pecially fond of ancient history, — a taste which he shared with 
 his father, who never tired commenting upon the great and glori- 
 ous men of the past, and holding up the mirror of their virtues 
 for the emulation of his sons. John liad also a great fondness for 
 poetry, and was a devoted reader of Shakespeare. He often re- 
 marked, in after life, that there was not a thought in the human 
 mind, or a feeling in the human heart, that did not find the best 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 201 
 
 •expression in some portion of tHe master poet's writings. This 
 liking for Shakespeare followed him through life, as his speeches 
 and letters abundantly evidence. He made creditable progress in 
 Xatin, and his knowledge of Greek was satisfactory. In a word, 
 surrounded as he was by incentives of every character, in constant 
 -association with older persons, and enjoying all the elegancies of 
 ihe refined society of the ancient capital, he passed rapidly through 
 the courses of the college, and was actually prepared for gradua- 
 tion at the astonishingly early age of seventeen. 
 
 And yet the boy, John Tyler, amidst all his studies, loved fun 
 and frolic, and had inherited the ancestral attachment for the violin, 
 'whose dulcet strains were often sweeter to him than the careful 
 preparation of letters. One of the following letters from Judge 
 Tyler raps him sevei-ely upon his handwriting; but the sub- 
 ject upon which his father dilates proves a maturity of taste, sur- 
 prising in a lad not yet seventeen. When he in turn, as Senator 
 of the United States, took upon himself the role of instructor to 
 his children, the exceeding neatness of his many letters — without 
 s. stain or uneven word — proved that his father's injunctions had 
 not passed unheeded. 
 
 [John Ttlek, Se., to John Tyler.] 
 
 Gkeenwat, February lih, 1807. 
 
 Mt Son : I received your last letter, wherein you require my opinion on 
 the right of expatriation. But first of all, I can't help telling you how 
 much I am mortified to find no improvement in your handwriting ; neither do 
 you conduct your lines straight, which makes your lettefs look too abomin- 
 able. It is an easy thing to correct this fault, and unless you do so, how can 
 .you be fit for law business of every description? Look at the handwriting of 
 Mr. Jefi'erson, Wythe, Pendleton, Mercer, Nicholas, and all the old lawyers, 
 and you will find how much care they took to write handsomely. Writing 
 .and cyphering well are absolutely necessary, and cannot be dispensed with. 
 
 By expatriation we mean the going out of our country, giving up the 
 .rights of a citizen derived from its laws and constitution, and seeking our 
 happiness, wheresoever it may be attained on this globe. This principle is 
 laid down in our Bill of Rights, and was in contradiction of the common law 
 of England, which denies the privilege of giving up allegiance due to the 
 king, who is no more than a servant of the people, and is placed in the ex- 
 •ecutive branch for their well-being ^nd happiness, as our governor or presi- 
 dent is, no matter by what name or title they be designated. But notwith- 
 .standing this great privilege, sanctioned by the first Article of our Bill of 
 Eights, as well as the law of nature, which gives to every man the right of 
 locomotion ; yet when he enters into society he certainly yields a portion of 
 
202 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEKS. 
 
 his rights into the common stock, for the protection of the balance, which alt 
 of y" community are bouad to protect and secure. 
 
 Now, although it may be admitted that a man has this general right, it is 
 subject to some exceptions. Suppose the State was invaded by an enemy or- 
 greatly threatened ; or suppose n Cataline within the bowels of the State,- 
 raising an insurrection for the subversion of liberty and law, would any good 
 Bian, who loved his country, think he would stand excused in the eyes of 
 God or man for flying in time of danger, after being long protected in the en-- 
 joyment of life, liberty, and property, thereby absolving himself from that 
 reciprocal duty and service which he owed to society for those enjoyments ? 
 What are the principles of a social compact, which bind a people up to- 
 gether ? — allegiance and protection. So far, then, is a citizen bound, as long 
 as he is one ; but what is it better than desertion, if at the very moment his 
 service is wanted, he should fly from his country's standard ? Is not gratitude- 
 obligatory on every human being ? Is it not next to the love of country the- 
 most sublime virtue ? If so, must not every citizen discharge that duty ? 
 Then how can he expatriate himself at the very moment he is called on to- 
 defend the State, and thereby discharge the most sacred trust? Surely no 
 man will contend for such a principle, so injurious aid destructive to the 
 interest of society. In the very moment of necessity, every cowardly man 
 individually withdraws and leaves those of a different opinion to the total, 
 overthrow of a despot. 
 
 I fix the right of the community to this point, to-wit, that the moment a- 
 oitizen is called on for his support, there is a lien (obligation) upon him, and 
 he is bound to yield to the call of his country. Look at a note in the Ameri- 
 can Edition of Rousseau. The late Chief-Justice of the Federal Court went so 
 far as to insist on the common law principle in its fullest extent, whereby he 
 erred in a twofold sense. First, because he assumed common law jurisdiction,, 
 which the Federal government gave not; and secondly, he denied the right- 
 of expatriation, although expressly given by our State act of assembly, but 
 which act does not contravene the positious I lay down. When a man, there- 
 fore, expatriates himself, it must be before an immediate call or obligation is- 
 fixed on him, or he could not stand fair in the eyes of morality, reason, justice,, 
 or gratitude. But suppose an unnecessary or unjust war is proposed ? The 
 answer is clear. A citizen cannot be forced out of his country for such a 
 purpose ; and if he crosses the line, all jurisdiction ceases over him, unless 
 he has enlisted for aggression. I write this hastily, and in pain, so that per- 
 haps it is not clearly expressed, yet I think the principles are irrefragable. 
 Your affectionate father, Jno. Tyler. 
 
 [John Tyler, Sr., to John Tyler.] 
 
 Greenway, March 1, 1807. 
 My Son : I gave my opinion at large on the subject of expatriation. The- 
 case of a son going from his father is governed by the same great law of na- 
 ture ; but in that case he is under obligations to him in addition to those of 
 his country. If his father is old and infirm, it would be a great act of ingrati- 
 tude to leave him, and a violation of that duty he owed to the author of his- 
 being, to prop his sinking age if he were too poor to obtain the necessary sup- 
 
203: 
 
 port of life. Every animtil -potntB otrt -the natural law. Every bird, when 
 sufEciently fledged, taltes its flight into the wide expanse of nature, and looks- 
 out for its companion and subsistence ; but man, from a political and civil 
 education, requires not only support in old age, but love, care, and attention. 
 Perhaps he has consumed his fortune by his endeavors to promote his son be- 
 yond the ordinary condition of man ; if so, the obligation is still increased, but 
 yet his natural right could not be questioned. As to his filial duty, he must 
 let reason and conscience decide. But if his country calls for his service, it is 
 his first duty to perform in a civil point of view, for that includes the love of 
 a parent— your duty to God always being the highest a human being is bound 
 to perform. 
 
 As to your speech for the Fourth of July, weigh it well ; let it not be too 
 long, consisting more of sound sense and reason than high flights of rhetoric, 
 unless they are well suited to the occasion. The love of country admits of 
 very fine strokes. Education is a good subject. Ignorance is the mother of 
 superstition, whose off"spring is slavery, which begets a tyranny in the end. 
 See how Athens flourished in her literary age ; also Eome. When the sciences- 
 were neglected, see in turn how degraded was the human character. Look at 
 those tyrants, Caligula, Nero, etc., and compare them with Lycurgus, Cato, 
 Socrates, etc., etc. ; they point out the real state of the times and the neglect- 
 of education, which at length was confined to a few — the clergy, etc. The 
 laws of England even were written in a, language not known to the people. 
 Hence they became a science, which is destruction to free government; for 
 that rule which is to govern, all should understand. 
 
 Our State is shamefully negligent in her duty on the subject of diffusing 
 knowledge — behind all the sister States. 
 
 I will send money by the first safe opportunity to William; inform the- 
 keeper of the table. 
 
 Yours affectionately, Jno. Tyler. ' 
 
 It is to be observed, that Judge Tyler suggests " Education " as- 
 a subject for his son's graduating address. The latter chose " Fe- 
 male Education." His address was written, and delivered by him 
 at the commencement in 1807; and it was unanimously pronounced 
 by the faculty of "William and Mary" the best commencement 
 oration, both in style and matter, ever delivered at that institution - 
 within their recollection.^ 
 
 I must not omit to state, in taking leave for the present of that 
 time-honored institution, now sadly reduced by repeated calamities 
 of war and fire, that Chapman Johnson, Winfield Scott, Benjamin 
 
 ' On the back of this letter is endorsed, in the young student's hand, "At one- 
 time the dark clouds of adversity would blacken the path that led to the temple, 
 but at another the genius of hope, refulgent with her very glory, would lighten. 
 the way and beckon us to follow." 
 
 ' Abel's Life of Tyler, page 2. 
 
"204 LETTEES AI^D TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 IVatkins Leigh, John W. Jones, P. P. Barbour, William S. Archer, 
 John J. Crittenden, and William C. Rives, were his college-mates, 
 though all but Eives were of more advanced years. 
 
 Keturning home, John applied himself to the study of the law 
 under his father, receiving also valuable suggestions and directions 
 from his cousin. Chancellor Samuel Tyler, who resided at West 
 Berry, in Charles City. Generous in disposition, with pleasing, 
 respectful, and conciliating manners, and exhibiting an open, frank, 
 and gleeful spirit, he was received with open arms by liis father's 
 old constituents, who impatiently waited for his advent at the bar 
 to crown him with favors. 
 
 The letters that close this chapter were written by Judge Tyler 
 to President Jefferson during the interval between the latter's 
 election to the chief magistracy of the Confederacy, in 1801, and 
 the former's appointment to the chief magistracy of the State, in 
 1808 ; though long acquainted, from early college days, they had 
 hitherto passed onlj^ letters of a formal character, the distance 
 separating their homes, and the slow means of travel prevailing in 
 those times, interfering with a more frequent correspondence. 
 "The Judge's letters evidence the universal admiration and gratitude 
 ■entertained for Jefferson by the Eepublican world. The senti- 
 ments which he expresses to Jefferson are the outpourings of a 
 thankful heart, the delightful praises of a man whose whole life 
 had been an example of independence and manhood, and far lifted 
 above mean flattery or adulation. It was the language of one 
 " who really loved his country and all good men as ardently as 
 ever did a Roman or Grecian patriot," who " dealt not in huzzas 
 or crowds," and who "had been always one of those obstinate, 
 perverse sort of animals, who would avow his opinions and senti- 
 ments in the manner most suitable to his own feelings, without 
 meaning to detract from virtue and abilities in the smallest de- 
 gree." The acquisition of Louisiana, the war with the Barbary 
 States, the monart;hical tendencies of the aristocratic Federalists, 
 the impressment of our seamen by Great Britain— tliese were some 
 of the themes of Judge Tyler's letters to Jefferson. 
 
 [Judge Tyler to Pkesident Jeffekson.] 
 
 Geeenwat, January SOth, 1804. 
 Sir : I beg leave to recommend to your notice Mr. Samuel Tyler, my 
 iiephew, who, anxious as I am, and as all true Republicans are, to witness 
 
LETTERS TO JEFFERSON. 205- 
 
 the change of sentiment in the people by your promotion to the high and re- 
 sponsible office of President, has visited the Federal city to join in the general 
 joy. I have not the vanity to suppose you bestow a thought on me while en- 
 gaged in the great duties of your public office : yetl cannot but believe, from- 
 the knowledge I have of your philanthropy, that you will condescend to- 
 receive this letter as an indubitable evidence of my great regard for your 
 person and character, and therefore will readily excuse the liberty I have 
 taken in obtruding it on you. 
 
 Circumstanced as our country is, I feel how very painful a pre-eminence- 
 you are exalted to. The envy and bitter malice of an aristocratic junto, and 
 the inveteracy of an English faction, you will no doubt experience, but you 
 will have the heart of philosophers and men of science, and above all, the- 
 confideuce and respect (short of idolatry) of the Republican world, which, I 
 hope, will always afford you consolation in the most trying exigencies. That- 
 you may long live, the ornament of your country, the friend of liberty, and 
 the firm supporter of our great charter, is the ardent wish and prayer of 
 Your most obedient humble servant, John Tyleb. 
 
 [Judge Tyler to President Jefferson.] 
 
 Greenwat, June \Oth, 1804. 
 
 Dear Sir : The subjects of this letter and the familiar address may sur- 
 prise you, as my acquaintance, although of long standing, does not entitle me- 
 to those freedoms, which a closer intimacy and friendship -would warrant. I 
 rely, howWer, that you possess much more philanthropy than the Dean 
 of St. Patrick did, when he considered himself insulted by being addressed in 
 the common style — '" Dear Sir " — insisting that nothing but an acknowledged 
 friendship ought to excuse such a liberty in any man. I rely also on your- 
 superior goodness fur pardon, if I have done wrong, or shall do wrong, either 
 by the matter I express, or the manner of expression. 
 
 I have always been one of those obstinate, perverse sort of animals, who 
 would avow his opinions and sentiments in the manner most suitable to his- 
 own feelings, without meaning to detract from virtue and abilities in the 
 smallest degree ; for before the altar of distinguished virtue and talents I am 
 always ready to bow down, as from that source alone is derived all legitimate 
 distinction. Superior wisdom few attain to, because the God of nature has- 
 not given to every man the same strength of mental powers, the same clear- 
 ness of apprehension or comprehension, the same discriminating and pene- 
 trating quickness, nor has every one an equal love of improving the mind in- 
 all the various branches of literary knowledge which reflect so much honor 
 on man, whether we view him in his private or political walks; and, lastly,, 
 neither has every one the means' and opportunity, if ever so much desired, to 
 accomplish so high a station in the learned world. 
 
 This has been very much my case perhaps in all respects, and, therefore, I 
 have no right to expect the favor of a familiar correspondence with you un- 
 less I can found it on some other pretensions, which, although not so fashion- 
 
206 LBTTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 able in the world, are not less valuable. Honor and integrity all men may 
 aspire to, and yet unfortunately few possess them in the degree they ought to 
 do. I possess enough, I hope, to tell you, as the feelings of my heart shall 
 dictate, that I have viewed your political career through all the various paths 
 you have taken, that I have compared your conduct with those who have 
 gone before, and the result has brought me to this opinion, that you have 
 brought peace to our country and comfort to our souls. 
 
 I congratulate you on the great acquisition of Louisiana — obtained, not by 
 the sword, which stabs to the heart the individual and the country for the ag- 
 grandizement of a few, but by the peaceable and honorable means of friendly 
 negotiation — which adds wealth and strength to our Republic, removes from us 
 the bone of contention with all foreign powers, and only gives a vital stab to 
 proud and venal aristocracy. 
 
 I congratulate you on the wisdom and fidelity of those about you. I know 
 one,' whose integrity and sound understanding cannot fail. I know the 
 others by reputation. Long may they continue to assist you in the arduous 
 task of governing, and add a comfort to your declining years, which will 
 crown you with laurels here and peace and happiness hereafter. And long 
 may you live to establish the true principles of our Constitution be3'ond the 
 touch of unhallowed hands, and see and enjoy with sublime delight the fruits 
 of your labors, as I greatly hope and trust you may hold the helm as long as 
 it will be honorable to yourself and serviceable to your country. 
 
 I cannot withhold my canticle of praise in the general chorus, although it 
 is coming late ; but I have concerns to attend to, both public and private, and 
 I confess I have been delayed by doubting the propriety of such an address. 
 But as I deal not in huzzas and crowds, I conceived that the sentiments of 
 the heart — when clothed in sincerity, and not in the low and dirty garb of 
 mean adulation — could not be unpleasing to one of your disposition, however 
 much exalted in life. Indeed, it is by the true and honest approbation of just 
 and virtuous acts that the glory of a public servant should consist. 
 
 With a heart full of gratitude, I declare to you how much delighted I am 
 with the general tenor of your administration, as the fruits of it are so pro- 
 ductive of peace and liberty at home and reputation abroad. The people 
 declare the same. The full flowing sails of our political bark justify the ap- 
 plause. The misled but well-meaning are turning away from their deceivers, 
 while the bitter unbelieving, or pretenders to unbelief, are still adding to 
 their cup a drop which none but the envious, malicious, and slanderous are 
 capable of enjoying. I am now willing to live a little while longer in my na- 
 tive soil ; but not long since I was ready to fly to some unknown region, where 
 the base arts of man could no more find me. But where was it to be found ? 
 America stood fairest of any spot on the globe to erect the standard of vir- 
 tuous liberty, and yet even here was that fair goddess insulted, and almost 
 driven from us. How nearly all was lost ! — all that we so proudly boasted 
 of, so warmly contended for, with so much blood and treasure !— all that we 
 held so near and dear to our hearts, not only declared for in our great code of 
 human rights, but which we achieved after a long and dubious struggle so 
 
 ' James Madison. 
 
LEITEES TO JEFFERSON. 207 
 
 -wondrous in the eyes of all mankind. Even this great and glorious event 
 was not enough to win the hearts of those who "longed after the flesh-pots," 
 but some other adventure must needs be tried. Dear monarchy, that "stu- 
 pendous work of human wisdom," and all the paltry shows, levees, etc., etc., 
 that belong to its train, must yet be the darling objects of our social concerns. 
 
 How sorely have I lamented to see the people busily preparing chains for 
 themselves and posterity ! — innocently and ignorantly, by the base arts of 
 the most subtle deception, burying themselves and their liberties in one 
 •common grave ! But, thank God ! the mist is wiped away from the eye ; the 
 cloud which so long hovered over us, so highly charged, is at length dispelled, 
 without doing ns as much mischief as was e.xpooted, and again the sun shines 
 forth in ten-fold splendor. Where are the sublime effects of patriotism — the 
 true love of country — which carries back my reflections to Borne and Greece ? 
 A few patriots, whose names are already enrolled for posterity, by a steadfast 
 and manly courage and inflexibility, which no dangers could soften, shake, or 
 deter, — by a bold, energetic, and masterly style of language and eloquence, 
 which was as irresistible as the lightning from heaven, — baffled the arts of 
 combination, design, and fraud, brought conviction to the mind, and turned 
 the scale in our favor. All who contributed to this glorious work have suf- 
 fered their share of general abuse, — of low, base, and contemptible slander, — 
 an proportion as they stood foremost in the business. However, that was a 
 tax, and always will be one, which superior talents and virtue have paid and 
 will pay, however cruel and unjust, and is a sort of equalizing principle in 
 "the eyes of the envious which they will for ever nourish. 
 
 Heaven be thanked, I have not moved on such elevated ground as to bring 
 much envy down upon me, but I have assumed the liberty of thinking dif- 
 ferently from a Washington and an Adams, and, therefore, have had my share 
 of abuse also ; but, upon the whole, I feel a gratification in the success of our 
 cause that has almost obliterated from my mind every injury, every sentiment 
 of resentment against all our enemies, which induces me to wish them a gen- 
 ■ eral amnesty on a sincere repentance and future good conduct. 
 
 I shall now venture on delicate ground; but feeling as a father, and suffer- 
 ling a loss not very long since in the death of my dear and affectionate eldest 
 pledge of a virtuous mother's love (whom also I have lost), on whom I never 
 had cause to frown or give an angry word to, on whom I had bestowed a fine 
 ■education, and had the pleasing hope of proving to the world the advantages 
 arising from female improvements — 1 sincerely sympathize with you on the 
 loss of your daughter.' 
 
 I know how bitter the affliction is, but I know our duty is not to suffer our- 
 selves to grieve beyond what is consistent with the man and the philosopher, 
 but submissively to bow to the dispensations of Him who gave and Him who 
 taketh away. 
 
 I hope most sincerely you may never meet another stroke as severe as the 
 Joss of a good and dutiful child. 
 
 I have seven more children, three of them sons, whom I am educating, but 
 
 ' Maria Jefferson Eppes ; " Domestic Life of Jefferson," page 304. 
 
208 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 at a great cost, which almost exhausts me, together with riding over the- 
 country half my time for a paltry salary, neglecting my little fortune at home 
 and my profession. But one knows not how to avoid yielding to the call of a 
 country he loves, however weak may be his efforts to serve it. I flatter my- 
 self that one day or other one of my sons may fall under your kind notice and' 
 attention, which would be no obligation from one I less respected than your- 
 self. 
 
 You will excuse me for mingling in this page subjects of little concern tO' 
 you, but the most elevated among us lose nothing by condescending to move 
 now and then in the private walks of life ; we regain a fellow feeling, and by 
 relaxation from higher cares we gain more elasticity, which fits us for the dis- 
 charge of our public stations with more promptitude and vigor. 
 
 I mean not to trouble you often with my communications, because I know- 
 how much you have on your hands, and how little I can entertain you. 
 When you have beaten the Tripolitaus into a sense of national honor, and,, 
 moreover, raised the rock from the sea on which poor Bainbridge fell, perhaps- 
 I may take another liberty. 
 
 I am, with every sentiment of sincere respect, your excellency's most obedi- 
 ent and very humble servant, Juo. Tyler. 
 
 [President Jefferson to Judge Tyler. J 
 
 Washington, June 28th, 1804. 
 Dear Sir : Your favor of the 10th instant has been duly received. Amidst 
 the direct falsehoods, the misrepresentations of truth, the calumnies and the 
 insults resorted to by a faction to mislead the public mind, and to overwhelm' 
 those entrusted with its interests, our support is to be found in the approving, 
 voice of our conscience and country, in the testimony of our fellow-citizens, 
 that their confidence is not shaken by these artifices. When to the plaudits 
 of the honest multitude, the sober approbation of the sage in his closet is 
 added, it becomes a gratification of an higher order. It is the sanction of 
 wisdom superadded to the voice of affection. The terms, therefore, in which 
 you are so good as to express your satisfaction with the course of the present 
 administration cannot but give me great pleasure. I may err in my measures^ 
 but never shall deflect from the intention to fortify the public liberty by every 
 possible means, and to put it out of the power of the few to riot on the labors 
 of the many. No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now 
 trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact that man may be- 
 governed by reason and truth Our first object should, therefore, be to leave 
 open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual, hitherto found, is- 
 the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear 
 the investigation of their actions. The firmness with which the people have 
 withstood the late abuses of the press, the discernment they have manifested 
 between truth and falsehood, show that they may safely be trusted to hear 
 everything true and false, and to form a correct judgment between them. As- 
 little is it necessary to impose on their senses, or dazzle their minds by pomp,, 
 splendor, or fraud. Instead of this artificial, how much surer is that real re- 
 
LETTEES TO JEFFEESON. 209 
 
 «pect, which results from the use cf their reason, and the habit of bringing 
 -everything to the test of common sense. 
 
 I hold it, therefore, certain, that to open the doors of truth, and to fortify 
 the habit of testing everything by reason, are the most effectual manacles we 
 ■can rivet on the hands of our successors, to prevent their manacling the peo- 
 ple with their own consent. The panic into which they were artfully thrown 
 an 1798, the frenzy which was excited in them by their enemies against their 
 apparent readiness to abandon all the principles established for their own 
 protection, seemed for awhile to countenance the opinions of those who say 
 they cannot be trusted with their own government. But I never doubted 
 their rallying ; and they did rally much sooner than I expected. On the 
 whole, that experiment on their credulity has confirmed my confidence in 
 their ultimate good sense and virtue. 
 
 I lament to learn that a like misfortune has enabled you to estimate the af- 
 •flictions of a father on the loss of a beloved child. However terrible the pos- 
 sibility of such another accident, it is still a blessing for you of inestimable 
 value that you would not even then descend childless to the grave. Three 
 sons, aad hopeful ones, too, are a rich treasure. I rejoice when I hear of 
 joung men of virtue and talents, worthy to receive, and likely to preserve 
 the splendid inheritance of self-government which we have acquired and 
 shaped for them. 
 
 The complement of midshipmen for the Tripoline squadron is full, and I 
 hope the frigates have left the Capes by this time. I have, however, this day 
 -signed warrants of midshipmen for the two young gentlemen you recommend. 
 These will be forwarded by the secretary of the navy. He tells me that their 
 first services will be performed on board the gun-boats. 
 
 Accept my friendly salutations, and assurances of great esteem and re- 
 .spect. Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 [Judge Tyler to President Jefferson.]' 
 
 Gkeenway, Charles City, March 17, 1805. 
 
 Dear Sib : Now that our country is in so prosperous a situation, politically 
 ■speaking, and the Republican interest so well established by your unequivo- 
 cal election to the chair of State, permit me once more to congratulate you, 
 and once more let it be in my power to do the same, if I should live, by your 
 third promotion, if you should live, and then I think the victory over aris- 
 tocracy will be complete. " It will not do that the traitor should be merely 
 trodden under foot, but the treason must be entirely abolished ;" for yet does 
 that evil spirit rear its monstrous head whensoever an opportunity offers, of 
 which the Georgia speculations afford the strongest imaginable proof. 
 
 The support given to such an unparalleled instance of fraud on the people's 
 rights, and such a dereliction of honor and duty, as the act of the Georgia 
 Legislature exhibits, evinces the most profound ignorance of facts and princi- 
 ples, or the lowest depravity. Surely these things must have their reward. 
 
 ' Jefferson's reply may be found on page 34, Randolph's Jefferson, iv. 
 14 
 
210 LETTBES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 But perhaps it may not be charitable to attribute bad motives to any one- 
 but from the most incontestable proof. 
 
 Since I began this letter I received your address to the Senate and mem- 
 bers of Congress on your inauguration, which, without flattery, in my opinion,, 
 adds a lustre to the whole of your life, if anything could be necessary to- 
 heighten your public character, which more and more is making its way inta 
 the hearts of the people. The soundness of the reasoning, and the temper 
 and philosophy with which it is expressed, must and will have the happiest- 
 effect on every person not so vicious as to persist, in spite of light and truth,, 
 in a former opinion. I hope experience will prove the justnes.s of that senti- 
 ment, which supposes a republic may be happy, and yet extensive, at least- 
 for centuries to come, under just and wise laws, and a just and wise adminis- 
 tration. Surely a stranger is not so much to be relied on as a neighbor, as- 
 our own family are governed by the same laws and principles. 
 
 It is very weak, therefore, to refuse a present good for fear of a future mis- 
 chief. " Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof." After we have so happily 
 attained our great object, a stable republican government — acquired new 
 States, sinking our public debts and yet diminishing the taxes — it is impos- 
 sible but the country must be soon united, and, without a mausoleum of" 
 stone or brass, these things will live in the honest page of history, while they 
 would moulder into dust. 
 
 I correspond with very few at your city, and while I am writing this I know 
 what an intrusion it will be on those moments of your life which are so pre- 
 cious to our country ; yet I cannot help offering this humble tribute of my 
 esteem for your person and character, and do not think it too much trouble" 
 and condescension to receive a letter from an old acquaintance once or twice 
 a year, although he cannot add one single laurel to your crown of glory, but 
 who really loves his country and all good men as ardently as ever did a Gre- 
 cian or Roman patriot. I sincerely hope your health and happiness will long 
 remain unimpaired, both for your own sake and also for your country, and 
 that you may live to conquer by your integrity all evil speaking and printing,- 
 lying and slandering, without the aid of sedition laws. 
 
 I am much delighted to find how honorably our little navy has acquitted 
 itself; but dear enough do we pay for the visionary scheme of protecting trade- 
 at such a distance, beside the possibility of involving ourselves in quarrels 
 with other nations. 
 
 It is a fine thing for us to talk about, that our citizens, rather than be made- 
 slaves, blow themselves up ; but had they been cultivating the earth, how 
 much more beneficial to themselves and families their labor would have been 
 I would permit a man to carry his vessel where he pleased, hut he should do' 
 it at his own risk. The advantages arising from the trade so much contended 
 for will not shortly compensate for the loss of life and treasure already ex- 
 pended. But this is going from my design in a letter only meant as a con- 
 gratulatory one. I hope a peace may he forced with Tripoli, and our citizens- 
 released from their chains, and then we may have time to avail ourselves of 
 all the advantages arising (in an honest way) from the great battle royal in- 
 the old world. 
 
LETTEES TO JEFFERSON. 211 
 
 I have been at no feasts on the 4th instant, hut my single daughter, Martha 
 Jefferson, and my son, Wat Tyler, and self, have not failed to drink to your 
 health and long life ; but we have determined not to make you an emperor, 
 believing it would not be so honorable to yourself or country.' 
 
 I am, with sincere regard, Juo. Ttlbb. 
 
 [Judge Ttleb to President Jefferson.] 
 
 Greenwat, March 25th, 1806. 
 
 Dear Sir : I beg leave to enclose a letter from a young man, the son of a 
 very worthy citizen of Charles City county, requesting my intercession for a 
 place in the navy. I suppose he cannot expect more than to be appointed a 
 midshipman, which will be very acceptable to him; and I believe I can un- 
 dertake for him that he will not dishonor himself or the appointment, if he 
 can receive one consistent with the circumstances of the marine department. 
 
 His letter is a pretty good recommendation, considering tiie opportunity he 
 has had of being educated, and would even pass muster at head-quarters, if 
 the words " influence " and " eternal " had been left out ; but this may be ex- 
 cused as the effervescence of a warm imagination. I again pay you my an- 
 nual respects, and congratulate you on the success of all your public measures, 
 especially those against Tripoli, which have covered you and your little band 
 with glory. It was far beyond my expectation, and but for the enterprise of an 
 Eaton, perhaps the whole plan might have proved abortive. I hope the faith 
 and gratitude of our country has not been sported with, as it related to the 
 ex-bashaw, although I despise the government, and lament that all mankind 
 cannot extricate themselves from slavery and oppression ; for as to those poor 
 ignorant wretches it is of little consequence who their master is.'' 
 
 If anything can justify a war with any power, it is the abominable injus- 
 tice of enslaving our people ; and while we go very great lengths to relieve 
 300 citizens from the shackles imposed by a barbarous nation, we seem to 
 have doubts about the propriety of emancipating 3,000 now in the hands 
 of Great Britain, who is said to be the most civilized nation in the world. It 
 is incomprehensible to me, that a real friend of our country could hesitate one 
 
 ' On the 2d of December, 1804, Napoleon was crowned, by Pope Pius VII., 
 with all imaginable pomp and magnificence, at the cathedral of Notre Dame, Em- 
 peror of the French. At this time Jefferson was scarcely less popular with the 
 American people than Napoleon was with the Prench. Judge Tyler was in favor 
 of promoting Jefferson to office a third term, and doubtless in this case the trust 
 would not have been abused ; but there is a meaning in his last words, playful yet 
 significant. Jefferson, however, was far from wishing to play Napoleon, and at 
 the end of his second term retired, like Washington, to the shades of his home, 
 where his glorious life was terminated July 4. 1826. With Virginians it is a dis- 
 puted question which has superior claims to the title, "Father of His Country," 
 Washington or Jefferson. They speak of the calm equipoise ot Washington, but 
 the genius of Jefferson. 
 
 * See Jefferson's message, Jan. 13, 1806. The consul, Mr. Eaton, had entered 
 into some compromising conventions with the exiled brother of the reigning 
 bashaw, a usurper, to restore him to his throne. 
 
212 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 moment about measures which are so completely in our hands. Sequestra- 
 tion and non-importation would soon bring that haughty nation to terms more 
 consistent with national rights and natural justice, and not involve us in a 
 war either, which should never take place by my consent till the last necessity. 
 
 But, by the great Grod of heaven, I had rather not exist as a man or nation 
 than to suffer such violations of the rights and liberty of our citizens. As to 
 commerce, if it should be suspended with all the world for a short period, 
 would it bear any comparison with the independence of our government and 
 the safety of the people ? I am glad to find something is done by Congress ; 
 ■whether the means supplied are sufficient, time must decide. I believe my 
 resentment would have carried me farther. I had thought the policy of mak- 
 ing slaves of prisoners taken in actual war was long exploded frona the 
 civilized world, but Great Britain exeicises it in time of laeace, and are we to 
 suffer such injury and degradation without applying the means in our power ? 
 
 I enclosed to the Secretary a letter from a young man, born in my neighbor- 
 hood, to his old father, which informs him of his being impressed on board of 
 an English 74. His name is Terrel Christian." Whether I have addressed the 
 proper department I know not; but I hope that will not prevent its getting 
 into the proper channel. 
 
 Long life and sound health attend you through this vale of troubles, and 
 believe me still to be, with undeviating respect, your most obedient servant, 
 
 John Tyler. 
 
 * This young man has been two years in slavery. 
 
 2nd April, Richmond. 
 [P. S.j — The death of Mr. Pitt will produce a great change in national af- 
 fairs, and since the overthrow' of the allies. Great Britain will find it her in- 
 terest to keep well with us. 
 
 [Judge Tyler to President Jefferson. J 
 
 Greenway, February 2Qth, 1807. 
 
 Dear Sir : I once more beg leave to pay you the tribute due you for your 
 services for my dear native country, which I cannot help loving with the zeal 
 of an old Roman or Grecian citizen, old fashioned as it is, to cultivate so 
 noble and sublime a virtue, and notwithstanding we have so many restless 
 spirits both in pviblic and private. 
 
 You hate wonderfully contrived to bind up the mouths of the dogs of war, 
 in spite of all opposition. You have, by a steady and wise course, almost 
 united every heart in the true interest of your country, and one more elec- 
 tion will give a glorious triumph over the enemies of legitimate government. 
 No difficulties ought to be raised in your own breast on so important a subject. 
 
 Some of our Republicans are childish on this occasion, for that which is 
 
 ' The decisive victory of Napoleon at AusterUtz, Deo. 2, 1805, described as "the 
 fruit of a series of scientific and masterly manceuvers, all executed with astonish- 
 ing accuracy, and all crowned with perfect success. " The emperors of Russia and 
 Austria were compelled to sue for peace, and the great English minister, William 
 Pitt, the soul of the coalition and the implacable enemy of France, died of a 
 broken heart, January 23, 1806. 
 
LETTEKS TO JEFFEESON. 213 
 
 lawful and constitutional cannot he imputed as a crime against principle. 
 " The safety of the people is the supreme law," — a fine maxim of the British 
 government, although seldom observed. 
 
 Mr. Wm. Allen waits on you with this, who means to apply for a commis- 
 sion in the army. No man stands higher in respectability than he does where he 
 is known. This person will carry some degree of influence with him. He is 
 full of military ardor, and will make a figure in that line, I believe. He 
 was brought up to the law, and is in other respects very well informed. I 
 think I can with certainty and confidence unite with those gentlemen who 
 recommend him with so much zeal. 
 
 I think Mr. Burr ' has cut his own throat while he was contemplating the 
 abominable act of assassinating you. Everything in life induces the belief 
 that an upright conduct in any station is the best policy, and this sentiment, 
 generally cultivated, will always produce the happiest effects. 
 
 God direct you in this steady course through life, that our country may be 
 made happy in the example to latest posterity. 
 
 I am, with every sentiment of respect and esteem, your Excellency's most 
 obedient, humble servant, Jno. Tyler. 
 
 ' The year 1807 is memorable for the trial of Aaron Burr, at Eiohraond, Va. 
 
CHAPTEE YII. 
 
 1808—1810. 
 
 " E pray you to accept my sincere congratulations on the late testimony of public confi- 
 dence manifested by the Legislature of your country in their electing; you to the flr-st office 
 in the State. Certain I am that there is no one to wnose fidelity it could have been more 
 safely entrusted, and it is peculiarly pleasing, after so long a course of public service, and 
 of steady adherence to sound political principles, to see your retirement made more digni- 
 fied by the elevation preceding it." — Thosias Jefferson to Governor Tyler, 
 
 British Outbages on Ameeican Commebce. — Jodge Tylee Elected Goveknob. — 
 His Lettee oe Acceptance. — Jeefeeson's Lettee of Congeatulation. — 
 
 "KiCHMOND AND ItS iVlEMOEIES." — MaDISON PeeSIDENT. — EeSKINe's TeEATT. — 
 
 IiETTEE TO Madison. — Eeskine Disavowed. — Visit of Mb. Jeffeeson to Rich- 
 mond. — " The Two Plum Puddings.'' — Bold Message of Goveenok Tyleb. — 
 Fuethee Lettees to Madison. — Education in Virginia. — Goveenoe Tylee 
 ON Schools. — He Bouses the Leqislatuee to Action. — The Liteeaey Fund 
 Instituted. 
 
 I]Sr the political world, in the mean-while, our relations with for- 
 eign powers were assuming each day a more hopeless appear- 
 ance. ISTothing is drearier than the histoiy of our foreign relations 
 from 1788 to 1813 ; nothing more humiliating than the weakness 
 displayed, either from necessity or policy, with reference to the 
 haughty nations of Europe. The first administrations under the 
 guide of the Federalists had, by openly espousing the cause of 
 England, greatly contributed to crush the spirit of America, and 
 to re-establish a colonial affectation of British manners and princi- 
 ples. To search American vessels, destroy our commerce, and en- 
 slave our citizens, seemed a matter of course to the high strutting 
 English statesmen. The voluminous correspondence of that day 
 consists of one eternal succession of evasions, explanations, and 
 wiry specifications, which bewilder and prostrate the boldest mind. 
 France, fast relapsing into the Jacobinical despotism of Shays' 
 previous example in Massachusetts, soon began to vie with England 
 in insulting our nationality. The celebrated Orders of Council of 
 Great Britain declared the ports of Europe under the control of 
 France in a state of blockade, and authorized the capture of 
 American vessels bound to those ports. Napoleon retaliated by 
 
EMBAUGO AND NON-INTEECOUESE LAWS. 215 
 
 tis Berlin decree, not only declaring Great Britain to be in a state 
 'Of blockade, but forbidding the introduction of English goods into 
 the continent of Europe. Upon this England issued another order, 
 interdicting to neutrals the trade with the continent. The Milan 
 ■decree was then promulgated by Napoleon, which confiscated not 
 -only the vessels of neutrals that should touch at an English port, 
 but such as should submit to be searched. Thus the United States, 
 which professed to be a neutral, played the part of a shuttle-cock, 
 to the infinite amusement of the clever battle-door performers — 
 France and England. 
 
 The chief devices resorted to by the government of the United 
 States against the hostile policy of the belligerents were the em- 
 bargo and non-intercourse laws. But the "war party in peace" 
 -and the " peace party in war," as the Federalists were called, de- 
 prived the measures of all virtue by openly encouraging the smug- 
 gling practices of their constituents, and inspiring the English 
 mind with the belief that they must soon break down, because 
 •opposed to the public sentiment and interests of the United States 
 themselves. The bitter complaints of the ISTew England States 
 against the embargo only proved the truth of the homely old 
 adage that " curses go home to roost," and were almost amusing, 
 in view of the past. If the embargo and non-intercourse laws 
 were unjust and impolitic, it was due to the unfortunate part 
 played by their representatives in the late Federal convention; 
 since, had the report of the committee of detail remained without 
 •change, they could never have passed Congress, for the want of 
 the necessary two-thirds vote of both Houses. Briefly, then, the 
 thing stood thus: Had patriotism survived in the country, the 
 policy of Jefferson, like the similar measures adopted at the be- 
 ginning of the Revolution, would have been successful, as it would 
 iave been supported by the people at large ; but as the old Bos- 
 tonian tea spirit had given way, under the greatly vaunted ener- 
 getic government, to one of money-making and speculation, war 
 from the first was the only proper thing. That alone could unite 
 the masses.' 
 
 ' However injurious may have been the foreign policy of the administratione of 
 Jefferson and Madison to the material interests of New England, the charge can 
 never be made that it was advocated by the South from any motives of pecuniary 
 advantage to itself. Certainly no advantage could accrue to the South from 
 either embargo or war. 
 
216 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 It was in the midst of the fiercest turmoil, both at home and 
 abroad, that Judge Tyler was called from the bench, which he had 
 so long honored, to occupy the chair of the chief magistracy of 
 ■Yirginia. The whole continent of Europe was convulsed with 
 the throes of Napoleon's gigantic wars. Great Britain and France 
 were rigorously enforcing their restrictions against neutrals. The 
 British, denying the right of expatriation, claimed the resulting 
 right to searcli all ships on the high seas for British subjects.. 
 Many thousand Americans, born and raised in the United States, 
 were seized on the decks of American ships and condemned to 
 what Governor Tyler very properly styled a state of " slavery" in 
 British prisons or on board British men-of-war. The citizens of 
 the United States in vain appealed to their country for defence, 
 for the British vessels, dominating the high seas, set Tip rules of 
 allegiance in the thunder of their guns and the caprices of every 
 petty officer that walked a deck. In 1807, Great Britain sent the 
 Leopard to the Virginia capes, and grossly infringed the sover- 
 eignty of the State by capturing the Chesapeake and taking from 
 her such of her crew as were arbitrarily claimed to be British sub- 
 jects. No proper satisfaction for this outrage had been rendered 
 by England up to the time of Governor Tyler's election as governor. 
 
 From tlie Enquirer, for Saturday, December 10, 1808, I take 
 the following paragraph, descriptive of the proceedings of the 
 Legislature on Governor Tyler's election : 
 
 On Thursday the nomination of candidates for the governor's chair took 
 place, the constitutional period of our present worthy chief magistrate (Wm. 
 H, Cabell) having expired. Messrs. Baker, Murdaugh. Stith, and Walker 
 nominated John Tyler, Esq., now Judge of the General Court. Mr. Wirt 
 nominated Hugh Nelson, Esq., now Speaker of the House of Delegates. 
 Yesterday had been fixed upon by resolution of the House for the day of elec- 
 tion. Messrs. Baker, Murdaugh, Stith, and Semple spoke in favor of Judge 
 Tyler, and Messrs. Wirt, Cabell, and Barbour in favor of Mr. Nelson. After 
 these effusions had been delivered, the House proceeded, by joint ballot with 
 the Senate, to make the appointment. The committee appointed to count 
 the ballot performed that duty, and reported that John Tyler had 113 votes- 
 and Hugh Nelson 82. Mr. Shetfey, the Speaker iiro tern., pronounced that 
 consequently " the Hon. John Tyler is appointed Chief Magistrate of the- 
 Comraonwealth for one year." And we are happy to pronounce that John 
 Tyler, Esq., was a distinguished Whig of the Revolution ; that he has most 
 faithfully served his country in the executive councils, in her legislative- 
 bodies, and on the bench of justice ; that he has been a firm Republican in 
 
JUDGE TYLER ELECTED GOTEENOE. 21T 
 
 principle as well as in practice, a sincere and steadfast friend of the adminis- 
 tration of Mr. Jefferson, and a decided friend to the election of Mr. Madison, 
 and -svill of course be a zealous friend to his administration. The fortunes of 
 the republic will be secure when its destinies are committed to the guidance 
 of such oflBcers. 
 
 Judge Tyler accepted tlie office in the following note : 
 
 Gbeenway, December 11, 1808. 
 To the Speaker of the House of Delegates : 
 
 Sir: I received yesterday evening your very polite communication, by ex- 
 press, announcing my appointment to the office of Chief Magistrate of the^ 
 State. To be thus called, by so decided a vote of the Legislature, to a station 
 so high and responsible, covers me with obligations, and leaves no room for 
 me to doubt the part I ought to act oa the occasion ; more especially when I 
 hold it the indispensable duty of every good citizen to obey the voice of his 
 country when elected to a service not beyond his mental and bodily energies 
 to perform. Under the influence of this motive, and that love of country 
 which ought to glow in the bosom of every member of society, — and which I 
 truly declare I have always cherished with delight in my own, from the com- 
 mencement of my political life to the present day,— bo pleased to inform the 
 honorable Assembly that I will accept the honor conferred, and will proceed 
 to the execution of the duties confided to me (with the aid of the Council of 
 State) in due time. But when I recollect the characters who have gone before 
 me in this department of state, how justly they deserved and received the 
 applause of their country for their fidelity and public virtue ; and, moreover, 
 when I consider the critical situation of our country at this awful period, I 
 confess I approach the altar with fear and trembling. But I know my coun- 
 try is just, and will indulge a generous forbearance for those errors which may 
 unintentionally fall to my share. 
 
 That the deliberations of the Assembly may be governed by all that moder- 
 ation, wisdom, and firmness by which Virginia has been so often distinguished, 
 and which is so essential in the present crisis, is the devout prayer of their 
 and your very obedient servant, John Tyleb. 
 
 The President addressed the following letter of congratulatioa 
 to the new governor: 
 
 [President Jefferson to Governor Tyler.] 
 
 Washington, January }9th, 1809. 
 Dear Sir : I have been prevented, from a pressure of business, from sooner 
 acknowledging the receipt of your friendly letter of December 22, and with 
 this acknowledgment, I pray j'ou to accept my sincere congratulations on the 
 late testimony of public confidence manifested by the Legislature of your 
 country in their electing you to the first office in the State. Certain I am that 
 there is no one to whose fidelitj' it could have been more safely entrusted ; and 
 it is peculiarly pleasing, after so long a course of public service, and of steady 
 
•218 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEE8. 
 
 adherence to sound political principles, to see your retirement made more 
 dignified by the elevation preceding it. The crisis at which you are called to 
 the chair may be a, trying one, for, although new circumstances have arisen, 
 sufficient to turn Great Britain from a wrong to a right course, 3'et her pride 
 is so much greater than her wisdom or morality, that it may as usual pre- 
 dominate, and render rupture both probable and near at hand. The meeting 
 -of Congress in May will undoubtedly change our position. 
 
 I thank you for your kind invitation. Should my footsteps be hereafter led 
 to the city of Richmond, certainly you would be among those whom I 
 .■should see with the most pleasure; but, returning at length to those pur- 
 suits so much more congenial to my mind than the line in which I have been 
 •engaged by the history of the times in which I have lived, I do not think it 
 probable that I shall journey much from home. Should a, view to necessary 
 relaxation, or any other cause, lead you at any time into our neighborhood, it 
 it will give me great pleasure to receive you at Monticello. 
 
 Accept my salutations and assurances of great esteem and respect, 
 
 Th. Jefferson. 
 
 H. E., Gov'e Tylek. 
 
 Jefferson at this time had nearly concluded the term of his sec- 
 ond administration. Addresses poured in upon him, enthusiasti- 
 cally thanking him for his services to the nation and the Eepubli- 
 can party. The General Assembly of Virginia, in an address 
 drawn by William Wirt, warmly tendered to him the thanks of 
 the State for his able, patriotic, and brilliant administration of 
 public affairs. This address is noted for its remarkable beauty, 
 and was enclosed by Governor Tyler to the President, covered by 
 a letter from himself, expressive of his own private esteem and 
 personal gratitude. 
 
 To the letter of Governor Tyler Mr. Jefferson replied : 
 
 [Pkesidbnt Jefferson to G-overnoe Tyler. J 
 
 Washington, February 16, 1809. 
 To his Excellency Governor 2'yler : 
 
 Sir: I have duly received your favor of the 11th, covering resolutions of 
 the General Assembly of Virginia on our foreign relations, and an address to 
 myself on my approaching retirement, and I ask leave, through the same 
 channel, to return the enclosed answer. Nothing can give me more sincere 
 ■satisfaction than this kind and honorable testimony from the General Assembly 
 of my native State — a State in which I have drawn my first and shall draw my 
 latest breath, and to which I retire with inexpressible pleasure. I am ec[ually 
 sensible of your goodness in the approving terms in which you have made 
 this communication. The concurrence of a veteran patriot, who, from the first 
 -dawn of the Revolution to this day, has pursued unchangeably the same hon- 
 est course, cannot but be flattering to his fellow -laborers. I pray you to ac- 
 cept the assurances of my sincere esteem and respect. 
 
 Thomas Jefferson. 
 
"kichmond and its memories." 219 
 
 The following account of the capital and its society, as they ap- 
 3)eared when his father took possession of the governor's mansion, 
 was given by President Tyler in an address on " Kichmond and 
 its Memories," at the Kichmond Mechanics' Institute, in Novem- 
 iber, 1858: 
 
 I hasten to speak of Eichmond as I first knew it, and of some of its promi- 
 nent men as I found them, when at the age of eighteen I joined my venerated 
 father, who was at the time Governor of Virginia. The population of the 
 city did not exceed five thousand iu 1808. The surface on which the city 
 .stood was untamed and broken. Almost inaccessible heights and (ieep ra- 
 vines everywhere prevailed. The capitol Square was ruda indigestaque moles, 
 4ind was but rudely, if at all, enclosed. The ascent to the building was pain- 
 fully laborious. The two now beautiful valleys were then unsightly gullies, 
 which threatened, unless soon arrested, to extend themselves across the street 
 north, so as to require a bridge to span them. If a tree had sprung up in the 
 ^grounds, it obtained but a scanty substance from the sterile earth. Soil there 
 was little or none. The street west of the Square was impassible for much of 
 the way, except by a foot-path. The governor's house, at that time called 
 "the "palace," was a building that neither aspired to architectural taste in its 
 construction or consulted the comforts of its occupant in its interior arrange- 
 ments. A wooden enclosure separated it from the commons. It was some 
 jears after removed to make way for the present edifice, which I suppose it 
 would be regarded as little short of high treason to call by its former name — 
 -although " right royal men " have occupied it for many years past. 
 
 The brick row, now known as the Main street, which terminated at the 
 ■cross street below the American, and which had its origin near the market 
 .place, was the chief pride of the city. The streets were unpaved, and sad 
 was the fate of the unlucky wight who, otherwise than on horseback, under- 
 took to pass through the lower part of the city ; nor was it for many years 
 after that the hand of the laborer went busily to work in the improvement of 
 the city. Dr. John Adams, whose name should ever be held in grateful re- 
 membrance by the people of Richmond, during his mayoralty graduated the 
 .streets, regulated the ascents to its beautiful hills, and in many particulars 
 embellished and adorned the city. He was a gentleman of refined taste, of 
 much erudition and highly cultivated manners. 
 
 At the time of- which I have been speaking, there were but three churches 
 in the city, — the Baptist, Methodist, and Episcopal church on Church Hill. 
 The Episcopalians and Presbyterians had a minister each — Parson Buchanan 
 •and Parson Blair. I never knew two better men. They preached on alter- 
 nate Sundays at the capitol and at the old church on the hill. No difference 
 in the forms of worship were permitted to interrupt their perfect harmony. 
 The same congregations attended on their ministrations. . They taught the 
 same sublime doctrines, and were too intent on the execution of their holy 
 mission to dispute about external forms and ceremonies. Their lives were 
 unitedly devoted to the high and important task of making men good citizens 
 
220 LETTEES AJSTD TIMES OF THE TYLEKS. 
 
 and good Christians ; nor didtbey esteem it necessary, in order to accomplish-- 
 these ends, to made war upon those innocent amusements which serve as a 
 respite from labor and toil. 
 
 Buchanan's spring is identified with the " Quoit Club," in the innocent festiv-- 
 ities of which the old man sometimes participated. There were illustrious 
 men associated with him in these harmless relaxations, whose memories will 
 ever live in the heart of Richmond. Mr. Buchanan lived in a small wooden 
 house, situated in the neighborhood of Mayo's bridge, suited to his con- 
 dition of bachelorship, all trace. of Avhich, I suppose, has long since passed 
 away. 
 
 Under the roof, he was once honored by the presence of another divine, 
 who, bringing on suitable credentials and having suitable canonicals, offi- 
 ciated in the place of the two eminent ministers at Church Hill and the capi- 
 tol. During his stay in Richmond, he was hospitably entertained by Mr. 
 Buchanan. By some arrangement of the toilet, it was, however, accidentally 
 discovered that the new minister was a woman dressed in canonicals ! Some 
 time thereafter, the two aged ministers dined at the Governor's, when Brother 
 Blair indulged in innocent raillery at the expense of Brother Buchanan, to 
 the infinite amusement of all present. Mr. Buchanan had but a few days 
 before received a letter from his quondam guest, apologizing for her conduct, 
 and giving her true patronymic of Diana Smith. She was the first woman 
 in America who practically put in force the doctrine of woman's rights.' 
 
 This anecdote brings forcibly to my recollection another of your citizens of 
 that day, who was the worthy contemporary of the two parsons, and whom 
 I afterwards met at the hospitable board of his estimable son. Col. John Ru- 
 therfoord.^ It was a source of great pleasure with me to have seen him in the 
 latter days of his life, when the conversation between us ran upon the early 
 reminiscences of Richmond. I adverted to the two good parsons and Diana 
 Smith. It was a gleam of the past, which had not crossed his pathway for 
 many years. He enjoyed it heartily, and narrated all its most minute circum- 
 stances. Thomas Rutherfoord was a man of high intellect, and went down 
 to his grave at an advanced age, honored and lamented by all who had known 
 him. Shortly after I went into Congress as representative of this district, — 
 an honor of which T have ever been proud, — those questions arose which tore 
 asunder the old Republican party, and which have since been, to a great ex- 
 
 ' Parsons Blair and Buchanan are made, by the late Col. George "Wythe 
 Munford, the heroes of an interesting work, lately given to the pubUc by his 
 friends. It is entitled "The Two Parsons," and is replete with rich and rare 
 pictures of the past. In Chapter XXI. we have a description of Buchanan's spring, 
 and the "Quoit Club," or "Barbecue Club,'' as it was more properly called. An 
 esteemed citizen of Kichmond, Alexander Kutherfoord, sou of Thomas Euther- 
 foord, has informed the writer of once seeing the Chief-Justice himself down on 
 his knees, intently measuring the distance of the quoit from the peg. Such was 
 the quaint but pleasing blending of dignity and simplicity in those days. Chap- 
 ter XIX. of "The Two Parsons" gives the story of Diana Smith. 
 
 '^ Dr. John Adams and Thomas Kutherfoord married sisters. 
 
EDMUND RANDOLPH. 221 
 
 -tent the dividing line between subsequent parties. The citizens of Richmond 
 were not backward in the expression of their opinion upon those interesting 
 -and absorbing topics which sprung up between 1816 and 1821, and memo- 
 rials and remonstrances which they presented to Congress were chiefly from 
 tbe pen of Thomas Rutherfoord. They were admitted to be the ablest papers 
 presented to Congress during tliose eventful times, and amid the crowd of 
 similar papers, which came up from the country, were uniforraiy selected for 
 review by thp advocates of the measures which they opposed — the strongest 
 ■evidence of their power and force. I hope that in some form they have been 
 preserved among the records of the city. 
 
 The transfer of the General Court from Williamsburg to Richmond brought 
 along with it men of high eminence, and among others, Edmund Randolph. 
 He was soon after followed by Charles Copland, John Wickham, and many 
 • others, who made the city their place of permanent abode. It was my hap- 
 piness to have become acquainted with these at the early period to which I 
 have referred. I was admitted by Mr. Randolph as a law student in his 
 -office, and can never be too grateful for the instruction he afforded me. He 
 was the grandson of Sir John Randolph, formerly the King's Attorney General, 
 who, in his brief day, (he died at the age of forty-five,) filled a large space in 
 -the aflairs of the colony. His monument is to be seen on the walls of the 
 •chapel of William and Mary College, and his remains, along with those of 
 Peyton Randolph, the first President of Congres.s, and others of distinction, 
 are entombed in vaults connected with the chapel. Edmund Randolph en- 
 tered upon life with every prestige of success, which it was his good fortune not 
 to disappoint. He rau a most brilliant career. Under the Colonial Government 
 he succeeded his father, John Randolph, or soon afterwards became the Attor- 
 ney General of the colony, and attained the highest eminence at the legal forum. 
 •Clients flocked around him in vast numbers, and his opinions exerted great 
 influence, not only over the courts, but over the people. When the disturb- 
 ances with Great Britain broke out, he took his stand firmly on the side of 
 the colony. What oifices he filled, and what services he rendered, both be- 
 fore and after the Declaration of Independence, are recorded in history. 
 
 It is no part of my purpose to give biographies ; my design is the more 
 ■humble one of presenting pencil sketches, in which the mere outline is ex- 
 hibited. When I became personally acquainted with Mr. Randolph, age had 
 made its inroads upon him, but he nevertheless had been gently dealt with by 
 time. His person still'bore its manly and majestic mien, his full black eye 
 •still beamed with intelligence, and one left him in doubt which most to ad- 
 mire, his commanding person, his elegance of manner, or his sparkling, and 
 at the same time massive, intellect. He required all these combined to re- 
 -store him to his position at the bar after having repeatedly abandoned it for 
 high political station, and yet he achieved the difficult task, and although 
 -surrounded by strong an<l powerful athletai, he maintained his footing firmly 
 and enjoyed a large share of the profits of his profession. 
 
 Charles Copland remained in Williamsburg for .several years after the trans- 
 fer of the General Court. That old city still furnished a large theatre for for- 
 •ensic labors, and Mr. Copland became the leading counsel in all cases of in- 
 
222 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 terest. To secure his services was regarded as equivalent to securing the- 
 result of the case. 
 
 About that time John Wickham, quite a young man, appeared at the bar, 
 and soon became a man of mark. It was in my twenty-first year that I came- 
 to Richmond, as counsel in a case which had been sent from a county below, 
 and which I had conducted in the court of that county. I consented, after 
 much urgency, to come here, upon the understanding with my client that L 
 should not be expected to do more than furnish Mr. Wickham, who had been 
 employed by my client, with a statement of the case. Mr. Wirt had been 
 employed by the defendant. I stated to Mr. Wickham the simple purpose- 
 with which I had followed the case. He drew me without the court-room to- 
 expostulate with me. Upon my declaring to him my utter confusion at the 
 idea of speaking in a case wherein Mr. Wirt and himself were employed, he 
 said, " That is a. mere bugbear. When I went to the bar (said he), I became- 
 engaged in a case in which my fee, dependent on success, was a large one. 
 The lion in my way was Charles Copland. When the day arrived for the 
 trial of the case, the terror increased upon me, and so continued until I fell in 
 with your father, who was one of the judges of the court, who enquired as to- 
 my success at the bar. I replied that I had on that day a case coming on 
 which would yield me a good fee, but that I was terrified in having to en- 
 counter Mr. Copland. 'Pooh, pooh,' said the Judge, 'all nonsense; if the- 
 law is with you, the court will take care of the balance.' Thus encouraged, T 
 entered on the argument and gained the cause. So much (said he) for high 
 sounding names at the bar. You must open the case." 
 
 I did so, — in fear and trembling, however, — and soon after lost myself in the- 
 ingenious sallies made during the rest of the day between the two eminent- 
 counsel. The success in the case which he had mentioned to me was followed 
 shortly after by the removal of Mr. Wickham to Richmond. Here he found' 
 " foemen worthy of his steel." 
 
 At the time to which my narrative chiefly relates, the Richmond bar was- 
 equal to any other in the Union. 
 
 It consisted, without a metaphor, of a constellation of talent — Mr. Randolph, 
 Mr. Wirt, Mr. Wickham, Mr. Hay, Mr. Call, Mr. Warden, along with others- 
 scarcely inferior in abilities. Chief-Justice Marshall had, years before, put 
 on the robes of the Chief-Justice. How he wore them, is too well known to 
 require me to say. Mr. Wickham occupied the foremost rank in the profes- 
 sion. The accomplishments of his mind, great as they were, were fully 
 equalled by the accomplishments of his person. His form was light, airy,, 
 and elastic, his manners highly cultivated, his address admirable, his conver- 
 sational power rarely surpassed, his wit racy and sparkling, while his large, 
 lustrous eyes, accompanied by the smile that played upon his lips, seemed to 
 light up all around. I never knew a man who was better suited to all the 
 purposes of exalted station — I mean not merely those accomplishments so 
 necessary to be cultivated by all in order to make the social circle of one's- 
 neighborhood agreeable, but something more ; as a diplomat, he would have 
 been admirable; as a Secretary of State, unsurpassable. I have no reference 
 to party politics, none whatever. I speak only of men in their capacity for 
 usefulness. 
 
WIET, HAY, CALL AND WARDEN. 223" 
 
 William Wirt was at the time in the height of his fame. He had rendered 
 himself conspicuous, as well by his writings as by his displays at the bar. 
 His speech, some years before, at the trial of Aaron Burr, will long be cited 
 as one of the choicest gems of American eloquence. He was the antagonist- 
 counsel of Mr. Wickham in that celebrated trial, as well as in other important 
 cases from time to time occurriug in the courts, and it was difficult to decide 
 which most to admire, the splendid imagery of the one, or the keen and cut- 
 ting satire of the other. 
 
 The idea almost universally prevails that high and brilliant eloquence is- 
 rarely associated with great reasoning power. I think there is much error 
 in this The garden of the mind is rendered more attractive and beautiful 
 by the many flowers that adorn it; and where they grow, without being arti- 
 ficially forced, they not only give lustre to the reasoning faculty, but lighten 
 the whole pathway, and make that faculty more clear and bright, — nay, often 
 a metaphor condenses into a single sentence the entire argument. I might, 
 illustrate this in the most forcible manner by quoting the words of Patrick 
 Henry in the convention of 1788, upon the subject of adopting the Constitu- 
 tion without previously amending defects which all admitted to exist : "What, 
 sir ! (said he) will you go into a dungeon, and for what ? to get out again ? 
 Beware, lest the bolts and bars of Federal authority shall shut you in when 
 you are once in." 
 
 In that brief sentence he surrounds you with all the powers of the Federal 
 government, — its forts at the mouths of all the principal rivers, its army, its 
 navy, its power to lay and collect duties, taxes and imposts. You see, you 
 feel, you touch the power you are parting with, and the hazard you run in 
 conceding it before surrounding yourself with guaranties and securities. 
 While Mr. Wirt's style was classic, figurative, and flowing, his reasoning was 
 powerful, and often overwhelming. At an after day he changed his residence 
 to Baltimore, where he measured swords with William Pinkney, of Maryland, 
 and it is praise enough to say that he lost nothing by the conflict. 
 
 Of George Hay and Daniel Call I can speak but briefly. Mr. Hay's man- 
 ner of speaking was like himself, stately and studied. His style in writing 
 gives a just idea of his style in speaking. His letters, published in the En- 
 quirer about the time to which I refer, under the signature of " Hortensius," 
 were universally read and much admired. As the United States District- At- 
 torney he prosecuted Aaron Burr with marked ability. Mr. Call pretended 
 to no display, to no trick of oratory. He accomplished everything by his ex- 
 tensive and well digested legal learning, which constituted him on all occa- 
 sions an adversary of great power. 
 
 John Warden cannot be so hurriedly dealt with. Nature, so generally 
 beautiful in all her productions, sometimes apparently distorts and disfigures, 
 as if for the sole purpose of rendering more to be admired her perfect handi- 
 work. So had she acted in the case of John Warden, — " Old Jack," — as he 
 was familiarly called at the bar. His structure was seemingly reversed and 
 everything out of place. His mouth was enormously large, -and yet his 
 tongue was too large for his mouth, which rendered his articulation muddy 
 and indistinct. Any one could sketch his likeness. It was on all the walls. 
 
'324: LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 of the Capitol. I remember one sketch particularly, which was exceedingly 
 striking, and had written over it what purported to be his epitaph. The last 
 -lines I only retain in my memory : 
 
 " Reader, tread lightly o'er his sod, 
 For if he gapes, you are gone, by .'' 
 
 He often facetiously declared that his parents had twelve children, and that 
 he was the handsomest of the set. And yet, if nature had in a freak so illy 
 uiade up his person, she fully compensated for it in the formation of his mind. 
 That was a gem of much value, and caused one to forget the defects of the 
 setting. Unquestionably the best conveyancer in the State, possessing much 
 wit, profoundly versed in the law, and adding to all these pleasantry and 
 good humor, every one liked him, and he was accordinglj' surrounded with 
 clients. 
 
 These brilUant lights of the bar have all passed away. They have been 
 -Succeeded by others, and these others have had their successors ; and yet it 
 may well be questioned whether any of the more modern knights of the 
 forum could poise a lance with more skill, or strike an adversar)' a heavier 
 blow. 
 
 I might, gentlemen, continue to draw the portraits of others not less eminent 
 in the various departments of life than those I have so hurriedlj' sketched — 
 of the judges, eminent and learned, who sat daily as impartial umpires be- 
 tween these great contestants, — of St. George Tucker, who has illustrated the 
 science of the law by his able Commentaries on Blackatone, as well as by nu- 
 merous law decisions, — of William Flemming, whose integrity in public and 
 ^private life no man ever questioned, — and of Spencer Roane, whose opinions 
 are alike oracular on politics or law. I might speak of the learned faculty of 
 physicians who presided at that day like good genii over the health of the city, — 
 of Drs. McCluug, Lyons, McCaw, Foushee, Greenhow, and others, their com- 
 peers,— of many of your merchants, who gave impulse to trade, and left be- 
 hind them honorable names, — of your industrious mechanics, whose merit 
 has been in building up your city, and giving it its present shape and char- 
 acter, among the foremost of whom in that day was Col. Tompkins, the 
 -Strokes of whose hammer is seen in all your streets and avenues. But time 
 .is not allowed me to do more than mention their names, — names that should 
 be precious to the memory of Richmond, and abide with it always. 
 
 I might also speak of occurrences in after j'ears, and in some degree throw 
 a gloom over the evening by adverting to that terrible night on which, from 
 festivity and enjoyment, Richmond was plunged into an abyss of woe. I 
 might awake anew the flood of grief by depicting the death of two hundred 
 of the citizens by fire and smoke. I might exhaust panegyric in detailing 
 the heroism of Geo. William Smith, the noble governor of Virginia, who per- 
 ished in the effort to save others, regardless of himself and reckless of the fate 
 that befell him. 
 
 I turn away from the past, and hasten to greet you on your present pros- 
 perity. In less than a century, Richmond has grown up from a handful of 
 settlers into a population of 45,000. Steam comes now to its aid, and already 
 converts it, in all but in name, into a port of the sea. The interest taken in 
 
MADISON ELECTED PEESIDENT. 225 
 
 ithis Institute, where is collected so great a display of machinery, so replete 
 with fibre and nerve and muscle, as seemingly to require nothing but the 
 Promethean fire to give it life and motion, and being and vitality, — the unlim- 
 ited and unstinted power of water suited to constitute this city the Manchester 
 of America in innumerable manufacturing establishments, which at no distant 
 day are certain to arise, — all seem to concur in holding out for Richmond a 
 bright and prosperous future. All hail to that future, when the city of the 
 lofty hills shall be clothed in " raiments of fine linen and pearls of great 
 value.'' 
 
 Mr. Madison had been supported hj Governor Tyler against 
 tlie rival claims of Mr. Monroe. On the former's election to the 
 chief magistracy of the Confederacy, he took occasion, in the 
 letter following, to offer his congratulations to Mr. Madison, who 
 was then Secretary of State : 
 
 [GovEENOB Tyler to the Sbceetart of State.J 
 
 Richmond, February 25ih, 1809. 
 
 Sib: Colonel Miles Selden informs me he has made application to fill the 
 vacancy occasioned by the death of Mr. Page, and has requested me to speak 
 of him to you only as I think he deserves, that his pretensions may ac- 
 company those which T doubt not before this have been placed in your view. 
 This is a delicate and interesting subject both to you and me. To you, be- 
 ■cause in many cases your appointments must be made on the recommenda- 
 tions of gentlemen on whom you think you can safely rely. To mislead you, 
 therefore, in this respect would be iiighly reprehensible, if not criminal in 
 any one. As to myself, I feel a considerable delicacy in saying anything 
 which may have a tendency to counteract what I have already said in favor 
 of Mr. Daniel Hylton, (whom I have always believed a very worthy man), but 
 previous to any knowledge of Colonel Selden's application. I, therefore, 
 cannot forbear, when called on by him, to pay that tribute so justly dne 
 to his character. I have known him from his early life to the present day, 
 and can truly say he has been undeviating in his political course through 
 every change and scene of struggle, and in private life most honorable and 
 amiable. 
 
 It would be difficult to choose amiss between these gentlemen, and, there- 
 fore, I hope to be excused the liberty of laying their characters before you in 
 their true colors. 
 
 Before I close this letter, suffer me to congratulate you on the late honor- 
 able and distinguished evidence our country has given you of its esteem and 
 confidence in your promotion to the highest office of government ; but you will 
 have to pay a very heavy tax indeed for it, which the wise and virtuous al- 
 ways must pay in times of trouble and difficulty, to the envious part of the 
 world. You will have venal characters enough to deal with, but you will, I 
 hope, notwithstanding, conduct the State vessel through the stormy sea, and 
 25 
 
226 LETTERS AND TIMES OP THE TTLEKS. 
 
 then retire to your own vine and fig-tree with all your honors thick upon 
 you, and the love of all good and sensible men, as your predecessor will shortly 
 do. 
 I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of esteem and respect. 
 
 Your Excellency's most obedient servant, Jno. Tylee. 
 
 A momentary gleam of hope lighted up the gloom of our foreign 
 relations in the spring of 1809. Erskine, the resident British 
 minister, showed a noble spirit of accommodation, and between the 
 President and himself, an arrangement, highly advantageous and 
 honorable to both countries, was made. This result was promulgated 
 with a proclamation of the President, suspending the non-inter- 
 course laws after the 10th of June, in reference to Great Britain and 
 her dependencies. The news of the arrangement was received with 
 joy by all the people, and by the Federalists especially, who cited 
 the generous spirit of England as a proof that the wicked folly of 
 the adixiinistration had been the trouble all along. Governor Tyler,, 
 in terms not very complimentary to Congress, addressed the Presi- 
 dent as follows : 
 
 [Governor Tyler to President Madison.] 
 
 Richmond, April 'M, 1809. 
 
 Dear Sir : I received your favor, which enclosed the correspondence with 
 the minister of G. B. out of which a full redress of all our injuries and insults 
 may grow, unless public faith, which has been so long the sport of the old 
 world, should again be violated. I rejoice much at the prospect of a peace 
 with that nation, and all others; but I see also a difBcultj' in going clear of 
 alliances which may involve a war with the continent. The propositions are 
 broad and are capable of embracing all the subjects of our interest, which I am 
 sure will be judiciously managed, so as to leave the good and worthy part of 
 society no cause to regret what shall take place. Be pleased to receive my 
 congratulations on this mighty victory, obtained by foreign events more than 
 our country's firmness or British morality. 
 
 This overture will perhaps induce the necessity of sending a messenger to 
 our minister in England, and it occurs to me that Mr. Alex. McRae would 
 make an excellent one ; a well informed gentleman, whose health will be im- 
 proved by a journey thither, and it would be a balm to heal the wounds he has 
 received from rather too much intemperance in some who thought with me 
 on some public measures.' 
 
 I hint this with great deference, as I always shall every subject I may take 
 the liberty of expressing to you. 
 
 That your administration may he crowned with the approbation of all good 
 men, is the ardent wish of your most obedient, humble servant, 
 
 Jno. Tyler. 
 
 ' Mr. McKae supported Mr. Monroe for the Presidency against Mr. Madison. 
 
EESKINE DISAVOWED. 227 
 
 To his son-in-law, Governor Tyler wrote in the month of May 
 following : 
 
 [To Thomas E. Waggaman.] 
 
 Richmond, Va., May 11, 1809. 
 
 My Dear Sir: Mr. Semple's horses I knew nothing about 
 
 except the price, which you were to judge of ; and as to the bond of Warren and 
 Wilkins, he has received not a shilling of it yet. The injunction was dissolved, 
 and now there is a suit on that injunction bond. God knows when the money 
 will be gotten. I will negotiate it if I can, and be accountable for it. Let 
 your horses go for land, even if the price is not better than you gave. Land 
 must rise, and produce a good speculation in the end. Our differences with 
 England are settled ; the restrictions taken off the trade ; and by order of the 
 President, the militia requisition discharged by my proclamation. Your cotton 
 will soon sell for a good price. In all probability the trade of the continent 
 will be open soon. We expect you in the summer. Polly May is with us, and 
 is much admired; and well she may be, there is no finer girl. She complains 
 of your not performing a promise of writing to her. As to Martha, she gives 
 out expecting any further friendship from her, as she is well convinced, some 
 envious and jealous friend has made the fatal change by misrepresentation of 
 her. She rests contented in her own integtity, until the mists are swept away 
 from her once revered and loving friend's vision, when she will see her in the 
 light she always was, as to her, more sincere than some others. She is going 
 to Kentucky ; her brother has been here, and persuaded her to go. 
 
 My love to all. Tours &c., Jno. Tyler. 
 
 P. S. I wish you would send T. L.'s bond for the negro, and say no more 
 about it ; for it is not worth while to embitter our days when the cup can 
 be so easily removed from our lips. There is a way of expressing our con- 
 tempt for a measure and not let our own consequence down. Jno. Tyleb. 
 
 But the sunshine was only momentary. It soon became known 
 that the advances of the British minister were unpalatable to his 
 government. The arrangement made by him was formally disa- 
 vowed by the British cabinet, on the ground that he had exceeded 
 his authority. Mr. Erskine was recalled and Mr. Francis James 
 Jackson appointed in his place. This action on the part of Great 
 Britain greatly incensed tlie public mind, and had Congress fol- 
 lowed it up by an immediate declaration of war, the administration 
 would have unquestionably carried the people along with it. Mr. 
 Madison's somewhat temporizing character let the opportunity slip, 
 and he was afterwards forced into the war with a divided country. 
 Mr. Jackson, the new minister, was received with no very cordial 
 feeling in the United States. The late transactions were not con- 
 ducive to such; and his reputation had preceded him, as a cold, 
 hard, and illiberal diplomatist. His conduct while here served 
 
228 LETTEES AiTD TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 only to increase these antipathies. His official letters to Mr. 
 Smith, the Secretary of State, were couched in a tone of insuffer- 
 able arrogance and disrespect. He did not hesitate to intimate 
 that the President and his cabinet were fully aware of the absence 
 of authority on the part of the late minister. Mr. Madison very 
 properly resented this insolence, and finally directed Mr. Smith to 
 receive no further communication from the British envoy. Suc- 
 ceeding this the President requested his recall. This request was 
 accordingly complied with, but the British government, with custo- 
 mary haughtiness, made no apology for his conduct while here. 
 
 In the month of October of the same year, Mr. Jefferson, who 
 had remained in retirement at Monticello since the inauguration 
 of Mr. Madison, paid a visit to Richmond. He was received with 
 every mark of respect by the citizens and officers. His stay Is 
 connected with an amusing story of the Governor's son, John, who 
 was now studying law in Eichmond under Edmund Randolph, 
 late Attorney General and Secretary of State under Washington. 
 Mrs. Randolph, his wife, was a daugliter of Robert Carter Nicholas, 
 who, as we have seen in our first chapter, had had the direction of 
 Governor Tyler's studies in the law. The relations of friendship 
 then formed with the Kicholas family had continued till the present 
 day. It was in this way that the Governor's son, John, fell under 
 the directions of Mr. Randolph. Mr. Jefferson arrived on Friday, 
 the 20th of October, 1809. Made the immediate recipient of an in- 
 vitation from the Nineteenth Regiment of Virginia Militia to dine 
 at their armory, he attended the banquet at four o'clock the same day, 
 the appointed time, attended by the Governor, Drs. Hare and Jones 
 of the council. Col. James Monroe (afterwards President), Col. 
 Skipwith, Mr. Thweat, and Mr. Baker. The commandant of the 
 regiment presided. Among the toasts was one by Mr. Jefferson : 
 
 The Militia of the United States, the bulwark of our independence. 
 
 The same day the following note was written to Mr. Jefferson 
 by Governor Tyler : 
 
 The Governor's respects to Mr. Jefferson, and begs leave to inform him that 
 the Council of State, and many gentlemen, wish his company at the Eagle 
 Tavern, to-morrow, at four o'clock. If this be agreeable to him, he will please to 
 signifj' his inclination, and in that case he will be good enough to dine with 
 the Governor the next day, with his companions. 
 
 October 20th, 1809. 
 
229 
 
 A large and brilliant company attended at the Eagle tavern on 
 Saturday. The invited guests were Mr. Jefferson, the three judges 
 of the Court of Appeals, Colonel Monroe, ex-Governor Cabell, 
 Messrs. Jarman Baker, A. Thweat and Colonel Skipwith. Gov- 
 ernor Tyler presided, and Dr. WiUiani Foushee, an eminent physi- 
 cian in Kichmond, was vice-president. Among the volunteer 
 toasts, was one by Mr. Jefferson : 
 
 The freedom of the seas. 
 One by the Governor : 
 
 Thomas Jefferson, first in the hearts of his country. 
 And one by Dr. Foushee: 
 
 The Grovernor of Virginia, the warm and undeviating Bepublioan. 
 
 These toasts were received with roars of applause, and after the 
 utmost hilarity, and amid universal good humor, the company 
 broke up. The next day, Mr. Jefferson, according to invitation, 
 was expected at the Governor's mansion. Suitable preparations 
 were made for his reception. The Governor, who regarded Mr. 
 Jefferson as the savior of American liberty, was fully impressed 
 with the importance of the occasion. He summoned his major 
 domo before him, and imparted to him the necessary instructions. 
 Now it happened that that responsible position was held by no 
 less a personage than John, his second son. Wat was practising 
 medicine at Greenway, and all his elder sisters were married, and at 
 their husband's homes. " John," said the Governor, " Mr. Jefferson 
 will be here to-day, and be sure you have a good dinner." " Yes, sir," 
 said John, with delight; and off he went to interview the butler. 
 
 Now, upon John's youthful mind, two ideas above others had 
 impressed themselves. One was a devoted admiration for Mr. 
 Jefferson, inherited from his father; and the other an almost equal 
 appreciation of "plum-pudding." The sequel will show how he 
 succeeded in enhancing their mutual importance. 
 
 Mr. Jefferson, at the proper hour arrived at the gubernatorial 
 residence, and John was enabled to gaze upon the great man of 
 whom he had heard so much. Assuredly the ex-President had 
 heard of John, at " William and Mary College," when he wrote, in 
 1804, of the "three sons of Judge Tyler, and hopeful ones, too; 
 young men of virtue and talents, worthy to receive and likely to 
 preserve the splendid inheritance of self-government which we 
 
230 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 liave acquired and shaped for them." John was, therefore, not a 
 stranger to him. The interval between. Mr. Jefferson's arrival and 
 dinner passed rapidly. It was spent by the elder gentlemen in 
 discussing the politics of the day, and reviving the memories of 
 " auld lang syne." John sat quietly by, drinking in the words of 
 wisdom. Eeverence, indeed, was an eminent trait in his char- 
 acter. " His intercourse with the sages' about him filled him with 
 awe ; and, by a habit of close attention to the conversation of those 
 better informed than himself, he picked up funds of information 
 that were remarkably extensive and well digested for his years. 
 
 At length the important announcement was made that dinner 
 was served. Instantly John was all enthusiasm and action. He 
 led the way to the strictly private entertainment prepared, and 
 showed a pardonable vanity in marshalling his servants and order- 
 ing the repast. 
 
 The first course passed off most delightfully. John still listened 
 in silence to the eloquent conversation of the guest. That great 
 lamp was near him which lighted his steps in after life, and he 
 opened his heart to receive its glorious rays. The dishes were 
 taken away, and the gentlemen present sat awaiting the dessert. 
 Suddenly a door flew open, and a negro servant appeared, bearing, 
 with both hands raised high above his head, a smoking dish of 
 plum-pudding. Making a grand flourish, the servant deposited 
 it before Governor Tyler. Scarcely had he withdrawn before 
 another door flew open, and an attendant, dressed exactly like the 
 first, was seen bearing another plum-pudding, equally hot, which, 
 at a grave nod from John, he placed before Mr. JeflFerson. The 
 Governor, who expected a little more variety, turned to his son, 
 who sat surveying the puddings with tender interest, and ex- 
 claimed, in accents of astonishment, " Tvjo plum-puddings, John ; 
 two plum puddings! "Why, this is rather extraordinary !" "Yes, 
 sir," said the enterprising major clomo, "it is extraordinary; but" 
 (and here he rose and bowed deferentially to Mr. Jefferson) " it is 
 an extraordinary occasion^ 
 
 In his old age, Mr. Tyler enjoyed telling this anecdote of his 
 first meeting with Mr. Jefferson, and it is almost unnecessary to say 
 that his love for plum-pudding continued as long as his admiration 
 for the great statesman. Both were co-extensive with his life. 
 
 Before taking his departure from Eichmond, which he did next 
 
RESOLUTIONS OF THE VIEGINIA LEGIBLATUEE. 231 
 
 day, Mr. Jefferson presented Governor Tyler with a seal, reading 
 on its face J. T., the Governor's initials, but leaving as its impres- 
 sion T. J., corresponding to his own name. This memento the 
 Governor wore on his person with pride and pleasure until his 
 death in 1813. It is yet preserved in a branch of his family. 
 
 The following December, Governor Tyler sent to the Legisla- 
 ture his first annual message. Great Britain and France were 
 still struggling for the mastery of the world. Proceeding from 
 almost the hour of our independence, these nations — Great Britain 
 especially — had never quit insulting and grossly violating the neu- 
 tral rights of the United States. A resolution was moved in the 
 Legislature, December 13, 1808, which proved that Virginia, at 
 least, was fully aroused to the just demands of national honor. It 
 w^as in these words : 
 
 At a moment when the rights of our country have been assailed by the en- 
 <;roaohments of foreign nations, whose conduct towards the United States has 
 been regulated by no law of nations, nor by any principle of justice ; at a mo- 
 ment when our commerce is menaced by the iniquitous edicts of Great Britain 
 ■and France, our flag insulted, the great highway of nations, which nature and 
 nature's God have allotted for the use of all countries, has been actually turn- 
 piked by the tolls and tribute of the British government, for the benefit of the 
 British exchequer ; at a moment when it becomes every American to rally 
 around the measures of his government, to vindicate the undoubted rights of 
 Ms beloved country, and to declare " for bis country or against his country," 
 
 Resolved, That a committee be appointed to prepare an address to the 
 ■Congress and President of the United States, pledging every nerve and every 
 exertion of this Legislature to support the rights of the United States, to en- 
 dure every privation and pain, and to perish upon the ruins of our country 
 rather than abandon its rights, its honor, and its independence. 
 
 The committee appointed in pursuance of this resolve reported, 
 six days after, a preamble and certain resolutions, which latter, 
 adopted unanimously, were as follows : 
 
 That it is better for us to cease to exist as a nation than to exist under 
 dishonor and violated rights. 
 
 That the aggressions of Great Britain and Prance have infringed our 
 honor; have violated our rights; have usurped upon our sovereignty as an 
 independent nation. 
 
 That we will stand by the government of our country, and that we will 
 support them with the last cent of our treasure and the last drop of our blood, 
 in every measure, either of defense or offense, which they may deem expedient 
 to vindicate our injured honor and our violated rights. 
 
 This noble and inspiring declaration of the representatives of 
 
232 LETTEKS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEE8. 
 
 Yirginia, echoing almost the exact language of Governor Tyler to 
 President Jefferson, in his letter of March 25, 1806, was answered 
 back from the executive department in a manner characteristic of 
 the fiery spirit of John Tyler. The Governor was dutifully in- 
 clined to move along at the pace of those at the helm of the 
 national government; but had he been president instead of the 
 calm and equable Madison, long ago would he have forced matters 
 to a crisis, and taught the insolent foreigner a lesson not soon to 
 be forgotten ! 
 
 Council Chamber, Richmond, Dec. i, 1809. 
 
 Sir : It would have afforded me great consolation, and I am sure no less tO' 
 the legislature of my country, could it have been in my power, from events- 
 more favorable than are now passing, to have announced the prospect of a 
 happy adjustment of the existing differences between the United States and 
 the two great contending powers of Europe. But too many aggravating cir- 
 cumstances have recently occurred (more especially as they relate to Great 
 Britain) to permit a hope that so happy an issue will take place in a short 
 period. That nation has always been governed by her pride and her preju- 
 dices, or why has she seen through so false a medium ' Why has she been 
 so long the dupe of her own weakness and the misrepresentations of her venal 
 agents ? The similarity of language between this country and that, and our 
 connections with it by blood, always had more influence on our conduct than 
 was good for our political safety and happiness. Her commerce flowed un- 
 interruptedly through every channel that watered our land, and returned 
 full-freighted with the fruits of her industry and enterprise. That commerce^ 
 so fascinating in the present state of society, and so inviting to avarice, seized 
 on our affections, and bound us in chains indissoluble as adamant: Hence 
 the opposition to those measures which alone would have been efficient, if 
 they had been vigorousl}' enforced ; and hence arose those bitter animosities 
 which have poisoned the sources of social intercourse between our fellow 
 citizens, and tended to disunite them and distract our councils. 
 
 The embargo was the system which was best calculated to ensure success; 
 and long will it be regretted that want of resolution to forego the advantages 
 of a degraded commerce, and want of sound patriotism to enforce that meas- 
 ure, should have reduced our country to a dilemma scarcely recollected to 
 have occurred in the history of nations. But notwithstanding the disgraceful 
 violations of the law, which have fixed an indelible stain on the characters 
 of too many of our countrymen, its pressure was so severely felt that, aided 
 by the failure of the combined forces in Spain, an epoch was produced, in 
 which something like a friendly termination of our differences seemed to be 
 promised. Overtures were made by the British government for accommoda- 
 tion, which were met by the President of the United States with that promp- 
 titude and candor which characteriae the great and good of every country. 
 Stipulations were entered into on both sides, preliminary to a full and free- 
 negotiation on all the points in dispute. Everything required by those stipu- 
 
MESSAGE OF GOVEENOE TTLEE. 233' 
 
 latioQS was performed on our part with good faith. The militia, which had 
 been organized and held in readiness to meet aggression whensoever it might- 
 be offered by any power, was discharged ; the suspension of our commercial 
 intercourse was taken off; and a fair and wide road was opened for the com- 
 pletion of what appeared to have been happily begun. 
 
 But mark the issue 1 A new era arose on the continent, in which a final' 
 stroke was aimed at the power of France (puerile indeed I for every unsuccess- 
 ful attempt has only added strength to that power) ; the stores of Great Britain 
 were filled with American supplies ; the complaints arising from hunger, want 
 and misery were appeased ; and that government scrupled not to disavow the 
 act of its minister plenipotentiary, under the shameful pretext of its being un- 
 authorized, as if the injury were not the same to us, and as if their government 
 were not benefitted by the measure, and bound to ratify and sanction it on 
 every principle of good faith and sound morality. 
 
 Thus have we seen and felt injury following injury from the commencement 
 of the Revolution to the present day ; and negotiation succeeding negotiation- 
 without any satisfaction for what had passed, or any security against future 
 hostility. And thus have we seen, too, all those rules which bind nations, as 
 well as individuals, in the sacred bonds of justice, charity, and benevo- 
 lence, totally disregarded, and a new order of things introduced, altogether 
 disgraceful to civilized man. " Shall I not visit for these things, saith the 
 Lord." 
 
 Nor has France acted up to those principles which she professes so much 
 to admire and support. I mean the rights of neutrals and the freedom of the 
 seas. For notwithstanding the peaceful attitude we have taken, unjust and 
 severe wounds (though not so frequent nor yet so vitally fatal in their conse- 
 quences) have been inflicted by her on our rights and national honor, under 
 the idea of our attachment to Great Britain, which was supposed to have in- 
 fluenced our measures and to have counteracted her policy. For one nation 
 to retaliate on another by which it is injured, is certainly justifiable. But 
 what can justify, or even excuse, the act which inflicts a wound upon an in- 
 nocent neutral to come at an enemy ? Why not suffer the inconveniences 
 arising from the unlawful acts of some of our anomalous citizens, rather than 
 violate all those ancient maxims which were so much revered in former times^ 
 and which are the only means of sustaining a good understanding with the 
 world ? It remains for that nation to wipe the staiu from its splendid achieve- 
 ments by a proper explanation and renunciation of its measures. 
 
 Under circumstances so unfriendly, we have little to hope from the philan- 
 thropy of foreign nations, but nothing to fear for our national character and 
 independence, provided we unite in the general support of our principles and 
 government. It is time, therefore, to assume a station which will bid defiance 
 to any power, and put an end to that party spirit which has taught those 
 nations to believe that we have gone from the just standard of honest meas- 
 ures, and could be easily made a victim to intrigue or force. We have talked 
 long enough of our rights and our national honor, let us now prepare to de- 
 fend them. 
 
 It was the want of union and of sincere love of country that caused so- 
 
S34 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 many discomfitures of the European powers in their conflicts with France. 
 But for a union of honest sentiments and measures among our citizens from 
 '.the beginning to the end of our Revolution, America must still have remained 
 under colonial degradation. Let that union now be the rook of our salvation, 
 ^nd let us no longer persist in the fatal policy which has so distracted the 
 nation and paralyzed its councils. Let us again rally around our own govern- 
 iment, and convince mankind that we can neither be seduced, on the one hand, 
 by intrigue, nor driven, on the other, by force, to surrender that liberty which 
 ■was acquired by our fathers at the expense of so much blood and treasure. Let 
 us prepare for the worst, and be ready to execute with vigor whatever may be 
 ■the determination of the general government, to which belongs the constitu- 
 rtional right to decide on the momentous subjects which must fall under their 
 •deliberation at their present sitting. 
 
 What a ludicrous aspect the country presented after all the 
 vauntings of the Constitution party of 1787. Then it was pro- 
 claimed that the new Constitution would be a sort of talisman to 
 bring the world to our feet. It was a name for energy, unity, and 
 -concentration in the nation, which, of itself, would strike terror 
 into England and France ; and, lo ! the national character had sunk 
 so low that there was none so poor as to do it reverence. Dis- 
 union possessed New England ; but it was no longer one of the 
 lower orders of society; there the best men in the nation, like 
 Josiah Quincy, muttered deep of secession and the iniquities of 
 commercial laws. After all, it is the patriotism and virtue of the 
 people that constitute the great and distinctive moving power of 
 ■every government. Turkey is none the less weak because it is a 
 strong government ! 
 
 The proceedings of Congress at the session of 1809-'10 are inter- 
 esting in connection with the conduct of the British envoy, Jack- 
 son. Notwithstanding the aggravated character of his affronts, and 
 the persistent outrages of Great Britain, there were not wanting 
 men who had the hardihood to excuse, and the audacity to de- 
 fend, both him and his masters at home. But it is gratifying to 
 record that a resolution was finally adopted by Congress, pledging 
 the Legislature to stand by the executive government in its re- 
 fusal to receive any further communication from Jackson, and to 
 call into action the whole force of the nation, if it should become 
 necessary, to repel such insults, and to assert and maintain the 
 rights, the honor, and interests of the United States. The follow- 
 ing are two letters of Governor Tyler, written at this time to Pres- 
 ident Madison : 
 
LETTERS TO MADISON. 235 
 
 [Governor Tyler to President Madison.] 
 
 Richmond, January 15th, 1810. 
 
 Sir: I have the honor to introduce to your notice, George Wm. Smith, 
 Esq.," our Lieutenant-Governor, who having business in your city is desirous 
 of being presented to you, whose character he much respects. You will find 
 him full worthy of your attention as a patriot and gentleman. 
 
 I greatly fear the hint you have given Congress by your advice to place our 
 country in a proper state of defence will not be much attended to. Subjects 
 of very inferior consideration seem to engross their time. I am at a loss to 
 know what our national character is ? Certain I am that it is not what it 
 has been even thirty years ago. I believe it is degenerated into a system of 
 stock-jobbing, extortion and usury. I would, if I had the power, not only 
 interdict the trade with G. B., but I would seize British goods found on land, 
 lock up every store, and hold them responsible for consequences, and if another 
 impressment should take place, I would make prisoners of every British sub- 
 ject in the States. But this would greatly ofifend the feelings of our modern 
 patriots. By the God of Heaven, if we go on in this way, our nation will sink 
 into disgrace and slavery. Forty members who could support Jackson are 
 4t instruments for any measure. 
 
 Perhaps I have gone too far for the present notions, therefore, will con- 
 clude by subscribing myself, with considerations of high respect and esteem, 
 Your most obedient servant, Jno. Tyleb. 
 
 [Governor Tyler to President Madison. 
 
 Richmond, January 29th, 1810. 
 
 Dear Sir : Agreeable to 3'our desire, I have enclosed a draft on the Bank of 
 ■Columbia for $257.22. The balance remaining in our bank I suppose may be 
 applied to our State use ; but as I am uninformed on the subject, except from 
 you, I shall for awhile suspend the application of it. Nothing new here, but 
 that our Assembly has the palsy, as well as Congress. However, this week 
 :resolutions will be moved on the subject of our friend Jackson.^ How they 
 will get on I know not, "so thick a mist has closed our . . . rays." 
 
 I am, with sentiments of high respect. 
 
 Your very obedient servant, Jno. Tyler. 
 
 ' After the resignation of Governor Tyler, in 1811, Col. Monroe was elected 
 •Governor. Monroe was, however, after a few months, called into the cabinet of 
 Madison, and George William Smith was elected to the chief magistracy of the 
 State, to perish almost immediately in the great fire that consumed the Richmond 
 theatre during the same year. 
 
 ' On the 7th of February, 1810, the General Assembly adopted a preamble and 
 resolutions. One of the latter read thus : " Resoliied, That the General Assembly 
 of Virginia, being deeply impressed with the necessity of union among the people, 
 and devotion to the government, do hereby solemnly pledge themselves to sup- 
 port the general government in all such measures as may be deemed necessary 
 for the defense of the rights and interests and honor of the nation." 
 
236 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 There were other questions touched upon by the message of 
 Governor Tyler, nearly as interesting as that of our foreign rela- 
 tions. Alluding to the concerns of the penitentiary, Governor 
 Tyler ridiculed the difference drawn in the statute between mur- 
 der in the first degree and murder in the second. It was an inno- 
 vation, introduced from the laws of Pennsylvania, and operated 
 merely as a technicality in the interest of the criminal, and a con- 
 venient subterfuge for tampered juries. " The true distinction,"' 
 he said, "is manslaughter; and at this time some for that offense 
 receive as high punishment as others do for murder in the second 
 degree, owing to the latitude of the law as to the periods between. 
 which confinement may be imposed, at the discretion of a jury." ^ 
 The report of the committee of the House on this part of the mes- 
 sage was singularly able and elaborate. A most interesting ac- 
 count was given of the condition of the penitentiary, and the 
 Governor's position, for the most part, upheld in emphatic lan- 
 guage.^ The anomaly thus condemned still retains a place in 
 our code; but the Legislature made haste to correct the equality 
 in the periods of punishment affixed to manslaughter and murder 
 in the second degree.' 
 
 But it was on the subject of schools that the message was most 
 earnest. Mr. Tyler entered the Legislature, as we have seen, in 
 1778, when the revisal was in the hands of Pendleton, Wythe, and 
 Jefferson ; but his ardent mind had already grasped the great 
 principles of reform upon which the new code was founded. He 
 even went a considerable step beyond Jefferson in advocating a 
 thorough codification of the common law. The bill of the revisers 
 for establishing common schools received his enthusiastic support 
 in the Legislature ; and afterwards, as a judge, he never ceased. 
 
 ' Governor Tyler gave this illustration : "In the penitentiary there is a man, 
 hard upon seventy years of age, who was sentenced for murdering an aged wife, 
 by whom he has some respectable children. The period of this man's confine- 
 ment is eighteen years. Now, according to the ordinary course of nature, he can 
 have but a few years to live. Here the punishment presently ceases, and the ex- 
 ample ceases with it. And as to reformation, even if he were a young man, I. 
 should not expect much change for the better by his keeping bad company ; for 
 we always judge of a man by the company he teeps." 
 
 ' Report on the Penitentiary, Journal House of Del., Jan. I.'), 1810, pp. 64-7. 
 
 'Manslaughter is now punished by confinement in the penitentiary from one 
 to five years ; murder in the second degree, by confinement in the penitentiary 
 fiom five to eighteen years. 
 
EDUCATION IN VIRGINIA. 237 
 
 "trying to arouse the State to action on the subject. He continu- 
 .ally urged the increase of taxation to accomplish the great object 
 ■of diffusing knowledge, and repeatedly characterized the inertness 
 of the Legislature as " shameful parsimony." It is a consolation 
 to think that the subsequent establishment of the "Literary 
 Fund " for the tuition of poor children, the erection of the Univer- 
 sity of Virginia, the Virginia Military Institute, and the numerous 
 and various academies, private and public, for instructing the youth, 
 removed to a great extent this reproach from the fair fame of Vir- 
 ginia. 
 
 Certain it is that the great mass of the common people cannot 
 be what may properly be styled educated by books alone. Other 
 .agencies must teach them,l and the language employed by Gover- 
 nor Tyler in his message must be taken with this allowance, that 
 in his zeal for the highest advancement of the State, he did not 
 ^ive sufficient credit to the peculiarities of Virginia society. 
 Franklin Minor, in his MS. biography of Governor T. W. Gilmer, 
 makes this apt remark : " To my observation, no influence has been 
 so potent to inform the minds of our people as the debates of our 
 speech-making politicians in the Legislature and on the hustings. 
 They owe to it almost as much as to the influence of our colleges 
 and schools." 
 
 This is true ; for the Virginia custom of " stumping the State " 
 -converts, for the time, each politician into a teacher, who makes 
 it his particular business to impart instruction in the most popular 
 and engaging manner. The hustings, the bar, the halls of legis- 
 lation, and the pulpit, have been, and are now, a most important 
 part of the educational facilities of Virginia, and it may be said, 
 -without disparagement to other States or sections, that the solid 
 ■enlightenment of the white people of this State has been second to 
 that of no other State in the Union. Yet, after all, this could 
 never justify the apathy of Virginia as to schools; it could, at 
 most, only excuse it ; and all Virginians at the present time will 
 admit the correctness of Governor Tyler's strictures, and deeply 
 2-egret the long delay that ensued before his advice was acted on. 
 The message on this subject ran as follows : 
 
 Thirty years have passed away since we have been ranked as a natioQ in the 
 ■civilized world, and not one single complete seminary of learning, either civil or 
 military, has been established in this great and wealthy State in addition to 
 
238 LETTKES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 those which existed under auspices much less favorable than the increased 
 population and resources of our country afford, except what has been effected 
 hy lotteries and some small additional aids not arising immediately from the- 
 funds of the State. 
 
 It is true that a faint effort was made some years past to establish schools- 
 in the respective couuties throughout the Commonwealth, but even in that 
 solitar}' instance the courts had a, discretionary power to execute the law or 
 not, which completely defeated the object intended ; for in no instance has- 
 the law been complied with, to the disgrace of the County Courts, and to the 
 great disadvantage of the people, who might have been enabled to have edu- 
 cated their children upon much easier terms than can now be done ; for in our 
 present situation he must be a wealthy citizen indeed who can afford the- 
 means of educating one son, so as to place him in a condition to serve his- 
 country, either in the field or in its councils, whensoever his services might, 
 be called for — a truly melancholy picture to reflect on. 
 
 Nor have the representatives of the people, hitherto, been clear of blame in 
 so long neglecting to establish some other system, or to amend the law before- 
 mentioned, so as to ensure its execution. There cannot be a subject of more- 
 importance in a free government than that which we at present contemplate. 
 This seems to be admitted by every intelligent man who wishes well to our 
 country ; and yet so fatal is that apathy which prevails, or so parsimonious a 
 policy has insinuated itself among us, that year after year is permitted to- 
 pass away without a single attempt to attain so great and indispensable an 
 object. Neither are those old seminaries, which were established before the 
 Revolution, supported in a proper manner, either as to funds or discipline, — 
 they affording, of course, but a superficial knowledge of the various arts 
 which are so beneficial to society and ornamental to man. 
 
 I have, for the last twenty years of my life, had an opportunity, in the dis- 
 charge of my public duties as a judge, to see the mortifying picture which I 
 have here drawn, and of which experience has enabled me, in every day's- 
 travel through the State, to prove the reality. Scarcely a common country 
 school is to be found capable of teaching the mother tongue grammatically, and 
 as much of writing and arithmetic as is absolutely necessary for the ordinary 
 business between man and man. In this situation of our country, would not 
 an enlightened stranger, if he were making a tour through the State, readily 
 conclude, that in the general passion for war which pervades almost the whole- 
 civilized world, we had, for want of an enemy at our gates, declared an ex- 
 terminating war against the arts and sciences ? 
 
 Under whose wise and virtuous councils was our government formed ? — 
 that fairest, freest and best gift of hunjan policy, in which no distinction is- 
 known, or if known, not revered, except in that proportion which good sense 
 and virtue always create ; where every citizen is entitled by a free suffrage tO' 
 rise to importance in proportion to his wisdom and integrity, without the aid 
 of family connection, wealth, or fictitious grandeur. If we look back to the 
 commencement of our Revolution, history will inform us who those illustrious 
 characters were ; for their names are written in letters of gold, and enrolled in 
 the annals of our country, — on the brightest pages of fame and honor, — names- 
 
GOVEENOE TTLEe's MESSAGE. 339' 
 
 which cannot be forgotten, so long as virtue and the love of country are re- 
 vered among men. Those venerable sages had been wisely and virtuously 
 educated, and knew full well how to estimate their rights. Inspired with a 
 holy zeal for their just rights and privileges, they transfused the glowing 
 ardor through all ranks of men, till one common sentiment, the offspring of 
 truth, united every soul in the sacred bonds of union and defence, and they 
 willed themselves forever free. 
 
 On this sublime subject, I, like many others, much delight to dwell, because, 
 although at that memorable epoch I was young, yet my feeble efforts were not 
 wanting to give success to our measures ; and do we owe nothing to them, to 
 ourselves, and to our posterity, to cherish and defend our Constitution, and to 
 hand it down to the latest period of time ? A proper diffusion of knowledge 
 is the ooly certain means of accomplishing so glorious a work ; and I have- 
 hopes my country will no longer neglect to pay the proper attention to a sub- 
 ject so interesting to it. 
 
 It was a saying of Isocrates and many other sages of antiquity, "that it 
 was the duty of those who were entrusted with public affairs to teach the- 
 people by a right education the love of justice and strict obedience to the laws^ 
 and constitution." Here the fruits of virtue spring up and flourish, which 
 lead to the paths of honor and happiness ; here the horn of Amalthea is ex- 
 alted, — the horn of peace and plenty. Surely we, who have so many examples 
 before us of past times, should not neglect to profit by them, nor suffer the 
 genius of Virginia, which consecrates whatsoever it touches, to languish into 
 apathy and cold neglect. 
 
 In a rude and ignorant state of mankind, we see the gigantic strides of the 
 pride and arrogance of the few trampling on the rights of the many; usurp- 
 ing all power to themselves for centuries together, at the expense of all that 
 is dear and valuable in life, uncontrolled by any principle of justice, benevo- 
 lence, or fellow-feeling, without even a hope to the sufferers of relief from 
 such a state of degradation and oppression, until (sanctioned by Divine Provi- 
 dence) some enlightened patriot and friend of man rouses, at all hazards, the 
 spirit of opposition, and then who can fathom the depth of misery into which 
 thousands are plunged, by endeavoring to attain what they might so easily 
 have preserved by inspiring correct morals and a right education into the 
 hearts and minds of their fellow citizens in the commencement of their national 
 existence ? 
 
 It has been long a received opinion that a republican government can only 
 be supported by virtue ; and I concur in the sentiment, that virtue and repub- 
 licanism are so intimately connected that the neglect of the one will eventu- 
 ally prove destructive to the other. It is also an opinion, that a government 
 like ours cannot last so long as a, mixed or single one, which, if admitted in 
 its fullest latitude, only proves what I am endeavoring to prevent— the loss ' 
 of the moral sense, of the love of country, of the adherence to sound principles, 
 both in a civil and a political capacity, in consequence of the want of a timely 
 regard to the diffusion of knowledge. And is it an argument which ought to 
 be respected, that any other form of government should be resorted to, be- 
 cause, by its durability and irresistible tyranny, it shall be more capable of 
 
■^40 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLBE8. 
 
 bending the neck of man to the yoke of insolence and power, until every sen- 
 ■timent of honor and independence is lost, and every faculty of the soul de- 
 stroyed, to the disgrace of his nature and offence to his God, who wills that 
 .all his creatures should be free and happy, according to their deserts ? Let 
 us, therefore, spurn from us every idea inconsistent with the government 
 .under which we live and enjoy so many blessings, and convince mankind of 
 the fallacy of that doctrine by a constant attention to our true and lasting 
 interest, and by inculcating this sacred truth, "that, so long as sound morals, 
 good manners, and useful knowledge are taught among the citizens, so long 
 will our government last." 
 
 Let us figure to ourselves a country (and let that country be ours) growing 
 steadfast and strong in the principles here recommended — -and I am sure the 
 idea is not chimerical — how delightful the contemplation ! how happy would 
 that country be I Then would cease to rage all those detestable passions of 
 4he heart which deal in base detraction and false representations of virtuous 
 .and exalted characters, who have long labored, and still labor, for their coun- 
 try's honor and happiness. Then would cease that envy of the superior worth 
 and talents by which the councils of our country have been guided in safety 
 .and in peace ; and then would succeed that laudable emulation of great and 
 noble actions so conducive to the prosperity of both public and private life. 
 
 It may be expected that I should now exhibit a, plan of education, which 
 would be most likely to accomplish the great eod under consideration. 
 This might be deemed arrogant in me, as I have already, perhaps, exceeded 
 the bounds of my constitutional duty, and those marked out by my prede- 
 cessors. I shall, therefore, leave the subject in its proper, legitimate hands, 
 with but few more observations, and those confined to the seminaries already 
 established, all of which ought to be assisted and re-organized, so as to fulfil the 
 expectations of the people, and among which the college of "William and 
 Mary" claims our peculiar notice — that seminary from which, in past times, 
 sprang so many ornaments to our country, who took so active a part in 
 laying the foundations of our civil, religious, and political rights. 
 
 The buildings of that seminary are large and commodious, and well suited 
 to their intended purposes, but the funds are insufficient for the establish- 
 ment of several other professorships, viz. : of physic, anatomy, chemistry, 
 
 • etc., etc., for want of which many young gentlemen quit their native State, 
 .and seek in foreign countries what our own denies them, thereby carrying 
 their wealth with them, to the great loss of the Commonwealth and its im- 
 poverishment in that proportion, and too often bring back in return, senti- 
 ments and manners not congenial with republican simplicity. 
 
 This circumstance, moreover, has a tendency to wean them from a proper 
 -attachment to their own government, and very often renders them unfit for 
 •the various stations which it affords for the exercise of genius and capacity. 
 Additional funds for these purposes ought to be afforded to this university, 
 as in other respects it will be competent for all the great objects of its design 
 for many years to come ; but perhaps it will be necessary to alter, amend, or 
 
 • do away with the present charter, so as to place it under the control of the 
 .Legislature in some shape or other. The visitors ought to be appointed by 
 
GOVEENOE TTLEe's MESSAGE. 241 
 
 -the Legislature, and vacancies supplied in a way to prevent them from de- 
 generating into a self-created body. Perhaps every seventh year a new elec- 
 -tion should take place, to prevent any possibility of improper combinations 
 in favor of one class of students above another on account of superior wealth 
 and family connections. Eeports ought to be made to the Legislature, 
 through the Executive, of the progress made in the various branches of science, 
 as also a just account of all the expenditures. 
 
 Nor can there be a doubt of the right of the government in this respect, 
 although a futile argument is advanced to prove the contrary, on the ground 
 •of the charter by which it was established. All charters of a public nature 
 a,re for public benefit, and whensoever they fail of their object, they should be 
 altered or amended, or newly organized. No power should exist in our 
 government but what emanates mediately or immediately from the people. 
 
 Why suffer a fragment of royalty to remain among us, unless "to create a 
 longing after the fleshpots of Egypt?" Have not all the charters of our once 
 humiliated colonies been done away, and those of a better order established 
 and founded on the immutable principles of justice and the rights of man. 
 
 But to effect this great and necessary work, some additional funds must be 
 sought for, from a source which flows at this time in too narrow and con- 
 tracted a stream. The name of a tax seems to create disgust in almost every 
 mind ; but all our taxes are more in name than in reality. So inconsiderable 
 have they been in the worst of times, no instances of oppression have occurred. 
 Let us examine the subject in an unprejudiced manner, and see what propor- 
 tion our taxes at this time bear to our wealth. I will suppose a citizen to 
 possess an estate of ten thousand pounds in lands or slaves. What will be the 
 amount of his tax ? Not more than thirty dollars ; and so for a greater or 
 a smaller estate ; and is it conceivable that any reasonable man thus informed 
 would oppose the payment of such a pittance when he is also apprised of the 
 necessity of government, and the right application of the money. Never 
 have I conversed with any man, rich or poor, in this way (and it is the way 
 in which those who are better informed should converse with their fellow- 
 citizens) but he always readily agreed to the justness of the reasoning, and 
 showed a willingness to grant the most liberal contributions for the support 
 of government. 
 
 Again, let us enquire into the expenses arising from dissipation, pride, and 
 vanity over and above what would supply, not only the necessaries of life, 
 but the real comforts and many luxuries which are enjoyed; and what com- 
 parison will our taxes bear to those? It may be justly answered, not any 
 worthy calculation. Taxes which are raised with a due regard to the ability 
 of the people, and expended in the State for its various benefits, circulate 
 like the blood in animal life, which gives strength and vigor to the whole 
 system, when, if this circulation were wanting, death would ensue. As well 
 might it be said that the human body could exist without food or raiment, as 
 that the body-politic should flourish and prosper without proper and neces- 
 sary contributions. I well know how great a virtue it is in private and public 
 life to encourage economy and frugality ; but these virtues should not de- 
 generate into a parsimony which will not suffer our affairs to be thrifty. 
 16 
 
242 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 The reader must be pretty well convinced from this extract 
 that Mr. Tyler was not a man "to flatter a friend's infirmities^ 
 though they should appear as huge as high Olympus." The fierce 
 energy displayed by him aroused the Legislature to action ; and 
 although the result fell far short of his wishes, a most important 
 and beneficial step was taken in the right direction. 
 
 On the 15th December, 1809, it was ordered by the House of 
 Delegates that " so much of the Governor's message as relates to 
 the subject of education" be referred to a committee, consisting of 
 Messrs. jSToland, Preston, Stevenson, Johnson (of Isle of Wight 
 Co.), Claiboi-ne, Jeffries, Blackburne, Stanard (of Spotsylvania),. 
 Archer (of Norfolk borough), McCampbell, Laidley, Berkshire and 
 Cabell.' 
 
 On the 19th January, 1810, this committee reported, through 
 Mr. Noland, a bill (enacted into a law February 2, 1810), provid- 
 ing that all escheats, confiscations, fines, penalties and forfeitures,, 
 and all rights in personal property found derelict, should be ap- 
 propriated to the encouragement of learning, and the auditor was 
 directed to open an account to be designated the " Literary Fund." ^ 
 Many acts have been passed since that day, adding to and regulat- 
 ing the fund thus established, and the interest upon it now 
 constitutes an important element in the support of our public 
 education, — the principal being, on the 16th December, 1811,, 
 only $12,904.60, and now amounting, interest inclusive, to- 
 $1,364,759.22. But this was not all the good resulting from, 
 this first step. 
 
 The " President and Directors of the Literary Fund," having 
 thus become a conspicuous feature in the State, the Legislature,, 
 by act of February 24, 1815, to them referred the task of elabor- 
 ating a system of public instruction. They accordingly made a 
 report on the 6th December, 1816, recommending three gradations^ 
 of schools: 1, Primary schools; 2, Academies; and 3, A univer- 
 sity, capping the whole. By act of January 25, 1819, the last of 
 these, the university, was authorized, and through the restless ex- 
 ertions of Mr. Jefl'erson, erected and thrown open to the public in 
 1825. 
 
 ' Journal House of Delegates, 1809-10, p. 25. 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 74. It is understood that the Speaker of the House, James Barbour^ 
 drew the bill. 
 
■DNIVEESITY OF VIEGrNIA. 243 
 
 The large sums of money required for the accomplishment of 
 this great undertaking, together with the difficulties, which had 
 long been experienced, of a scattered population, discouraged the 
 Legislature from pursuing the system in all its details. They, 
 therefore, rested with this, and instead of establishing at once the 
 two inferior grades of schools, contented themselves with provid- 
 ing from the Literary Fund a specified sum for the education of 
 such poor children as were unable to pay for instruction. It will 
 ever remain a source of regret to the lovers of "William and Mary" 
 that it did not second Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Tyler in their efforts 
 to make it a State institution, and as such the University of the 
 State. Like Dartmouth College, it clung to its charter, and 
 another institution, founded on the popular principles of Grovernor 
 Tyler's message, usurped its place in the State. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1810—1813. 
 
 "I would, if I had the power, not only interdict the trade wilh G. B., but I would seize 
 British goods found on land, lock up every store, and hold them responsible for conse- 
 quences ; and if another impressment should take place, I would make prisoners of every 
 British subject in the States. But this would greatly offend the feelings of our modern 
 patriots. By the God of heaven, if we go on in this way, our nation will sink into disgrace 
 and slavery!" — Governor Tyler, to President Madison. 
 
 " My only regret is, that I cannot live to see that proud English nation once mure hum- 
 bled by American arms.*' — Dying words of Judge Tyler. 
 
 Lettees to Me. Jepfeeson. — Goteenoe Tylee's Second Annual Message. — 
 Ke-elected Goteenoe a Thikd Time. — Goveenoe Tylee's Addeess. — Eesio- 
 N ATioN. — Appointed Judge United States Disteict Couet. — Letteb to Madi- 
 son. —Case or Livingston vs. Jeffeeson. — Chief- Justice Maeshall and Judge 
 Tylek. — Judge Tylee on the Common Law.^His Intense Ameeicanism. — Ex- 
 
 TEACT FEOM HiS SECOND ANNUAL MESSAGE. — COEEESPONDENCE WITH JeFFERSON. 
 
 — Wae Declaeed. — FiEST Pbize Case. — Illness of Judge Tylee. — Death. — 
 Besolution of the Legislatuee. — Obituaey by Judge Roane. — Teibute op 
 His Son. — Note on the Painting and Physical Appeakanoe of Judge 
 Tylek. 
 
 THE following letters of Mr. Tyler to Mr. Jefferson, written 
 during tlie year 1810, will show how acutely alive lie was to 
 reforms affecting the welfare of the State : 
 
 [GovEKNOE Tylee to Me. Jefferson.] 
 
 EicH.MOND, May I2th, 1810. 
 Dear Sie: By this time I suppose you have finished the irksome business 
 of receiving intruders of every denomination, with all the impertinent curiosity 
 of some, and the hypocrisy of others, who will not fail to use your generous 
 forbearance as a warrant for the privilege they will take of showing to others 
 the notice they have received from a character which they cannot help ad- 
 miring, notwithstanding the part they may have acted in the great theatre of 
 party spirit, malice, ignorance and lies ; which, God knows, I have seen so 
 much of as greatly to lessen my anxiety for seeing a friend or son of mine 
 further advanced than as an honest independent gentleman ; and yet, I own I 
 could not help indulging a wish of seeing you once more on the floor of the 
 Virginia Assembly ; for be assured there is nothing now like the order and de- 
 corum that once so dignified and distinguished it. 
 
LETTERS TO JEFFEESON. 245 
 
 It is true that the knowledge of government is more diffused than formerly, 
 the arts and sciences more cultivated to a certain degree ; yet none of them 
 seem to come near that mark to which the great men of our Eevolution had car- 
 ried them. Now, there are more streams, but then there were more great rivers, 
 and this arises from the bad mode of education which prevails. A young 
 man will leave a college with no kind of knowledge of arithmetic, history, or 
 geography, although he may have graduated; this I know to be the case, 
 having examined more young men for the law than any sis judges, being so 
 convenient to " William and Mary," and under this license frequently I have 
 questioned them on those parts of science. 
 
 Our schools should be multiplied greatly, and much on the plan of that 
 which you once laid before the public, but which the Legislature was opposed 
 to on account of the expense (shameful parsimony !) as if there could be any 
 comparison between the expense of carrying that scheme into execution and 
 the advantages arising from it to society at large, while that expense would 
 serve as a circulating medium running through our own veins. In propor- 
 tion to the decline of pure morals, good manners, and sound learning, in any 
 government, will its liberty decay, and at length finally perish. 
 
 Tour presence would have brought about a great change ; but yet I know 
 you ought to rest from the labors of a stormy sea, and leave to posterity in 
 some other way what will be more advantageous to them, as they will see 
 through a medium less clouded by prejudice and folly. We admire now a 
 Sidney, and many others, who fell victims to perjury and a wicked tyranny. 
 Thank God, as the present age is, our government did not place enough of 
 power in one man's hands to effect such bloody scenes without too much dif- 
 ficulty. In the time of Mr. Adams, I confess things were carried with a 
 strong hand, and in Gen. Washington's time, under the insurrection, as it was 
 called, some very strong military usurpations were exercised : another evi- 
 dence, if any was wanting, to show how dangerous power is in any man's 
 hands, and how liable are the best men to be led astray by the designing. 
 This induced me to attach myself more to the old Federal government, with 
 some amendments as to the commercial department, etc. 
 
 The present government gives a little more splendor from patronage ; but 
 more corruption is engendered and incorporated in it, and of course less po- 
 litical happiness; hence intrigue, so injurious to freedom ; speculation, so in- 
 jurious to morals ; and hence all that scene of bitterness and detraction which 
 has stained our national character beyond retrieve. While, on the contrary, 
 the old government was simple, plain, and honest, because there were not 
 objects to gratify ambition and avarice. And yet that rope of sand, as it was 
 called, which was strong enough to carry us through the Revolution, could 
 not support us in times of peace. 
 
 How much I differ with many on this subject 1 For instance, observe a man 
 and the object of his dearest affections, — how civil to each other, how affectionate, 
 how fearful of a single false step on either side, lest it should produce a separ- 
 ation. Tie but the knot for hfe, and all those fears are dissipated, and then 
 begins domestic strife. This is not invariably the case, to be sure. Just so 
 has it been with the new government ; now for intrigue, high honors, public 
 
246 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 promotion, monopolies to advance the wealth of a few, and destroying that 
 simplicity of manners so congenial with a free government. The peace of 
 society broken up, with the loss of all that solid friendship and hospitality 
 which once distinguished our country above all others in the world. 
 
 Perhaps my picture is highly colored ; it may be so ; for I freely own I 
 promised myself better things from the Revolution. In short, I almost begin 
 to doubt whether we are bettered by the change, in point of real happiness, 
 from the beginning, so far has it progressed from the ground we first took. 
 But I will die in the good old cause, while I lament its falling off, still hoping 
 there will not be wanting patriots enough to hold the helm of government for 
 many centuries to come, and again bring it back, to first principles. 
 
 1 know full well how little I am capable of entertaining a philosopher and 
 scholar, because I am not either. You cannot expect to gather " gi-apes of 
 thorns or figs of thistles ;" but nevertheless I feel a delight in knowing how 
 well this letter will be taken for its sincere intentions, notwithstanding the 
 great disparity between us. I often think of your happy retirement, not with 
 envy but with delight. My present station is a tedious, insignificant one, and 
 has but one good trait in it, and that is this, it gives me not power enough to 
 do mischief in any other way than by the sin of neglect, which I avoid as 
 much as possible by a constant attendance on the duties of my office ; and if 
 I retire without exciting envy or ill-nature, though with a shattered fortune, 
 I shall be content. 
 
 Long have I neglected my private concerns in the engagement of those of 
 the public, and also those of the social kind, having had twenty-one children 
 to bring up besides my own, which took away so much of my life from a fair 
 chance to increase my estate, that I am much the worse, having got behind- 
 hand. However, my eldest son has graduated as a doctor of medicine, my 
 second is now commencing the practice of law, leaving a son ' and daughter'' 
 to promote as well as I can ; and my object is to fall into some little public 
 employment if I live my time out here, (or sooner) which may enable me to 
 divide my estate among my children, after paying what I owe, and so glide 
 off this scene of trouble as quiet as I can. 
 
 Judge GrifSn is in a low state of health, and holds my old office, which 
 General Washington gave him because I was not for the new Federal govern- 
 ment without previous amendments, and of course could not be trusted in the 
 British debt cases. This kind of conduct began the strong distinction which 
 has embitterred the cup of life, and in a great measure produced a spirit of 
 retaliation when the Republicans prevailed, but the British influence had the 
 best share of the above policy in the beginning, and so it has at this time in 
 almost all our measures. I never did apply for an office, but I really hope the 
 President will chance to think of me now and then in case of accidents, and if 
 an opportunity offers, lay me ddwn softly on a bed of roses in my latter days ; 
 for I have been on thorns long enough. 
 
 Congress, it seems, has done nothing; and this is doing good, some say; of 
 this, future events must evince the truth. A slave becomes contented by 
 
 ' William. ' Christiana Booth. 
 
LETTEKS TO JEFFBESON. 247 
 
 habit, unless the yoke is too severe. We have lost our resentment for the se- 
 verest injuries a nation ever suffered, because of their being so often repeated ; 
 and all we have done has been to quarrel with each other about which gov- 
 •ernment injured us most; just as if one should openly contend that three 
 was more than two ; for full that much, or more, has Great Britain done be- 
 yond all the nations of the earth put together. 
 
 Nay, Judge Marshall and Mr. Pickering & Co. found out Great Britain had 
 given us no cause of complaint. 
 
 Is it possible that a man who can assert this, can have any true sense of 
 sound veracity ? And yet these sort of folks retain their stations and conse- 
 .quence in life. 
 
 Is not this an undeniable proof of the bad state of morals in our country? 
 And what correction is there but a right education ? On this subject I wish 
 jou would (as well as on many others which you may deem useful to society) 
 once more commit your thoughts to paper, and once more I would press it 
 before the Legislature, but, I confess, without much hope of success — so 
 strange a policy governs our great council. He who can go back from the 
 Assembly, and tell his constituents he has saved a penny, secures his popu- 
 larity against the next election. This is a low, narrow system, that men who 
 are better taught are always above. 
 
 Nor will these false luminaries ever use those honorable means within their 
 power to convince the people how necessary it is the government should 
 always have a succession of virtuous and able characters to fill the various 
 stations so necessary for wise measures and a good administration of them. 
 In ten years more we shall not have a citizen who will be capable of directing 
 an army when occasion shall require. We ought to have a military school,' 
 or arms will be of little use. 
 
 I fear I have tired you with this desultory letter ; but as I write not for 
 fame, you will look over its errors with an eye, not of criticism, but with that 
 indulgence so congenial to your disposition, making allowances for the vanity 
 which courts your attention to one who will always consider it an honor to 
 be styled, your humble friend and fellow citizen, Jno. Tyler. 
 
 [Thomas Jefferson to Governor Tyler. J 
 
 MoNTlOELLO, May 26, 1810. 
 Dear Sir: Your friendly letter of the 12th has been duly received. Al- 
 though I have laid it down as a law to myself never to embarrass the Presi- 
 dent with any solicitations, and have not till now broken through it, yet I 
 have made a part of your letter the subject of one to him, and have done it 
 with all my heart, and in the full belief that I serve him and the public in 
 urging that appointment. We have long enough suffered under the base 
 prostitution of law to party passions in one judge, and the imbecility of 
 another. In the hands of one the law is nothing more than an ambiguous 
 
 ' This suggestion found fruition iu the estabUshmeut, at a later day, of the Vir- 
 ginia Military Institute at Lexington. 
 
248 LBTTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLBES. 
 
 text, to be explained by his sophistry into any meaning which may subserve- 
 his personal malice. Nor can any milk-and-water associate maintain his own 
 independence, and by a firm pursuance of what the law really is, extend its- 
 protection to the citizens or the public. I believe you will do it ; and where 
 you cannot induce your colleague to do what is right, you will be firm enough 
 to hinder him from doing what is wrong, and by opposing sense to sophistry,, 
 leave the juries free t9 follow their own judgment. 
 
 I have long lamented with you the depreciation of law science. The 
 opinion seems to be that Blackstone is to us what the Alcoran is to the Ma- 
 hometans, — that everything which is necessary is in him, and what is not in him 
 is not necessary. I still lend my counsel and books to such young students 
 as will fix themselves in the neighborhood. Coke's Institutes and Reports are 
 their first, and Blackstone their last book, after an intermediate course of two- 
 or three years. It is nothing more than an elegant digest of what they will 
 there have acquired from the real fountains of the law. Now, men are born 
 scholars, lawyers, doctors, — in our day this was confined to poets. You wish, 
 to see me again in the Legislature; but this is impossible; my mind is now 
 so dissolved in tranquillity that it can never again encounter a contentious- 
 assembly ; the habits of thinking and speaking off-hand, after a disuse of five 
 and twenty years, have given place to the slower process of the pen. I have 
 indeed two great measures at heart, without which no republic can maintain 
 itself in strength. I. That of general education, to enable every man to judge 
 for himself what will secure or endanger his freedom. II. To divide every 
 county into hundreds, of such size that all the children of each will be in 
 reach of a central school in it. But this division looks to many other fun- 
 damental provisions. Every hundred, besides a school, should have a justice 
 of the peace, a constable, and a captain of militia. These officers, or some 
 others within the hundred, should be a corporation to manage all its concerns, 
 to take care of its roads, its poor, and its police by patrols, etc., (as the select 
 men of eastern townships). Every hundred should elect one or two jurors, to 
 serve where requisite, and all other elections should be made in the hundreds- 
 separately, and the votes of all the hundreds be brought together. Our 
 present captaincies might be declared hundreds for the present, with a power 
 to the courts to alter them occasionally. These little republics would be the- 
 main strength to the great one. 
 
 We owe to them the vigor given to our Revolution in its commencement in. 
 the Eastern States, and by them the Eastern States were enabled to repeal the- 
 embargo in opposition to the Middle, Southern and Western States, and their 
 large and lubberly division into counties which can never be assembled. 
 General orders are given out from a centre to the foreman of every hundred,- 
 as to the sergeants of an army, and the whole nation is thrown into ener- 
 getic action in the same direction in one instant and as one man, and becomes- 
 absolutely irresistible. Could I once see this, I should consider it as the dawn 
 of salvation of the republic, and say with old Simeon, " Nunc dimittas Do- 
 mine." But our children will be as wise as we are, and will establish in the 
 fulness of time those things not yet ripe for establishment. So be it, and to- 
 yourself health, happiness, and long life. Th. Jeffebson. 
 
lettee8 to me. jeffeeson. 249' 
 
 [Governor Tyler to Mr. Jefferson.] 
 
 Richmond, June 9th, 1810. 
 
 Dear Sir: The gentleman who bears you this is desirous of presenting to 
 your view a model of his own invention for improving the art of distillation ; 
 and as I know how prone you are to encourage discoveries of every kind, to 
 whatever department of science they may belong, I take the liberty of intro- 
 ducing him to your notice. Whether to encourage any scheme which may 
 facilitate the means of inebriety can be proper, will depend on the use which 
 may be made of it. If for home consumption, one would think that the slow 
 method of distilling ardent spirits affords already enough for all our purposes. 
 If for foreign consumption, then the cheapest and least laborious mode of 
 bringing the agent into operation should be preferred. 
 
 I received your favor in answer to my former letter,' and am much obliged 
 for the lights you display on the subject of schools, and also for the kind sen- 
 timents you expressed as to myself, for which I return you my sincere thanks. 
 
 That you may long continue to enjoy the sweets of retirement, if it be your 
 desire, from the boisterous scenes of political life, until that final dissolution 
 may take place which all manner of men and things must submit to, is the 
 ardent wish of my heart ; and could I again see my country united in the 
 bonds of peace and brotherly love, but above all, in the free spirit and love of 
 liberty, then should I also say : " Lord, now let thy servant depart in peace." 
 
 I am, with every sentiment of respect, 
 
 Your humble friend and fellow citizen, Jno. Tylek. 
 
 [Governor Tyler to Mr. Jefferson.] 
 
 Richmond, Nov. 12th, 1810. 
 
 Dear Sir: Perhaps Mr. Ritchie, before this time, has informed you of his 
 having possession of Mr. Wythe's manuscript lectures delivered at William 
 and Mary College while he was professor of law and politics at that place. 
 They are highly worthy of publication, and but for the delicacy of sentiment 
 and the remarkably modest and unassuming character of that valuable and 
 virtuous citizen, they would have made their way in the world before this. It 
 is a pity they should be lost to society, and such a monument of his memory 
 be neglected. As you are entitled to it by his will (I am informed), as com- 
 posing a part of his library, could you not find leisure time enough to examine 
 it and supply some omissions which now and then are met with, I suppose 
 from accident, or from not having time to correct and improve the whole as 
 he intended ? 
 
 Judge Roane has read them, or most of them, and is highly pleased with 
 them, thinks they will be very valuable, there being so much of his own sound 
 reasoning upon great principles, and not a mere servile copy of Blackstone, 
 and other British commentators, — a good many of his own thoughts on our 
 constitutions and the necessary changes they have begotten, with that spirit of 
 freedom which always marked his opinions. 
 
 I have not had an opportunity of reading them, which I would have done 
 with great delight, but these remarks are made from Judge Roane's account of 
 
 ' Of May 12th. 
 
■250 LETTEES XNB TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 them to me, wlio seemed to think, as I do, that you alone should have the sole 
 ■dominion over them, and should send them to posterity under your patronage. 
 
 It will afford a lasting evidence to the world, among much other, of your 
 jememhrance of the man who was always dear to you and his country. I do 
 not see why an American Aristides should not be known to future ages. Had he 
 been a vain egotist his sentiments would have been often seen on paper; and 
 perhaps he erred in this respect, as the good and great should always leave 
 ■their precepts and opinions for the benefit of mankind. 
 
 Mr. Wm. Crane gave it to Mr. Ritchie, who I suppose got it from Mr. Duval, 
 who always had access to Mr. Wythe's library, and was much in his confi- 
 -dence. 
 
 I hope you are quite as happy as mortality is susceptible of, though not 
 quite dissolved ; and that you may remain so for many years, is the sincere 
 wish of your most obedient humble servant. Jno. Tyler. 
 
 Mr. Tyler had been re-elected governor in December, 1809; 
 and in his message, at the close of the year 1810, he alluded once 
 more to the state of our foreign affairs and the need of a system 
 ■of schools, as well as the advantages of domestic manufactures, 
 •canals, roads, etc. 
 
 EicHiioND, December 3, 1810. 
 The Honorable the Speaker and Oentlemen of the House of Delegates : 
 
 I have the honor of addressing you once more in the character of the repre- 
 sentatives of the people of Virginia, in which high and responsible station I 
 .salute you. 
 
 Another year has passed away, without any material alteration in our con- 
 cerns with foreign nations, until lately. It is now proclaimed, by the proper 
 authority, that the Emperor of France has repealed his retaliatory decrees, 
 -which have proved so injurious to our neutral rights, falling equally severe 
 ■on the innocent and fair trader as on those who have degraded the character 
 of Americans by purchasing licenses from Great Britain for the use of the 
 ocean — that great highway of all nations which no power on earth has a right 
 to interdict. But while we lament the hard fate of some, we cannot sympa- 
 thize with those who have fallen victims to their own temerity. That mea- 
 -sure, however, which indiscriminately involves the innocent with the guilty, 
 can never stand the scrutinizing eye of justice^ that sublime virtue which, be- 
 ing in itself immutable, cannot vary its measures to suit circumstances, but 
 must be the rule by which every act of man or nations is tested. Whenever 
 this sacred standard is generally departed from, power alone must govern all 
 things — a fatal and deplorable state of human affairs. 
 
 On the part of Great Britain no apology is now left for a non-compliance 
 "with her promise to repeal her orders in council (passed, as it is also sard, by 
 way of retaliation for the Berlin and Milan decrees) whensoever France should 
 repeal the latter. These nations speak to the world as if no people could hear, 
 ■see, feel, or understand but themselves ; as if America had not been continu- 
 ally groaning under oppressions of every sort, and a never-ceasing invasion of 
 
MESSAGE OF GOTEENOE TYLEE. 251 
 
 'her national rights, ever since her act of independence ; and as if adjudications, 
 -impressments, and paper blockades had not been too notorious to leave any 
 -doubt with respect to the first aggressor. But v?e have lost sight of our in- 
 juries in the unavailing attempts at negotiation, while thousands of our suf- 
 fering fellow-citizens are imprisoned and cut off from their country and dearest 
 connections. Much have we, I fear, to answer for on this account. It is now 
 -to be seen what we are to expect for our commerce ; and this must be little 
 indeed if we judge from the answer given to our minister at St. James' by 
 Lord Wellesley, since it is only to be restored to what it was previous to the 
 French decrees, leaving it, I suppose, still under the influence of the new 
 l)lockading system. All these abominable encroachments on our rights might 
 have been adjusted long since, but for the factious spirit so unfortunately 
 prevailing among many of our countrymen,- — a spirit which has led to indis- 
 criminate opposition to every wise and energetic measure, and has gone a 
 great way towards involving the United States in civil discord. 
 
 This, unfortunately, too clearly proved the baneful effects of a disunion of 
 ^sentiment, and a too great love of money, the prevailing passion of the times, 
 which would sacrifice the very independence of our country for a price — for 
 a mean and degraded commerce — a commerce which never increases the 
 wealth of any nation, without bringing into it a due proportion of the vices 
 -of other countries. It produces also what is called, in polite circles, citizens 
 of the world — the worst citizens in the world — who, having no attachment to 
 -any country, make themselves wings to fly away with from impending danger. 
 
 Commerce is certainly beneficial to society, in a secondary degree; but 
 never should it have the ascendency over the agricultural and manufacturing 
 interests. These are our primary objects. Commerce also begets a predilection 
 for everything foreign, and is too apt to engender contempt for things of our 
 •own. It permits an interference of foreigners with our government and its 
 measures, which no country but ours ever will suffer to that degree which we 
 iave experienced. Those characters, however, should know that a day of 
 retribution may come, and he who cannot honor our principles, because a 
 slave to prejudice, should at least enjoy the blessings of our freedom and hos- 
 pitality in silence, or choose a clime more congenial to his feelings and senti- 
 ments ; — 
 
 " The world Is all before him, where to seek a place of rest." 
 
 Such people fail not to intermeddle with our country's affairs, contending 
 for the superiority of foreign governments and fashions, and endeavoring to 
 ■subject the very people who foster them to foreign dominion, while, neverthe- 
 less, they are suffered, with unexampled lenity and forbearance, to go on in- 
 -creasing their wealth and fictitious consequence, under the protection of laws 
 for which they have no respect, but which ought to be regarded by them with 
 ,pious affection and unbounded gratitude. 
 
 It is a consolation to reflect J.hat what we have so much regretted, the in- 
 -terruption of our commerce, will and must turn essentially to our advantage, 
 by directing our attention to domestic manufactures, the only true ground 
 upon which a nation can be independent and happy ; for can he be said to 
 ibe truly independent whose meat and clothing hang on another's favor? 
 
252 LETTEES AKD TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 Can we not be content to wear a coat of our own manufacturing, though- 
 not so finely and handsomely wrought? Or must it be touched with the 
 finger of a foreign artist to make it pass current among the heau mondef 
 
 It is time to yield up the contemptible business of retailing foreign ideas 
 and sentiments of shreds of goods and scrips of paper to the extent which 
 has hitherto existed. 
 
 Again, by encouraging the spirit which is now prevailing for internal im- 
 provements, viz. ; canals, public roads, and machineries almost for every art, 
 a great part of our labors will be applied that way, and of course less of our 
 produce will be for exportation, while a great part will find a ready consump- 
 tion within ourselves ; and thus, by a reciprocity of services and supplies, our 
 wealth will continue to increase, and our citizens be diverted from seeking 
 their fortunes on a tempestuous sea, made more perilous by the present state 
 of the Old World, and the strength of our governments will be consolidated, 
 which, after all, are the freest and happiest that ever did exist since the first 
 institutions of civilized man, and may truly be styled " the most stupendous 
 monuments of human invention." But all these improvements must have 
 for their foundation a good system of education, and a general diffusion of 
 knowledge. The great employments of civil and military ofiScers must of 
 necessity be confided to some, while the rest of our citizens are engaged in 
 their ordinary occupations. These are important trusts, and should be placed 
 in wise and virtuous hands. But how will a succession of such men be kept 
 up without the aid of legislative patronage ? The very sentiments, as well as- 
 services, of each individual belong to the public. The sacred trust of super- 
 intending and rightly directing those sentiments, by providing and maintain- 
 ing a wise system of instruction, cannot be neglected without deservedly incur- 
 ring the severest reproaches. 
 
 The present education of our country is too superficial. The talents of our 
 citizens evaporate in long speeches ; whereas it is not the multitude of words, 
 but the sense expressed by them, that makes the man of talents ; it is not the 
 parade of self-conceit and affectation of genius which display the truly great 
 man or constitute the useful citizen, but the extensive information and sound 
 judgment, together with correct, discreet and moral conduct, all which can 
 only be obtained from honest, learned and skillful instructors of youth. For' 
 want of these, the actual useful arts and sciences are too much neglected 
 among us, and the great trust of the public happiness for ages to come, in. 
 this immense republic, deplorably jeopardized. 
 
 Great indeed is that trust, when we consider that our American domain is- 
 rapidly expanding to so vast an extent and through so many climes and widely 
 separated regions. Soon, too, we may expect to see South America assume a 
 station in the scale of nations, and become allies of the United States. It will 
 require all the efforts of genius and virtue to stand at the helm of our political, 
 vessel, and conduct her safely through storms which may arise to impede her 
 progress. We have not a breed of such great men as have filled the chair of 
 State. It becomes our duty, therefore, to cultivate and bring into life such 
 plants as discover a propensity to blossom fairly and vigorously ; nor should 
 we shrink from the undertaking upon the ground of expense, for what com- 
 
GOVEENOE TYLEe's' MESSAGE. 253 
 
 parison would that bear with the advantages arising from a wise application 
 -of our funds to this all-important end ? It would be as grains of mustard 
 iseed with the starry region, or as a, taper with the mn in its meridian lustre. 
 
 Another great and interesting object before us is the opening of our rivers, 
 -and improving and extending their navigation to the remotest corners of our 
 -State. No country is furnished with more natural advantages than ours, and 
 ,yet how feeble are our efforts to advance them, compared with those of our 
 Nothern sister States. The trade of this State is carried to Maryland and 
 Pennsylvania by means of their superior exertions. A considerable revenue 
 -might be drawn from these sources by the Commonwealth's becoming a part- 
 ner in associations and companies for the purpose of promoting schemes of 
 -improvements, which should be further assisted where their funds are inade- 
 -quate to accomplish the objects in view. It is believed, also, that a consider- 
 able intercourse would take place between this State and those of Tennessee 
 and Kentucky, if they were met with a liberal policy. 
 
 A few days after the publication of this message, Mr. Tyler 
 -was re-elected governor for a third year (the constitutional limit 
 •of his office till after an interval of four years). Col. Monroe, 
 afterwards President, was appointed head of a committee to ap- 
 prise the Governor of the fact. It may be worth the space to 
 give Mr. Tyler's reply : 
 
 Mr. Monroe, from the committee appointed to inform John Tyler, Esq., of 
 his re-appointment to the office of governor or chief magistrate of this Com- 
 monwealth for one year, reported that the committee had, according to order, 
 performed their duty, and that the Governor was pleased to make the follow- 
 ing reply : 
 
 Gentlemen : I receive the notification of my third appointment by the 
 liCgislature of my country to the office of governor or chief magistrate of this 
 ;State with all that sensibility which might reasonably be expected to arise 
 "from a grateful heart. 
 
 The motives which you were pleased to say induced the first call for my 
 public services in the executive department will be remembered by me with 
 ^'eelings not easily to be expressed, and if upon due reflection my past life can 
 be received so as to produce a full conviction of my having done my duty ac- 
 cording to the talent given, I shall be truly happy. 
 
 With you, Mr. Chairman, as with many of my fellow-citizens yet alive, I 
 have had a long political course, and I trust that if one of us have at any 
 -time, however trying, doubted the righteousness of our cause, or had reason 
 -to regret those privations which we sustained in the arduous struggle for our 
 independence, the fruits of which we so abundantly enjoy above all the civil- 
 ized world, and which it is devoutly hoped we shall always cherish and pro- 
 -tect with truly Eoman ardor and virtue. 
 
 Be pleased to inform your honorable body, that I will again enter on the 
 •duties of the office with the same zeal and assiduity which I trust my past 
 
254: LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 conduct has evinced, and for the polite and friendly manner in which your- 
 communication has been made, accept my warmest acknowledgments. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, however, did not remain in office the whole period 
 of his third year. Soon after his re-election Mr. Madison, in ac- 
 cordance with the wishes of Mr. Tyler's friends, tendered him the 
 judgeship of the United States District Court for Virginia,^ made 
 vacant by the death of Judge Griffin. The Grovernor's first public 
 experience had been in the Admiralty, and the District Court was, 
 therefore, of all offices the one most agreeable to him. He, accord- 
 ingly, accepted the tender, and in a note of great dignity resigned 
 the chief magistracy of the State into the hands of the General 
 Assembly, who immediately elected Mr. Monroe to be his suc- 
 cessor. Mr. Monroe was soon appointed Secretary of State under 
 Madison, when he also resigned, devolving the duties in the re- 
 cess of the Legislature on the Lieutenant-Governor, George Wil- 
 liam Smith. This led to the promotion of the latter to the first 
 office on the 5th of December, 1811. On the 26th of the same 
 month. Governor Smith lost his life in the fire that consumed the 
 Kichmond theatre, and James Barbour became governor. Thus- 
 the State had no less than four governors in the course of one- 
 year. 
 
 Restored once more to the bench, Judge Tyler devoted him- 
 self with his wonted assiduity to public business. The docket of 
 the District Court was crowded at this time with an unusual num- 
 ber of cases coming under the non-intercourse laws. In 1811, 
 many seizures were made of vessels detected violating them, and 
 in the fall of the year we find Judge Tyler, with his usual zeal in 
 behalf of reforms, writing to the President : 
 
 [Judge Tyler to President Madison.] 
 
 Greenwat, Va., October 2%th, 1811. 
 
 Sir: Great delay and inconvenience attended the last court at Norfolk, 
 owing to there not being an advocate on the spot where most of the admiralty 
 business is done. 
 
 Many seizures have been made, and vessels detained, to their great injury 
 and sometimes oppression, the owners and commanders thereof not being in- 
 formed for a length of time of the specific charges against them. The law 
 very properly requires the libel to be first filed, and then follows the citation ;. 
 but this has hitherto seldom been done, on account of the attorney for the 
 District residing in Richmond, where his duties also carry him. 
 
 ' At this time there was only one district in the State. 
 
LETTEE TO PKESIDENT MABISON. 255- 
 
 The public ofBcers often want advice before they make seizures, to wait for 
 which would frequently defeat the object intended. Witnesses in these cases- 
 are generally sea-faring men, here to-day and there to-morrow; nor can de- 
 positions be taken unless by consent, until the court has jurisdiction of the 
 cause; in the meantime the witnesses are heard of no more. 
 
 Would it not be good policy to have an advocate in Norfolk, with a power 
 somewhere lodged, to call on the attorney for his assistance in cases of great 
 consequence ? Would it not be also proper to empower the marshal, when- 
 ever he serves a citation, to recognize the witnesses to appear at the next suc- 
 ceeding court, unless the parties interested would agree to take their deposi- 
 tions " de bene " on due notice being given. 
 
 From reason and necessity the judge out of term has, in some cases, suffered 
 the vessels under seizure to proceed on their voyages, the owners or masters 
 giving bond and security in a sum which would cover the value of vessel and 
 cargo, to abide the decision of the court. Thence the necessity of appointing 
 persons to appraise the same. This step the court has by law the power to 
 take, but not the judge at his chambers ; but which seems inherent in the 
 Admiralty jurisdiction. In our country, however, where the law is the rule 
 of conduct for all public servants, as well as individuals, it would seem most- 
 wise and proper to define specifically the power of public beneficiaries, leav- 
 ing nothing to their discretion touching public or private rights, further than 
 as respects such rules and orders as are necessary to execute their duties with 
 promptness and uniformity. 
 
 Mr. Newton and myself have conversed on these subjects, which I would 
 submit, with great deference, to the Legislature through you. He will aid in 
 this business, and also suggest other amendments necessary in the Admiralty- 
 department. 
 
 The courts in Norfolk are held in June and December — not the most pleas- 
 ant seasons in the year for business. The last mentioned period calls the 
 judge from home in the Christmas holidays, a time which most old-fashioned 
 people prefer to be with their families. This affords great delight to me, who 
 have many children and grand-children, scattered about the world, but who 
 gather together at that season. 
 
 If the time for holding the court at Norfolk could be changed to the first of 
 May and November, there would be full time enough to attend in Richmond, 
 and no possible injury could result to the public; for on no other ground 
 would I request the favor, having all my life, I trust, been too much devoted 
 to the interests of my country to require anything incompatible therewith. 
 
 I have the honor to be, with every sentiment of respect and esteem, 
 
 Your Excellency's most ob't humble servant, Jno. Tyler. 
 
 In December, 1811, there came oflF, at Eichmond, the cele- 
 brated case of Livingston vs. Jefferson, in the Circuit Court of 
 the United States, Chief-Justice Marshall and Judge Tyler sitting 
 in the cause. 
 
 It was unquestionably a high compliment from Jefferson to the 
 
'256 LETTBKS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 talent and character of Judge Tyler, that he should, among the 
 multitude of applicants for liis favor, have made him the single 
 exception, by soliciting his appointment to the bench of the Dis- 
 trict Court. Madison was doubtless well prepared, independently 
 of Jefferson's suggestions, to instil Eepublicanism into the Fed- 
 .eral judiciary, which had been entirely monopolized by the Fed- 
 eralists ; and, at the risk of incurring the imputation of vanity, I 
 :ask, who in all Virginia was made of better stuff than Judge 
 Tyler, to expose what Jefferson denounced as the "sophistries" of 
 Marshall, when he undertook to explain, to his "personal mal- 
 ice,"' the ambiguous text of the law.' Doubtless the Chief Jus- 
 tice felt not over comfortable in having seated by him a man who 
 had always made it his pride and his principle to depend upon the 
 native vigor of his mind, and who, born and bred in the mara- 
 time law — if I may so speak — had confirmed and strengthened 
 liis powers by nearly twenty-five years' experience on the bench. 
 Eely upon it, Judge Tyler was " no milk and water associate." It 
 was no difficult task for him to pierce through the intentions of 
 Marshall, and tear away every cobweb he had woven to catch the 
 public fly. 
 
 The case of Livingston vs. Jefferson was one of national repu- 
 tation.^ Edward Livingston (afterwards so celebrated), of the 
 territory of Orleans, had appropriated, in defiance of the rights of 
 the United States, the "batture" of the Mississippi adjacent to 
 the city of New Orleans. After a great deal of crimination and re- 
 crimination with the citizens of the city regarding the nature of the 
 -property, which was due to the mud left by the river current along 
 the bank, Livingston had been finally removed from the property in 
 dispute by order of Mr. Jefferson, then President of the United 
 States, who claimed for the nation a right to all the beds and banks 
 of the river highways. Livingston, it is said, had expected to make 
 a half million dollars out of the business, and much disgruntled at 
 his summary removal, instituted suit for damages against Mr. Jef- 
 ferson in his private character, after his administration had con- 
 cluded. The suit was brought in the District of Yirginia, where 
 the land in question did not lie, and so the affair went off on the 
 simple technical point of the proper venue. The most promi- 
 
 ' See Jefferson's letter, page 247-'8. 
 
 ' for a history of the case, see Randall's Life of Jefferson, iii., p. 366-'69. 
 
THE COMMON LAW QUESTION. 257 
 
 nent lawyers in the State were engaged in the case on one side or 
 the other, and pre-eminent among them was Henry Tazewell, 
 some time judge of the General Court, and senator of the United 
 States, the father of Littleton Waller Tazewell, ex-President Ty- 
 ler's colleague and intimate friend of later days. 
 
 Judges Tyler 1 and Marshall both gave opinions on the point be- 
 fore them, each in his characteristic strain, — the one full of con- 
 viction and decision, and wielding the law with the ease of a man 
 Tvho had made his home in it, and the other calm, cool, and col- 
 lected.'^ 
 
 Incidentally came up a question as to which Judge Tyler had 
 .stoutly distinguished himself. Ever since the day he appeared in 
 the Legislature of his native State, he had stood out for the doc- 
 trine that the Eevolution had reduced men to a state of nature, 
 dissolving them from all allegiance to the King, and from all laws 
 and governments not made their own by expi-ess adoption. "When 
 the revisal was reported, in 1779, he deemed it unsatisfactory in 
 not providing for the whole field of law. It seems that at the 
 :first meeting of the revisers, in January, 1777, the same view had 
 been favored, unknown to Judge Tyler, by Chancellor Pendleton 
 and Thomas Lee. But they had been outvoted by Jefferson, 
 "Wythe, and Mason, on the ground that the project involved too 
 much diflBculty and labor. It may be questioned whether this ob- 
 jection was a valid one. The pen that drew the " Statute of De- 
 scents," for which there was no example except in those very 
 principles of common sense and justice that Judge Tyler wished 
 to control in the codification of all the law, — and under which 
 statute only a single case of doubtful construction has ever oc- 
 curred, — could have mastered the whole subject. The committee 
 contented itself with revising the English statute law since Magna 
 C/iarta, the laws of Virginia, and so much of the common law as 
 
 ' See Richmond Enquirer of December 19, 1812, for Judge Tyler's opinion. 
 
 ° Brookenbrougli'B Keports erroneously make St. George Tucker the associate 
 judge in the case ; an error repeated by Kennedy (Kennedy's Witt. , Vol. i. , 
 p. 292.) The latter errs again on page 121 of the same volume, in making Tucker 
 president of the Court of Appeals, whereas it was his son, Henry St. George 
 Tucker, who filled that distinguished pofiition. Judge St. George Tucker was 
 first a judge of the General Court, then one of the Supreme Court, , resigned in 
 1811, and succeeded Judge Tyler in 1813 as judge of the United States District 
 •Court for Virginia. He was an able, learned, and conscientious man. 
 
 17 
 
258 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 it was thought necessary to alter. The common law, not conflict- 
 ing with the revisal, made up the complement of our system of 
 jurisprudence. This omission to review the whole subject led to a 
 most extraordinary controversy. 
 
 In the case of Livingston vs. Jefferson, Judge Tyler, who repre- 
 sented one view, spoke of the common law as existing in Virginia 
 by the authority alone of the convention of the State which, by 
 ordinance of 1776, had adopted so much as was not repugnant to 
 the principles of the Constitution. Judge Marshall, on the con- 
 trary, who represented the opposite view, maintained that the 
 common-law existed in Virginia, independently of any adoption by 
 the convention or Legislature, which had merely ratified it; that 
 "it remained subsequent to the ancient rules, until those rules 
 should be changed by competent authority." This difference of 
 view between the judges amounted, in fact, to the much contro- 
 verted question as to the character of the Union itself. Those who 
 maintained the absolute unity of the people of the United States, 
 or resorted to the subterfuge, as many did, of a division of sover- 
 eignty, eagerly advocated Marshall's idea. The universality of the 
 common law, that is, its existence in all the colonies, and its persis- 
 tence after the peace, proved, it was argued, the singleness of the 
 Union. The Federalists, absorbed in their schemes of imparting 
 strength to the general government, with bold but absolute logic, 
 if we concede their premises, made the common law a part of 
 the law of the United States. Granting the general govern- 
 ment to be tliat of a consolidation, it was certainly nothing but 
 natural that it should possess, like the legislature of any State, 
 the full power to legislate on all subjects not denied to it by 
 the Constitution of the United States. It was in further harmony 
 with this view, that Federal judges, like Iredell and Ellsworth, 
 came to deny the natural right of expatriation, and defend the 
 monarchical doctrine of perpetual allegiance, thereby justifying 
 England in all her outrages upon our seamen. Eeasoning often 
 fails to impress men, — interest never. It was the promulga- 
 tion of such pretensions, conflicting with the interested sentiment 
 of the country, that did more than anything else to overwhelm 
 the party of Hamilton, Madison's report on the Virginia resol- 
 utions of 1798-'9, exploding the common-law doctrine, and recog- 
 nized as a master-piece of logic, gave the Federalists a fearful 
 
JUDGE TYLEE ON THE COMMON LAW. 259 
 
 shock; but it took their opposition to the war of 1812 to annihi- 
 late them. 
 
 Judge Tyler, who thoroughly believed in the international char- 
 acter of the Union, and saw no mean between a consolidation and 
 a league, had acutely felt the necessity of eradicating the whole 
 influence of the English law and European attachments, — first, 
 because, regarding the Union as what you may, a simple republic 
 or a confederated one, they were alien and destructive to the free 
 spirit of our institutions, and second, because they were repugnant 
 to the view he took of the Union. In the Legislature, on the bench, 
 and lately in the executive chair, he threw tbe whole weight of his 
 invincible character against the evil in all its forms, secret, dis- 
 guised, and open — of common law superiority, English citations, 
 long and vapid ceremonious speeches, relics of the colonial days, — 
 not sparing even the Supreme Court itself, from the well deserved 
 imputation of undue subserviency to their lordships and barons of 
 British courts. He accused the lawyers of "proving maxims by 
 propositions," instead of " proving propositions by maxims," and 
 castigated them well for their servile habit of ever running to Durn- 
 ford and East, and even to decisions in the lower courts of England 
 in preference to the rules and decisions of our own courts. The 
 originality and wisdom of his opinions on this subject, as well as 
 on several others, connected with the conduct of business in the 
 courts, will best appear from an extract from his message of 
 December 3, 1810 : 
 
 The subject which I am now about to animadvert on is of the highest im- 
 portance to society, and the interposition of the Legislature is indispensable- 
 How my ideas may be appreciated by your honorable body is yet to be de- 
 termined. 
 
 The jurisprudence of the State is certainly not in the most desirable situa- 
 tion, particularly as to the Court of Appeals. Too much delay in the ad- 
 ministration of justice is a great evil, which every day's experience proves, 
 and yet a too speedy course would be injurious — " summum jus summa in- 
 juria." Our habits and customs have marked out a middle path, a principle 
 of moderation, which ought not to be suddenly departed from. Many seem 
 to think that no remedy can be found for the want of a regular, uniform and 
 sufficiently speedy course of justice. I differ widely from those who think so. 
 In the first place, the Court of Appeals ought to be augmented in the number 
 of its judges, to add weight and dignity to their decisions, and should not be 
 employed in sifting a cause to find the points in controversy. Those points 
 should appear naked and clearly stated before them, so that the law may be 
 
260 LETTBES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 pronounced in a reasonable time. There should no appeal be allowed to that 
 court as oi right; but on a motion for a supersedeas or writ of error, let the 
 judge or judges say whether a further consideration is necessary, and act ac- 
 cordingly. Secondly, the law should be amended and enforced, which very 
 ■wisely prohibits any lawyer, who was employed in the first instance, from 
 being concerned in any appeal from the County or District Courts. This pro- 
 vision has grown obsolete, and has been overlooked by the courts. From this 
 cause, in a great degree, the docket has been crowded with frivolous cases, 
 and those followed up as the ravens follow the carcass. This conduct is not 
 the most honorable to that profession, which is so highly valuable in society, 
 if we take into its circle the proper knowledge of government. 
 
 A third cause of delay and dubiety arises from long speeches, and almost as 
 long opinions in every cause which is argued and decided, with the unfor- 
 tunate practice of quoting lengthy and numerous British cases; the time of 
 the court being taken up in reconciling absurd and contradictory opinions of 
 foreign judges, which ceitainly can be no part of an American judge's duty. 
 This evil might be cured by the bench and the bar, if the latter would culti- 
 vate a more chaste elocution, and the former a more concise manner of de- 
 livering their opinions. For a proof of these remarks, I will beg leave to ad- 
 duce a case also — see Hening and Munford's Reports, Vol. IV., page 82, 
 Bustar vs. Wallace, m which cases to the number of thirty-three are quoted 
 in the arguments of counsel ; see also a still more enormous budget of cases 
 cited in Smith and Wife vs. Ghapman, 1 H. & M., 247 ; this is a true case 
 mania. Is not this a waste of time for which no apology can be found ? 
 
 Some gentlemen refer to decisions of the inferior courts of England, and 
 yet, I am told, to mention a case which has been decided in any of our District 
 Courts would be a subject of ridicule; it would want that genuine sterling 
 constituent of being a British decision. Under these circumstances, can 
 America be fairly said to be independent of England ? 
 
 It is much to be lamented that, in the commencement of our self-govern- 
 ment, we had not have selected a code founded on the ancient common law 
 maxims and principles as far as they applied to our government. This was 
 certainly the object of the convention which adopted the common law, for it 
 is so expressed; yet are we going on, looking for the law by decided cases 
 which often differ, — whereas we should look for the principles and maxims, 
 to see if those decisions were correct; for if this is necessary, we certainly 
 should not attempt to prove the axiom by the proposition, but the very re- 
 verse ; we should prove the proposition by the axiom— so would old Euclid 
 have done. If a law is said to be unconstitutional, should we apply for any 
 man's opinion, or go to the letter of the Constitution for its solution ? I think 
 the latter would be the choice. Surely, then, where a cause is to be deter- 
 mined on common law principles, ought we not to seek for those principles 
 by which it is to be governed? Why cannot those maxims and prin- 
 ciples which form the common law be selected for our purpose, and made the 
 rules of decision in cases where they apply? As to ths loritten or statute 
 law, no judge can be fairly said to be independent or free who goes to a 
 British judge to see how his lordship has been pleased to decide in a like case. 
 
JUDGE TTLEE ON THE COMMON LAW. 261 
 
 Surely the judges do not recollect that those who made the law understood it, 
 and never expected that those who were to expound it possessed less wisdom. 
 This course of legal procedure is too servile and humiliating for an American 
 citizen. 
 
 But a notion is taken up that judges and lawyers are wise and profound in 
 proportion to the length of speeches and number of cases that are made and 
 referred to ; whereas, without reading one volume through, case upon case 
 may be heaped, so as to make a long and able argument, as it is called, with 
 very little strength of mind or acuteness of reasoning. I well remember a 
 celebrated cause, which was tried in the General Court, when many cases 
 were quoted from Durnford and Bast, and when a gentleman, high in the 
 profession, proclaimed aloud that the court was bound by such oases — that 
 our rights, liberty, and lives rested on them. But presently an opposing case 
 was adduced from East, in contradiction to himself and his firm. But that 
 professor replied, " he was an unfledged reporter." Now, what becomes of our 
 rights and liberties in such a situation ? But a judge then sitting very pro- 
 perly replied, that they stood not upon the whim and caprice of British 
 judges ; that we had long since emancipated ourselves from the shackles they 
 imposed, and preferred to stand upon our Bill of Rights, Constitution, and 
 laws, — principles too sacred to be shipwrecked on the British ocean of uncer- 
 tainty. 
 
 As to the supposed difficulty and labor of revising the common law, it is all 
 a bubble. Who could have supposed that, after a free republican government 
 had been established, and so many laws that hung upon the ancient system 
 were done away, viz.: the law of primogeniture, the law of descents, surviv- 
 orship, etc., etc., with the complete change of the criminal code, so much 
 would be left as to render it impossible for a few wise and willing men to 
 accomplish the end proposed? After old Coke and Littleton shall have been 
 stripped of their antiquated dress, what great matter would be left for us to 
 do ? Shall we forever administer our free republican government on the prin- 
 ciples of a rigid and high toned monarchy? I almost blush for my country 
 when I think of these things. 
 
 Let a stranger go into our courts, and he would almost believe himself in 
 the Court of King's Bench. Can the judicial department be free from their 
 chains, but by a revisal of the common law under legislative authority ? It 
 may be asked, where can a committee of revisers be found whose talents would 
 be equal to the task? This is a mortifying question indeed; but I answer, 
 that among the many wise and experienced judges and lawyers (some of 
 whom have retired from the labors of their profession) two or three may be 
 found whom nature has blessed with sufficient talents to accomplish the 
 work in a reasonable time, and with virtue and patriotism to ensure its per- 
 formance, in a manner auspicious to the best interests of their country. Let 
 us not, therefore, sit down in despair, under a mistaken impression that this 
 load of common law authorities cannot be shaken off, but resolutely attack it, 
 as we did the statutory despotism, and no doubt but our endeavors will be 
 crowned with success. 
 "~ As to the County Court system, every experienced and reflecting man must 
 
262 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 see and feel the incompetency of those whose daily avocations prevent any 
 acquisitions in legal knowledge to discharge the important trust reposed in 
 them, of deciding between man and man in their most important legal and 
 equitable rights. Suppose it should be necessary, as it often is, that instruc- 
 tions should be moved for to the jury as to the evidence adduced, or a point 
 of law arising out of the facts of a case, what respect will an intelligent jury 
 pay to them when they are sensible that, but a little time before, the justices 
 were only jurymen, and could not be made law judges by a mere translation 
 of them from the jury-room to the bench ? They would, in such a case, 
 (which often has happened,) act for themselves, well knowing that the blind 
 cannot lead the blind. Besides, it is not just to call for so much public duty 
 from the magistrates, without any compensation except that precarious one 
 arising out of the office of sheriff, which may be obtained perhaps once in the 
 course of one's life ! At present, a judge rides into every county in the State ; 
 let his jurisdiction, therefore, be extended to cases generally, and limit the 
 County Court jurisdiction to local matters and to cases of small importance, 
 bringing back the out-of-doors authority of a single magistrate to what it 
 formerly was ; at any rate, let the Superior Courts have concurrent jurisdic- 
 tion, and leave it to every man's option to go into either court he may please. 
 I by no means mean to detract from the merit of the County Courts. They 
 are a valuable branch of our government, and deserve, in general, much of 
 their country ; but those citizens who fill the high office of dispensing law and 
 justice certainly should be better qualified for so great a trust, and it is no re- 
 flection even on those who are liberally endowed by nature or by a superior 
 education to say that they may not be judges of law. 
 
 These sentiments I submit to my country with all due deference ; they are 
 such as I expressed in the Legislature twenty-eight years ago, and I never 
 have heard a reason advanced which made me doubt for a moment the pro- 
 priety of them. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's suggestions as to the organization of the Court of 
 Appeals, which, from five judges, as provided for by act of 22d 
 of December, 1788, had been reduced to three only, by act of Hth 
 January, 1807, were promptly acted upon by the Legislature. 
 The original number of judges was restored,' and still remains the 
 same, while the jurisdiction was almost exclusively limited to cases 
 of appeal by way of a writ of error and supersedeas. His stric- 
 tures on the old County Courts have received the endorsement of 
 the present day in the fact of their abolition and the appointment 
 of judges "learned in the law" to preside in those courts; while 
 his attack upon the affectations of the bar have borne fruit in the 
 growth of a true American spirit. Tucker, Lomax, and Minor 
 take the place of Blackstone ; and Call, Munford, Eandolph, Leigh, 
 
 ' By act of 9th January, 1811. 
 
LETTEK TO ME. JEFFERSON. 263 
 
 and Grattan that of Durnford and East. Nor is the common law 
 such a terror and contradiction as it was, having been virtually 
 codified in the statute books of the States. 
 
 To conclude this subject, I shall add Mr. Tyler's letter to Mr. 
 Jefferson, written several months after the decision in the case of 
 JAvingston vs. Jefferson. The law governing its merits involved 
 the question of alluvion, and, as arising in Louisiana, contemplated 
 the rules based on the French, Spanish and Koman Codes, con- 
 tained in books hard to get at in this country. Mr. Jefferson's 
 omnivorous appetite for learning, as well as his stay abroad, had 
 made his library particularly rich in works of rare value. For 
 this reason, and with the view to assist his counsel — Messrs. Wirt, 
 Hay, and Tazewell — he had prepared a pamphlet on the law of 
 the case, a copy of which, after the cause had been dismissed, he 
 sent to Judge Tyler. 
 
 [Judge Ttlee to Mb. Jefferson.] 
 
 Geeenway, May VJth, 1812. 
 
 Dear Sie : I received the favor of your pamphlet on the subject of the 
 beach of New Orleans, and read it with great delight, in which you still re- 
 tain the power of turning whatever you touch to gold. Your streams are 
 brought from so many fountains, like the great Mississippi, so strong and ir- 
 resistible, that Livingston, and his bold but corrupt enterprise, are swept to- 
 gether into the G-ulf without hope of redemption. 
 
 Judge Roane had perused it in manuscript and gave me some of the outlines 
 of it, which heightened my desire to get hold of it, although I well knew you 
 had probed the subject to its bottom. But as soon as I had received the ap- 
 pointment of Judge of the Admiralty (which I owe to your favor in great 
 measure), it became my duty to shut the door against every observation which 
 might in any way be derived from either side, lest the impudent British fac- 
 tion, who had enlisted on Livingston's side, might suppose an undue influence 
 had seized upon me. It is true, I never did regard that part of the com- 
 munity, yet it was as well to avoid suspicion even of the devil and his imps. 
 I wished very much to have heard the merits of the cause, but the question 
 of jurisdiction precluded any enquiry on that part of the cause. To have had 
 a sight of your argument would have given me a good clew to the subject, and 
 I am well satisfied but for it the bar would have made no solid development 
 of the cause, unless Tazewell's indefatigable industry and legal powers had 
 enabled him to investigate a subject so little known by the modern learned of 
 the bar. 
 
 He delivered an argument on the single point of jurisdiction which was 
 very enlightened and strong. 
 
 I sat out the cause, being determined to give an opinion, as some delay had 
 taken place by the inattention of the bar, and great expectation was excited ; 
 
264 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 but my complaint, which is a very painful one — a calculus formed in the 
 bladder — scarcely suffered intervals long enough to accomplish the business, 
 so severe were the proxysms. I thought much of you, and sympathized with 
 you, having heard you were afflicted in the same way ; but two of the Mr. 
 Coles' came to see me, and gave me a pleasing account of your health and 
 vigor, and that you travel over the mount of the muses without any difficulty, 
 which God grant you may long continue to do, until your last step may be 
 short and easy into that undiscovered country " where the wicked cease from 
 troubling, and the weary are at rest," and by which time you will have laid 
 the silly, proud lion of England at your feet, and all his contemptible fol- 
 lowers, for I still hope your system of policy will prevail to the end. But the 
 old patriots are dropping off every day, which leaves our cause in too much 
 danger, to say nothing of the base desertion of some of our Revolutionary 
 characters. 
 
 Ritchie would publish my opinion, in which he made two silly blunders, 
 using " venire " whore he should have made use of the word " venue," which 
 I hope (if you saw my opinion) you were good enough to supply the proper 
 expressions. I was obliged to leave town, and could not stay to correct it be- 
 fore it came out, in consequence of my indisposition.' 
 
 There was another, which related to the style more than the subject matter. 
 
 Mr. Marshall gave a sensible opinion, but you see a wish expressed to carry 
 the cause to the Supreme Court, by adjournment or somehow or other ; but I 
 pressed the propriety of [its] being decided, and letting the parties act as they 
 pleased, by appealing, if they disliked the decision, to which he consented. 
 
 Will you, when entirely at leisure, favor me with your ideas on a subject 
 touched by the Judge, with regard to common law rights, which he observed 
 we brought from the mother country, — a doctrine just enough while we re- 
 mained subjects of the British Grovernment, claiming equal rights as fellow- 
 aubjects ; but as soon as we had cut asunder the ligatures that bound us to- 
 gether as parent and children, the common law was done away, until we saw 
 fit to establish so much of it as did not contravene our republican system. So 
 thought the convention, and I sincerely wish we had have favored a code of 
 our own, upon maxims and principles and written laws, so as to have ban- 
 ished from our country everything like a foreign authority : it has had a 
 mighty influence over our opinions.' 
 
 I am satisfied that whatever is moral and just, in a general sense, is binding 
 on all nations ; and yet the common law has no force in any country as such 
 [until] adopted by it. We, being declared out of protection, were left to our 
 own measures of self-defense — a right engrafted in our very nature. If I am 
 wrong in this opinion, I wish to be corrected, for I have stood up for its pro- 
 priety with great pertinacity. 
 
 I am, with assurances of high respect and friendship, 
 
 Your very humble servant. Jno. Tylbb. 
 
 1 1 do not allude to cases like the New Orleans. That was solely governed by foreign law 
 and contract for the country. 
 
LETTEK FROM ME. JEFFEESON. 265- 
 
 [Mr. Jefferson to Judge Tyler. J 
 
 MoNTioBLLO, June 17, 1812. 
 
 Dear Sir : On the other subject of your letter, — the application 
 
 of the common law to our present situation,— I deride with you the ordinary 
 doctrine, that we brought with us from England the common law rights. This 
 narrow notion was a favorite in the first moment of rallying to our rights 
 against Great Britain. But it was that of men who felt their rights before 
 they had thought of their explanation. The truth is, that we brought with 
 us the rights of men, — of expatriated men. On our arrival here, the ques- 
 tion would at once arise, by what law will we govern ourselves ? The reso- 
 lution seems to have been, by that system with which we are familiar, to be 
 altered by ourselves occasionally, and adapted to our new situation. The 
 proofs of this resolution are to be found in the form of the oaths of the judges — 
 1 Hening's Stat., 169, 187; of the Governor, ib., 504; in the act for a pro- 
 visional government, ih., 372; in the preamble to the laws of 1661-2; the 
 uniform current of opinions and decisions; and in the general recognition of 
 all our statutes framed on that basis. But the state of the English law, at 
 the date of our emigration, constituted the system adopted here. We may 
 doubt, therefore, the propriety of quoting in our courts English authorities- 
 subsequent to that adoption, still more the admission of authorities posterior 
 to the Declaration of Independence, or rather to the accession of that king 
 whose reign ah initio was that very tissue of wrongs which rendered the De- 
 claration at length necessary. 
 
 The reason for it had inception at least as far back as the commencement 
 of his reign. This relation to the beginning of his reign would add the ad- 
 vantage of getting us rid of all Mansfield's innovations, or civilizations of the 
 common law. For, however I admit the superiority of the civil over the 
 common law Code, as a system of perfect justice, yet an incorporation of the 
 two would be like Nebuchadnezzar's image of metals and clay, — a thing 
 without cohesion of parts. The only natural improvement of the common 
 law is through its homogeneous ally, the chancery, in which new principles 
 are to be examined, concocted and digested. But when, by repeated decisions 
 and modifications, they are rendered pure and certain, they should be trans- 
 ferred by statutes to the courts of common law, and placed within the pale 
 of juries. The exclusion from the courts of the malign influence of all au- 
 thorities after the Georgium sidus became ascendant, would uncanonize Black- 
 stone, whose book, although the most elegant and best digested of our law cat- 
 alogue, has been perverted mofe than all others, to the degeneracy of legal 
 science. A student finds there a smattering of everything, and his indolence 
 easily persuades him, that if he understands that book, he is master of the 
 whole body of the law. The distinction between these and those who have 
 drawn their stores from the deep and rich mines of Coke Littleton, seems well 
 understood, even by the multitude of common people, who apply the appella- 
 tion of Blackstone lawyers to these ephemeral insects of the law. 
 
 Whether we should undertake to reduce the common law, our own, and so 
 much of the English statutes as we have adopted, to a text, is a question of 
 transcendent difficulty. It was discussed at the first meeting of the committee 
 
"266 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 o( the revised Code, in 1776, and decided in the negative by the opinions of 
 Wythe, Mason, and myself, against Pendleton and Thomas Lee. Pendleton 
 proposed to take Blaokstone for that text, only purging him of what was in- 
 :applicable or unsuitable to us. In that case, the meaning of every word of 
 Blackstone would have become a source of litigation, until it had been settled 
 by repeated legal decisions. And to come at that meaning, we should have 
 ■had produced, on all occasions, that very pile of authorities from which it 
 would be said he drew his conclusions, and which of course would explain it, 
 and the terms in which it is couched. Thus we should have retained the same 
 chaos of law-lore from which we wished to be emancipated, added to the evils 
 of the uncertainty which a new text and new phrases would have generated. 
 An example of this may be found in the old statutes, and commentaries on 
 them, in Coke's second institute; but more remarkably in the institute of 
 Justinian and the vast masses, explanatory or supplementary of that which 
 fill the libraries of the civilians. We were deterred from the attempt by these 
 ■considerations, added to which, the bustle of the times did not admit leisure 
 for such an undertaking. 
 
 Your request of my opinion on the subject has given you the trouble of these 
 observations. If your firmer mind, in encountering difficulties, would have 
 added your vote to the minority of the committee, you would have had on 
 your side one of the greatest men of our age, and, like him, have detracted 
 nothing from the sentiments of esteem and respect which I bore to him, and 
 tender with sincerity the assurance of to yourself. Th. Jefferson. 
 
 The unhappy state of our foreign relations came at length to its 
 crisis in June of this year. The reader of American history draws 
 a long sigh of relief when he finds the war of empty words at 
 length gives place to the sturdy blows of manhood. The people 
 .and Congress finally 
 
 "awoke to the higher aims 
 
 Of a land that had lost for a littJe her lust of gold, 
 
 And love of a peace that was full of wrongs and shames — 
 
 Horrible, hateful, monstrous, not to be told ; 
 
 And hailed once more to the banner of battle unrolled, 
 
 Tho' many a light should darken, and many should weep 
 
 For those that were crushed in the clash of jarring claims ; 
 
 Yet God's just wrath was wreaked on a giant liar, 
 
 And many a darkness into the light did leap, 
 
 And shone in the sudden making of splendid names ; 
 
 And noble thought was freer under the sun. 
 
 And the hearts of patriots beat with one desire. 
 
 For the peace that they deemed no peace was over and done. 
 
 The result of that war was to elevate the American name in a 
 manner that no amount of diplomacy could ever have done. 
 
 Judge Tyler had the satisfaction of trying, in the year 1812, 
 the first prize vessel captured by an American during that contro- 
 
DEATH OF JUDGE TTLEE. 267 
 
 versy. It was the case of the Sir Simon Clarke, brought into 
 the port of Norfolk, August 22, by Captain Murphy, of the pri- 
 vateer Globe. Beneath the boughs of the old willow at Green- 
 way the parties interested were assembled, the depositions taken 
 -and the case sent on ; and after pronouncing an adjournment 
 of the subject, and inviting those present to dinner, he left the 
 -court-room to go into his house, exclaiming, as he rubbed his 
 hands from excess of gratification, " There, by the Lord ! they'll 
 :find now the war isn't all on one side ! " 
 
 In December, Judge Tyler paid his last visit to Norfolk, to pass 
 on some other prizes. Legislatures are proverbially slow in acting, 
 and Congress, engaged in the excitement of approaching war, had 
 failed to make immediately the change suggested by Judge Tyler, 
 in his last letter to Madison, as to the time of holding court.^ 
 The month of December, in 1812, was cold and inclement, and it 
 told severely on his frame, weakened by age and a chronic affec- 
 tion. Judge Tyler contracted a pleurisy. He returned to Green- 
 Tvay in extreme suffering. He was forced to bed. But his invin- 
 cible spirit remained the same, though death, with all his terrors, 
 w^as nigh. His oft-repeated regret was " that he could not live 
 long enough to see that proud English nation once more humhled 
 iy American arms!!'' 
 
 On the 6th of January, 1813, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, 
 he died, full of years and honors, beloved and respected, not " more 
 for the patriotism and love of liberty which classed him in the 
 memory of Yirginians with that of Jefferson and Henry, his 
 friends and compatriots, than for tlie gentle virtue which adorned 
 his character — the liberality and goodness of heart which endeared 
 him to all who came within his influence." 
 
 His public life had commenced in times of war, and it seemed 
 proper that it should close in them. He had no fears of the ulti- 
 mate result. The war of 1812 was a second war of independence. 
 It was necessary to fight in order to redeem American character. 
 To use his own memorable words, Judge Tyler " died in the good 
 old cause, still hoping that there would not be wanting patriots 
 ■enough to hold the helm of government for many centuries to 
 ■come, and again bring it back to first principles." 
 
 ^ Early in 1814, the time of holding court was chacged, as desired, from the 1st 
 of December to the 1st of November ; but the patriot then, alas ! was no more. 
 
268 LETTEEB AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 His death was felt as a heavy public calamity. The Legisla- 
 ture went into mourning for thirty days — an act of respect pre- 
 viously offered to the Father of his Country alone — and passed 
 the following resolution : 
 
 The General Assembly, being informed that John Tyler, a venerable patriot 
 of the Revolution, a faithful and able legislator, a judge and chief magistrate- 
 of this Commonwealth, a man of fixed and undeviating integrity, yet endeared 
 to his friends by every softer virtue, is no more ; and being desirous of mani- 
 festing, in some degree, its high respect for the character of the deceased, and 
 deep regret for this afSicting event: 
 
 Be it therefore unanimously resolved, That the members of this Assembler 
 will each wear a badge of crape on the left arm one month, as an expression 
 of heartfelt sorrow for the loss of that excellent citizen. 
 
 Finally, in 1814, they impressed his name forever upon a county 
 of his State. ^ 
 
 Such was the tribute of his country. 
 
 This is the tribute of his friend of thirty years : 
 
 \_Froni the Enquirer, January 12, 1813.] 
 On Wednesday, the 6th instant, departed this life, at his seat in Charles- 
 City County, the Honorable John Tyleb, Judge of the Federal Court for the 
 District of Virginia. He died in the bosom of a most beloved and affectionate- 
 family, and deeply regretted, not only by all who knew him in the ordinary 
 domestic and social relations, but also by thousands who only knew him by 
 his excellent and exemplary character. His most valuable life, which was 
 fast drawing to a close, through the lapse of years and the effects of an in- 
 veterate disorder, was terminated by a pleurisy, contracted on a journey to- 
 Norfolk in discharge of his official duties. 
 
 When such a man as the venerable, John Tyler shall sink into the grave; 
 when one of our most excellent, most useful, most patriotic and distinguished 
 citizens shall pay the great debt of nature, — it is less a tribute of justice to 
 the memory of the deceased than an act of utility to the public to hold up the 
 mirror of his virtues. The present and future generations have a deep in- 
 terest in the subject, and thousands of useful men and virtuous patriots yet 
 unborn may be formed upon the model of his example. 
 
 In all the social and domestic relations Mr. Tyler was without a parallel. 
 He was kind, affectionate, friendly, benevolent, and hospitable in a degree 
 certainly never exceeded. As a representative of the people, his neighbors- 
 confided in him to such a degree that for many years he scarcely lost a vote 
 in his county. As for the various honors conferred on him by his country 
 at large through a long series of time, and extending to the chief magistracy 
 of the Commonwealth, they were conferred with a confidence and enthusiasm) 
 only equalled by the fidelity with which their respective duties were dis- 
 charged. 
 
 ' Tyler county, in what is now West Virginia. 
 
OBrrUAEY BY JUDGE EOAHE. 269 
 
 Judge Tyler was one of the Revolutionary patriots. He went through the 
 arduous conflict with a firm and undaunted step, never blinking nor hesitat- 
 ing under any — the most disastrous — circumstances. He was in the truest 
 .sense a friend to the rights of mankind, and a thorough Republican in his 
 principles and his manners. He was plain in his address and appearance ; 
 for his great soul disdained the tinsel of pomp and parade, and was intent 
 only on virtue ; and if his manners had to strangers the appearance of blunt- 
 ness, let it be remembered that this was a Roman virtue, and was only the 
 excess of candor and honesty. As for the understanding of Judge Tyler, it 
 was of the highest order. His mind was remarkably strong, — and in ap- 
 plying its energies to the subjects before him, he professed rather to be 
 governed by great principles than to be trammelled by cases or systems. 
 
 Such is the humble tribute of a friend of the deceased, — of one who, dur- 
 ing a thirty years' intimate acquaintance with him, never heard a private 
 sentiment drop from his lips that did not bespeak benevolence, nor a public 
 one but denoted an ardent attachment tu the rights of human nature. This 
 venerable and excellent man, alas ! is gone ; he has departed from this transi- 
 tory state of existence. But as long as virtue shall command respect, and a 
 life of useful and virtuous actions be held in estimation, he will continue to 
 live in the hearts of his grateful and beloved country. R.' 
 
 This is the tribute of his son, who was destined to attain the 
 Presidency of that government which his father had labored so 
 •earnestly to establish : 
 
 " Upon me," he wrote, " he conferred the name which he bore, 
 and I shall be well content to reflect but the shadow of his patriot- 
 ism, intelligence, and worth." 
 
 Governor Tj'ler was buried at Greenway, by the side of his wife, 
 Tvho had parted from him nearly sixteen years before.^ He was 
 succeeded on the bench of the District Court of Virginia by that 
 able and learned judge, St. George Tucker. 
 
 ' The writer of this obituary was Judge Spencer Roane, who married a daughter 
 ■of Patrick Henry, and was father of William H. Roane, afterwards « Senator of 
 the United States. Judge Roane admittedly ranked with Pendleton and Marshall 
 as one of the first jurists in the nation. 
 
 « Mrs. Maria Edwards, daughter of John B. Seawell and Maria Henry Tyler, his 
 wife, thus writes of the Judge : 
 
 "From the time my mother could remember him he was judge of some court. 
 .... In 1808, he was appointed Governor. Before his time was out. however, 
 he accepted the United States District Judgeship, which he retained until his 
 death, which was perhaps accelerated by a visit to Norfolk during an inclement 
 season, to pass in judgment on some prizes which had been brought in. It was 
 during times of war. He was singularly beloved and respected by his children, 
 and they thought more of him than I ever saw any one think of a father. I have 
 £een a portrait of him, drawn from memory by Worrell for my uncle John. 
 
270 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 Mother said that the features were his, but the countenance was too austere. He- 
 is represented with his chin resting on his hands, a position which lie frequently 
 assumed, especially on the bench." 
 
 The engraving which adorns the frontispiece of this volume is taken from the 
 original painting by James Worrell, of Richmond, who was a painter of high merit. 
 He painted the portraits of Washington and Lafayette in the Council Chamber of 
 Richmond. Judge Tyler was about five feet ten inches in height. In middle 
 age his hair was brown, inclining to auburn ; eyes, blue ; complexion, fair ; and. 
 nose of the Roman type. 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 1811—1819. 
 
 "Three sons, and hopeful ones, too, are a rich treasure. I rejoice when I hear of young- 
 men of virtue and talents, worthy to receive, and likely to preserve the splendid inheri- 
 tance of self government which we have acquired and shaped for them.'* — Thomas Jef- 
 FEKSOW, to John Tyler, Sr. 
 
 ** I will die in the good old cause, while I lament its falling off, still hoping that there will 
 not be wanting patriots enough to hold the helm of government for many centuries to come, 
 and again bring it baclr to first principles." — Johs Tyler, Sit , to Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 WrLL OF Judge Ttlee. — Mons-Sacee. — John Tylee at the B ae and in the Le- 
 
 GISLATUBE. — KeMAEKABLE SUCCESS. — ELECTED TO THE LeGISLATUEE AT TwENTY- 
 
 ONE — Andkew Stevenson. — Mb. Tylee's Resoldtions Censueing Messes. Giles 
 AND Brent, — Leigh's Substitute. — Maeeiage of Me. Tylee to Letitia Chkis- 
 tian. — Lettees of Me. Tylee to De. CuETts. — Maeeiage of Cheistiana Tyleb. 
 — The Bkitish Invade Vleginia. — Me. Tylee Captain of a Company of Rifle- 
 men. — Elected to the Legislatuee foe Five Successive Yeaes. — Elected to 
 the Council at Twenty-five, — His Eloquence, — Anecdotes. — Elected to 
 CoNGEESS at Twenty-six Oveb Andbew Stevenson.— Public Sentiment at the. 
 Time. — New Fedeealism. — A Discussion on State Soveeeisnty. — Reception 
 OF Me. Ttlee by Madison. — His Speech on the Compensation Bill. — In- 
 
 TEENAL ImPEOVEMENTS. — CaNVASS WITH SteVENSON. — Me. TyLEE Re-ELECTED 
 
 to the Fifteenth Congeess. — South Amebican Independence. — Inteenal- 
 Impeovements. — Bankeupt Bill. — Second Session Fifteenth Congeess. — 
 Bank Committee. — Me. Tylee Advocates the Issuance of a Sciee Faoias^ 
 Against the Bank. — Session Closes. 
 
 THE will of Judge Tyler lies before me.' He directs his per- 
 sonal property to be sold to pay his just debts ; and his real 
 estate he divides equitably among his children. "Wat, the oldest 
 son, received Greenway, John, Mons-Sacer, now called Gunn's, 
 and William the Courthouse Tract. The will concludes as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 I give to my son, Wat. my largest silver bowl, largest ladle, ream and cas- 
 tors and tankard. To my son, John, the next largest bowl, next sized ladle, 
 and silver sugar dish. To my son, William, the small silver bowl, two- 
 tumblers and goblets. To my daughter, Martha Waggaman, the large silver 
 stewpan. To my daughter, Elizabeth Pryor, the two choice silver tumblers, 
 
 ' Recorded in Charles City County Courthouse. 
 
'272 LETTERS AND TIMES OP THE TYLEES. 
 
 the toddy ladle and cream pot. To my daughter, Maria H. Seawall, the two 
 .silver butter bolts, and to my daughter, Christiana B. Tyler, I give one dozen 
 of my tablespoons. The rest of the silver-plate, it is my desire, may be 
 equally divided among all my children. My three sons will divide my library, 
 each taking such books as are akin to his profession. My will and desire is, 
 that my executors purchase a mourning ring for each of my daughters, and 
 lastly, I constitute and appoint my sons, Wat H. Tyler, John Tyler, and 
 William Tyler, executors to this my last will and testament, exonerating 
 them from appraising the estate, as no good would result therefrom, and with 
 a hope that they will ever be brotherly, and make an honorable division of 
 my estate, and according to the true intent and meaning thereof. Nunc 
 dimittas Domine. 
 
 John, who was one of the executors, assumed the debts of the 
 estate, and received nothing beyond the small farm of Mons- 
 Sacer. Two years prior to this, he had commenced that long 
 career of public service which was to terminate only with the 
 grave, and in the course of which he passed successively through 
 all the grades of public office. Abell thus speaks of his early ex- 
 j)erience at the bar : 
 
 Not long after he attained his nineteenth year, he appeared at the bar of his 
 native county as a practising attorney, a certificate having been granted to 
 him as a practising attorney without enquiry as to his age ; and such was Ms 
 success that, ere three months had elapsed, there was scarcely a disputable 
 •case on the docket of the court in which he was not retained upon the one side 
 ■ or the other. Uniting gieat richness of fancy and mastery of language with 
 •singular acuteness in detecting the weak points of his adversary's cause or 
 argument, and a most lawyer-like faculty of magnifying, without appearing 
 to do so, the strong ones of his own, there were few cases in which his client 
 was not the successful party. Possessing great power over the feelings of an 
 audience, by the vivid nature of the coloring with which extensive reading, 
 not less than fertility of imagination, enabled him to clothe his descriptions ; 
 and having, too, a keen sense of the ridiculous, and a happy faculty of ap- 
 plying it whenever it suited his purposes, when his suit was not to be won 
 upon its merits, by superior knowledge of the law, or superior ability in its 
 argument, he would resort to those weapons to carry on the combat, and sel- 
 dom, very seldom, without success. He soon obtained a most extensive prac- 
 tice, and filled a large space in the public eye. 
 
 From a private letter to his brother-in-law, Dr. Henry Curtis, 
 w^e learn the value of Mr. Tyler's early practice. He states that 
 ■on going to Congress, in his twenty-seventh year, it amounted to 
 12,000, and was " growing." Mr. Webster at that age was making 
 between $600 and $700. (Curtis' Webster, i., 74.) It ought not 
 
MB. TYLEE ELECTED TO THE LEGISLATURE. 273 
 
 to be forgotten either, that Mr. Tyler's practice radiated from the 
 country. His success at the bar was ilattering, but it was no more 
 so than his success in politics. Abell thus continues: 
 
 The year after his appearance at the bar he was offered a nomination as 
 member of the Legislature from his own county, and such was his popularity 
 that not a doubt existed that he would have been elected. He declined, how- 
 ever, the proffered honor until the following year, when, having reached his 
 majority but a few days before the election tools place, he was chosen, nearly 
 unanimously, a member of the House of Delegates. 
 
 He took his seat in that body in December, 1811. The breaking out of the 
 war, soon after, afforded fine scope for his oratorical abilities. Having inherited 
 from his father very little love of Great Britain, it scarcely needed the thou- 
 sand insults and injuries we had suffered from that nation to arouse to the 
 fullest extent his indignation against her overweening pride. A firm advocate 
 of those principles by which Mr. Madison had been elevated to the presidency, 
 his support of the administration was prompted not more by principle than 
 feeling ; and in the limited sphere he then occupied his voice was ever heard 
 urging, so far as lay in the power of the government, the most energetic 
 measures in carrying on the war. 
 
 Like Mr. Fox, he spoke often, with the view of enlarging his already great 
 powers of oratory ; and the youthful adventurer in legislative debate had the 
 high gratification soon to perceive that, even in the forum of Virginia, the 
 country of eloquence, a land where oratory was almost the growth of the soil, 
 his speeches commanded universal attention, and were always heard with in- 
 terest and gratification. 
 
 It is gratifying to observe the prominence taken, immediately at 
 his first session, by the young man, in a body containing some of 
 the most distinguished names in American history, such as B. W. 
 Leigh and Andrew Stevenson. The election of James Barbour, 
 January 2, 1812, as governor in the place of George William 
 Smith, deceased, left the speaker's office in the House of Dele- 
 gates vacant, and Mr. Tyler proposed the name of Andrew Steven- 
 son, of Richmond city. Mr. Stevenson prevailed over his oppo- 
 nent, and he thus began, in the House of Delegates, an experience 
 as presiding officer which was destined to embrace the speaker's 
 chair of the popular house of the national Legislature itself. But 
 the part Mr. Tyler played with reference to the censure, voted at 
 the same session, on Senators Giles and Brent, is interesting, not 
 only from its leading to the most important action of the session, 
 namely, the elaborate promulgation of the doctrine of instructions, 
 but because of its connection with the famous controversy between 
 18 
 
27i LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 JVIr. Tyler and the "Whigs concerning the Bank of the United States, 
 twenty-nine years thereafter. 
 
 Tlie charter of the first Bank of the United States, estahlished 
 in 1791, was limited to twenty years; and in view of the effort 
 made for its re-incorporation, the Virginia Assembly, at the pre- 
 ceding session of 1810-11, instructed, by a vote of 125 to 35,' its 
 senators in Congress, Messrs. Giles and Brent, to vote against a 
 recharter, denouncing the Bank as "not only unconstitutional, but 
 a direct and fatal violation of State-rights;" and Mr. Tyler, on 
 the lith of January, 1812, introduced resolutions of censure in 
 the House, animadverting upon the course of the senators, and 
 laying down the ancient doctrine of Virginia both as to the Bank 
 and the right of instructions. The resolutions were as follows: 
 
 Whereas, The Legislature of Virginia, at its last session, in discharge of a 
 duty which it holds sacred, and which has been consecrated by the voice of 
 the people and genius of its government, instructed its senators in Congress 
 on the subject of a renewal of the charter, of the United States Bank, the 
 obligatory effect whereof has been denied and disavowed by its said senators, 
 although, from the nature of a representative democracy, the representative 
 can be considered in no other light than as a servant, and necessarily bound 
 at all times to obey the will of his superiors, unless that will tend to the 
 manifest violation of the Constitution, which, so long as it exists, is, and ought 
 to be, viewed as the supreme law of the land, to which the people themselves 
 are subservient, until a majority of them shall think proper to alter, amend, 
 or abolish it. And although the right to instruct is not expressly given by 
 the Constitution of the United States to the State Legislature, yet it is evi- 
 dently inferrible therefrom^ inasmuch as without this right the power of elect- 
 ing would be imperfect and incomplete, and the senator, instead of being a 
 servant, would be the uncontrolled sovereign during the period of his consti- 
 tutional service. And whereas it is the duty of this Assembly, whenever its 
 senators shall disregard its instructions, by voting in direct opposition thereto, 
 or in any other manner attempting to reason away or to destroy the obliga- 
 tion thereof, to express its dislike of a conduct so incompatible with the prin- 
 ciples of a Republican government. 
 
 1. Resolved, therefore. That this Legislature doth highly disapprove the 
 conduct of Eichard Brent and William B. Giles, — the said Brent for having 
 voted in favor of a renewal of the charter of the United States Bank against 
 positive instructions to the contrary ; and the said Giles for denying the oblig- 
 atory effect of instructions emanating from the Legislature. 
 
 2. Resolved, That the said Richard Brent and Wm. B. Giles did, on that 
 occasion, cease to be the true and legitimate representatives of this State. 
 
 ' Journal House of Del., (Jan. 17, 1811,) p. 70. 
 
LEIGH S SUBSTITUTE. 275 
 
 An elaborate substitute was proposed by Mr. B. W. Leigh, and 
 adopted in lieu of Mr. Tyler's resolutions.^ The substitute was 
 prefaced by a preamble, which justified at length the doctrine of 
 instructions, and concluded with three resolutions, all adopted by 
 large majorities, and of which the first read as follows : 
 
 Resolved, therefore. That this Assembly doth highly aod equally disapprove 
 the conduct of the senators of this State in Congress in relation to the subject 
 of the Bank of the United States, and to the instructions concerning the same, 
 given to the said senators by the General Assembly at the last session." 
 
 This resolution passed the Blouse of Delegates by 97 ayes 
 against 20 noes, and of course received both Mr. Tyler's and Mr. 
 Leigh's vote; and yet, such is the marvellous record of history, 
 Mr. Tyler, who thus early took and afterwards consistently main- 
 tained his position on the subjects of Bank and instructions, was 
 denounced for inconsistency by the very man, Mr. Leigh, whose 
 substitute was adopted in lieu of his own resolutions, because, and 
 solely because, it contained a more full and thorough exposition 
 of the questions at issue. The time arrived when both the promi- 
 nent actors of this day were put to the test. Tyler asked for no 
 substitute then, but drank the bitter cup with the composure of a 
 martyr, while he, alas ! who was so eager now to be the brewer of 
 the potion, pushed the cup aside, and would not drink. 
 
 The new war into which the American people entered in 1812 
 had its scenes of severest conflict far away from the boundaries of 
 Yirginia; yet even there the enemy appeared, and the squadrons 
 of the British, which hovered on the coast, making sudden de- 
 scents on unprotected points, kept the people in a constant state 
 of excitement as to the next point of attack. The long and mighty 
 rivers, penetrating into the heart of the State, afforded easy access 
 to the great centres of trade situated upon them, and it was neces- 
 sary to keep the militia constantly prepared to repel any sudden 
 attempt of the British vessels, which almost in a night might 
 reach the capital. Drilling and mustering were the order of the 
 day. William Wirt wrote to Judge Carr : " Tou would know 
 what I have been doing this summer ? Why, reading newspapers, 
 mustering in the militia, hearing alarm bells and alarm guns, and 
 training a company of flying artillery, with whom, in imagination, 
 
 ' Journal House of Del., pp. 155-9. 
 
276 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 I have already beaten and captnred four or five different British 
 detachments of tv70 or three thousand each. Silent leges inter 
 armaP 
 
 The latin proverb quoted by Wirt might be true as to laws re- 
 corded on the dusty statute-books; but the laws of the human 
 heart have a more despotic sway, and their biddings are not to be 
 disobeyed, even in the clash of arms. The younger Tyler's expe- 
 rience was similar to that of the elder, who married at the first 
 dawn of the Eevolution. At Cedar Grove, in IsTew Kent county, 
 he met Letitia Christian, a daughter of Eobert Christian, Esq., a 
 gentleman who had long served his county in important trusts, 
 a,nd who was the head of a respectable and infl.uential family in 
 that part of the State. ^ They soon thereafter became engaged. 
 The following letter was written by Mr. Tyler to his friend, Dr. 
 Curtis, six days before his marriage, and alludes to one of the 
 casual approaches of the British, as far as Sandy Point, in 
 Charles City, as well as to the important change soon to ensue in 
 his own domestic life : 
 
 [To Dn. Henry Curtis. J 
 
 Geeenway, March 2Zrd, 1813. 
 
 Dear Henry : On the 29th instant, T lead my Letitia to the altar, and if you 
 can be present at the ceremony, I shall derive additional satisfaction there- 
 from. All would be pleased to see you at Mr. C.'s. I had really calculated 
 on experiencing a tremor on the near approach of the day ; but I believe that 
 I am 30 much of the old man already as to feel less dismay at a change of 
 situation, than the greater part of those of my age. I have reflected deeply 
 upon the consequences, and whether prosperity smiles or adversity frowns, I 
 believe that I shall still keep from sinking. To sink with prosperity, may 
 appear at first view an awkward expression, but many more are ruined by 
 its smiles and blandishments than from any other cause. 
 
 I have nothing more to say than that the British have been as high as Sandy 
 Point, and that time has lost for the last week much of his wonted alacrity, 
 and still goes creeping on upon crutches. What think you ; will he go full 
 gallop a twelve-month hence? Yours, &o., John Tyler. 
 
 If you come, I do not wish you to experience any disappointment. C. T. 
 still continues in Gloucester; and sister P.'s situation will not admit of her 
 coming. j^ r^ 
 
 How much, at this time, of "an old man already" — as Mr. 
 
 ' Letitia Christian's sisters were Mrs. Patrick Hendren, Mrs. John G. Miller, 
 Mrs. N. M. Miller, Mrs. Dr. Heath Jones Miller, Mrs. Savage, and Mrs. William 
 Douglas. Her brothers were Kobert, John B. Christian and Dr. Oliver Christian. 
 
THE BRITISH INTADE VIRGINIA. 277 
 
 Tyler styled himself in the foregoing letter— the young man of 
 twenty-three was, may be observed from the amusing gravity, 
 with which, in a communication only a little later, he lectures his 
 friend on the subject of marriage, a state which he himself had 
 embraced but a few weeks before. 
 
 [To Dr. Curtis.] 
 
 Richmond, May 18, 1813. 
 
 Dear Curtis : Previous to the reception of your letter, I had written to C. 
 for the first time upon the subject of your contemplated union. I used the same 
 language to her, in substance, that I did to you, viz.: That I did not wish you 
 to precipitate matters until you were placed in a situation to ensure her a 
 competency. If that be your situation, I certainly cannot object ; but of that 
 you cannot be too certain. The very moment a man can say to himself, "if 
 I die to-morrow, my wife will be independent," he is fully authorized to obey 
 the impulse of affection. Perhaps the truth of this observation may be main- 
 tained at all times, but there can be no doubt of it in these perilous and tem- 
 pestous times. I wish you to distinctly understand that C. is only entitled to 
 a support out of the estate until her marriage, and nothing else, until the 
 death of Aunt Dixon, who will leave her her estate. I mention this, that you 
 may be accurate in your calculations, and from no other motive. I thank 
 you for your kind salutations, and beg leave to assure you that I am really> 
 your friend, John Tyler. 
 
 I expect we shall adjourn in the course of eight or ten days. 
 
 It seems that the recipient of the prudent advice contained in 
 the letter above thought enough of his financial ability promptly to 
 act upon the consent given therein. A very short time after, 
 Christiana Tyler and Dr. Henry Curtis, of "Poccoon," in Han- 
 over county, were united in marriage ; and the latter proved his 
 title to a wife by soon attaining a reputation as one of the first 
 physicians in the State. 
 
 The Legislature, upon which Mr. Tyler was attending when the 
 above letter was written, adjourned on May 26, 1813, and shortly 
 after a more serious effort than any yet attempted was made by the 
 British upon Virginia. Under the infamous Cockburn they made an 
 attack on Craney Island, with a view to capture Norfolk. That place 
 was defended by six hundred Virginia militia, recently called into 
 service. With no other aid than a half-fiiushed redoubt, and the co- 
 operation of a few volunteers from the shipping in port, they beat 
 back theBritish, though numbering three thousand men. Foiled in 
 this first attack, the British turned to glut their vengeance on the 
 
278 LE'lTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 little hamlet of Hampton, situated on the north side of James river. 
 Here also a desperate resistance was made by the Virginia militia, 
 though outnumbered by the British fully five to one. They were 
 eventually overpowered, and the British having obtained posses- 
 sion, a license was given to violence and outrage. Gov. Barbour, 
 in his message at the ensuing Legislature, spoke of the private 
 houses that were plundered, the gray hairs that were exposed to 
 wanton insult, the sick man that was murdered in his bed under 
 circumstances of peculiar aggravation, the females that were 
 publicly borne off to suifer the last degree of unutterable violence, 
 and the house of God given over to sacrilegious outrage. 
 
 The melancholy tidings of the fate of Hampton was heard 
 throughout the land with horror and indignation. Mr. Tyler, 
 who had returned to Cliarles City, threw himself at the head of 
 a company for the defense of Kichmond and the country along 
 the river, now threatened by the British. Ignorant of the military 
 art, he devised a sy&tem of drill for his little corps of riflemen, 
 suggested by no other light than that of his own ingenuity. Long 
 afterwards, when he related his plan to General William H. Har- 
 rison, that distinguished officer bestowed upon it his hearty com- 
 mendation, observing that, had the same method been pursued at 
 Bladensburg " more honorable results would have attended the 
 American arms." The foUowijig extract speaks for the courage 
 and patriotism of the ladies of that day, when their brothers and 
 husbands were called away to fight the battles of their country : 
 
 [Maria Henby Seawell to Letitia Christian Tyler. J 
 
 July 29, 1813. 
 I suppose you begin to show that patriotism John was so anxious for you 
 to display, on his rallying around the standard of our beloved country, as the 
 first trial is passed. I think our late unfortunate affair at Hampton should 
 be enough to make us forget all selfish feeling, and encourage, all in our 
 power, the enthusiasm prevailing in the bosoms of our husbands and 
 brothers. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's company served with the Fifty-second Eegiment 
 of Virginia militia at Williamsburg, and Providence Forge in the 
 county of New Kent. The company, while at Wiliamsburg, slept 
 up-stairs in the College building, and Mr. Tyler used to tell with 
 great glee how, on one occasion, at night, the whole company, 
 alarmed by a groundless rumor that the British were entering the 
 town, made such haste to get out, that men, officers and all, not 
 
ME. TYLEk's military COMPANY. 279 
 
 able to see their way in the dark, stumbled and rolled down the 
 long flight of stairs leading to the ground floor. Mr. Tyler's com- 
 pany was next transferred to the Second Elite Corps of Virginia, 
 at Charles City Court House, under the command of Colonel 
 (afterwards General) Moses Greene. Here he served a month, 
 when the British withdrew, and relieved Richmond from all dan- 
 ger 'of attack. His command was, therefore, not brought into 
 action, and his military laurels, like William Wirt's, were, con- 
 sequently, bloodless. "You have heard," wrote Wirt, at this 
 time, " all about our Richmond alarms. We should have fought 
 
 like lions. We beat ouj- forefathers as militia. McE. came 
 
 rushing on the Square, with a pistol in each hand, crying out, 
 * Where are they? where are they?' To which the Governor 
 
 answered, that they were at City Point,^ and McR disposed of 
 
 his pistols as soon as he could." 
 
 Mr. Tyler's younger brother, WilHam, displayed great gallantry, 
 as an enlisted soldier on the Canada border, where the combat 
 raged longest and hottest ; but Virginia suifering no new invasion, 
 the Charles City captain and his riflemen were put to no further ser- 
 vice. The victory at New Orleans redeemed every disaster which 
 had befallen American arms, and closed the war in a blaze of glory. 
 
 In view of the space required to even cursorily recount the 
 events of his more advanced life, I can devote but a few passages to 
 Mr. Tyler's career under the State government. Several of the 
 more prominent incidents are thus given by Abell : 
 
 Mr. Tyler was elected to the Legislature for five successive years. As an 
 instance of his popularity in his native county, it may be mentioned that, 
 on one occasion during this period, there were seven other candidates who 
 offered themselves to the people at the April elections, and of the votes polled 
 in the county, Mr. Tyler received all but Jive ! Many years later, when a can- 
 didate for Congress, of the two hundred votes given in the same county, he 
 received all but one, over a strong and distinguished competitor.'' 
 
 During the session of 1815-16, while he was still a member of the House of 
 Delegates, Mr. Tyler was elected, by a large vote, one of the Executive Coun- 
 cil; and of the many examples of the power and effect of Mr. Tyler's elo- 
 quence, the following may be mentioned here : About the time the election 
 was to take place for the vacant membership in the council, a vacancy 
 occurred in the office of brigadier-general of the Richmond Brigade. 
 
 ' A village twenty miles down the James river. 
 '■' Andrew Stevenson. 
 
280 LETTEES AIJD TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 The names of two persons, Mr. Andrew Stevenson, then Speaker of the 
 House of Delegates, and Mr. B. W. Pryor, of Elizabeth City, had been pre- 
 sented for nomination, though by far the greater portion of the members were 
 in favor of the former, and, as nearly as could be ascertained, not more than 
 thirty votes would be given to Mr. Pryor, out of a total of some two hundred 
 and thirty. This latter gentleman was an intimate friend of Mr. Tyler, and, 
 in the unpropitious appearance of things came to him for advice and assist- 
 ance ; but as the election of councillor was expected to be taken up first, Mr. 
 Tyler was, of course, unable to promise him any aid. 
 
 Much to his surprise, however, on reaching the capitol next morning, he 
 met Mr. Pryor at the entrance with the information that the House was about 
 to commence balloting for the generalship ; and when he entered the hall, he 
 found his own competitor for a seat in the Council in the midst of a most 
 eloquent speech in behalf of Mr. Stevenson. 
 
 After speaking at considerable length, he concluded a beautiful panegyric 
 upon that gentleman by an appeal to several gentlemen present for a corro- 
 boration of his statements, and particularly to Mr. Tyler, who had served with 
 him during the war. Thus called upon, the latter could not avoid rising, and 
 though upon entering he had not the remotest idea of addressing the House, 
 he proceeded to second and dilate upon the encomiums bestowed on the 
 Speaker, and to express his high regard for that gentleman, as well as the 
 exalted opinion he entertained of his fitness for the proposed office. As he 
 went on, however, feelings and preferences for his old friend began to rise 
 within him. Without formally proposing him as a candidate, he commenced 
 speaking of Mr. Pryor's tried and faithful services, his superior claims to the 
 office, his known bravery and patriotism, and entered into a vivid and glow- 
 ing description of the battle of Hampton, in which he was engaged, and his 
 heroic and devoted conduct in that action. To use the words of one who was 
 present, " such living, burning eloquence could only have been the conse- 
 quence of inspiration,'' and certainly its results were but little short of a 
 miracle. As he grew warm in the praise of his friend, and his manner became 
 more energetic and excited, many members were seen to tear up the tickets 
 which had already been prepared for the other candidate ; and, \ipoD taking 
 the vote at its conclusion, the tables were found completely turned; for, of 
 the two hundred and thirty ballots to be given, all, with the exception of 
 thirty, were for Mr. Pryor. 
 
 Another anecdote, not related by Abell, but taking its origin 
 about this time, and illustrating Mr. Tyler's powers of oratory, 
 especially in the particular of action, which Cicero tells us is the 
 essential qualification of the great orator, is to the following effect : 
 
 His father's warnings regarding the evils of British example 
 had been sanctified, in the opinion of his countrymen, by the resort 
 to arms. Young Tyler had on one occasion a desperate case at 
 the bar, and the law appeared all on the side of his adversary, who 
 was no less a person than Andrew Stevenson. On the day ap- 
 
ME. TYLEB AND ME. STEVENSON. 281 
 
 pointed for the trial, Mr. Stevenson appeared in court with a huge- 
 pile of English law reports under his arm. Mr. Tyler appeared 
 sans book, sans everything. Mr. Stevenson arose, made an elo- 
 quent and brilliant speech, cited copiously from his authorities,. 
 and concluding, resumed his seat with the air of one well satisfied 
 at what he had done. Mr. Tyler's client appeared sad and dis- 
 consolate when he looked toward his champion, sitting apparently 
 without a weapon of defense. Nevertheless, when Mr. Stevenson 
 was through, Mr. Tyler promptly gained his feet. He began his 
 argument in his usual manner, full of compliment to Mr. Steven- 
 son and full of regret at what he styled his own deficiencies. He 
 would be in despair were it not, he said, for the transparency of 
 the cause. As he went on, he warmed more and more with his 
 subject, and lifted himself higher and higher up the heights of 
 oratory. Yet the law had not been touched, and Mr. Tyler knew 
 that it was necessary to say something in reply to Mr. Stevenson's 
 references. He met that necessity by suddenly exclaiming, with 
 a singular intermixture of tones, expressive of surprise, confidence,, 
 and contempt: 
 
 The gentleman has referred to authority — English authority ! He has 
 brought into this court the rules and laws of a rigid aristocracy, at war with 
 every American principle. And pray, what has a Charles City jury to do- 
 with English authority ? Charles City — the birth-place of Bacon's Rebellion, 
 the home of revolution, and the land of republican principle! When 
 we cast off in blood the colonial dependency, we cast oBf the authority of Eng- 
 land. Our late war was fought in the face of this English authority, which' 
 sought to make slaves of our seamen and destroy the independence of America. 
 Sir, this jury intends to decide this case on the broad principles of common 
 sense and natural right. They will have none of your English authority!, 
 away with it ! 
 
 And suiting the action to the word, he spurned from him with, 
 his right hand the books of Mr. Stevenson, until they fell over the- 
 bar at the feet of the electrified jury. The act and Mr. Tyler's 
 manner were so irresistible that the jury disregarded the law books, 
 and in five minutes returned a verdict for Mr. Tyler's client. 
 
 Mr. Tyler had truly the "vox argeniea." His old friends, or 
 rather, such of them as survive, bear enthusiastic testimony to 
 the music of his laugh and voice. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, while in the Legislature, was indefatigable in devis- 
 ing and pressing measures calculated to advance the interests of 
 
282 LBTTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 the State. We shall have frequent occasion, as we go on, to 
 notice instances of his suggestive and creative powers, and of these 
 the Legislature had the full benefit during his term of service. 
 
 Mr. Tyler continued to act in the capacity of member of the 
 Executive Council until JSTovember, 1816, when, by the death of 
 the Hon. John Clopton, a vacancy occurred in the representation 
 in Congress from the Kichraond District. Two candidates were 
 presented: Mr. Stevenson, afterward minister to England, and then 
 Speaker of the House of Delegates, and Mr. Tyler. The contest 
 was severe, and enlisted to a great extent the public feeling, though 
 it produced no cessation of the friendly relations which had always 
 existed between the two opposing candidates. Mr. Stevenson was 
 the most popular man in Richmond, his place of residence ; but Mr. 
 Tyler's popularity was not less great in his own and the neighbor- 
 ing counties ; and, after a hotly-contested canvass, the result showed 
 Mr. Tyler's election by a small majority of about thirty votes. It 
 was a mere trial of personal popularity, as they fully concurred in 
 political principle ; and when Mr. Tyler retired from Congress, he 
 warmly advocated the election of Mr. Stevenson to that responsi- 
 ble station. ^ 
 
 Mr. Tyler tendered his resignation in the Executive Council 
 on the 1st December, 1816, and on the 17th of the month, took 
 his seat in the House of Representatives at Washington. He had 
 now only passed his twenty-sixth birth day, "an age" says Abell, 
 "at which it has been the lot of few indeed to be elevated by 
 their fellowmen to a station of as high trust and importance as 
 that of a representative in the Congress of the United States. But 
 habits which from boyhood had led to a development and 
 capacity far beyond his years, and the early lessons instilled 
 into his mind by a patriot father, than whom few of the sons of 
 Virginia had been more loved and honored by its citizens, added 
 to a constant employment in the important oihces which, in his 
 native State, he had filled from the moment he had reached his 
 majority, had peculiarly fitted him for the sphere of action to 
 which the confidence of his constituents had called him, and he 
 •entered upon his new duties preceded by a character for ability, 
 
 ' During a period of twenty-one years, the Kichmond District remained republi- 
 car»,— with the exception of two years, 1799-1800,— when John Marshall held a 
 ^eat in Congress. John Clopton was Congressman for all the rest of the time. 
 
PARTIES AT THE CLOSE OF MADISOn'b ADMINISTEATION. 283 
 
 energy, and honesty of purpose, which gave ample earnest of the 
 efficiency with which they would be fulfilled." ' 
 
 The second session of the 14th Congress, which thus witnessed 
 Mr. Tyler's debut on the national stage, was held during the 
 interest excited by the election of Mr. Monroe to the presidency. 
 The unaniniity with which he had been elected gave proof that 
 the party struggles which had so long divided public sentiment 
 were all the same as ended. Those contests between the old Ee- 
 publican and Federal giants had ceased under most of the old 
 issues. Beginning under the lead of Jefferson and Hamilton, on 
 opposite sides, the onslaught between them had reached its acme 
 of violence during the war with Great Britain. The old Federal 
 party, identified with the feelings of tliat country, and constantly 
 losing ground in the contest, was crushed and buried under the 
 odium excited by its opposition to the war of 1812, and shamed to 
 the very death by the loud huzzas of the enthusiastic people over 
 the victory at iN'ew Orleans. "Webster was the only man in the 
 House that dared to lift his voice in mournful defense of the past. 
 The Federal name sank into a by-word of contempt and disgrace ; 
 and from this time, to the rise of the present Kepublican party, 
 aU parties loudly avowed themselves formed after the pure Jeffer- 
 sonian model. 
 
 Yet the name may perish, and the tking still survive. The 
 poet has asked, "What is in a name?" So seductive are the 
 muniments and badges of authority, that the collar of Federalism 
 was fastened, in 1816, on the neck of the majority of that party, 
 which rejoiced in its universal victory, and affected to regard Fed- 
 eralism as " a fixed figure for the time of scorn to point his slow 
 unmoving finger at." 
 
 All parties that have ever existed in this country have been 
 representatives of either one of two principles. They have treated 
 the government either as master or servant. The tendency to 
 treat the government as master has been termed Federalism, while 
 
 ' It may be a fact worth noticing, that Mr. Tyler was ever younger than any of 
 his cotemporaries (except William C. Rives) who were brought into serious compe- 
 tition with him for State or national honors. Stevenson was six years older ; B. 
 W. Leigh, nine years older ; L. W. Tazewell, fifteen years ; John Floyd, twenty- 
 one years ; Henry Clay, thirteen years ; Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun, 
 upwards of eight years, and John Eandolph, whom he defeated for the Senate, 
 seventeen years. 
 
284 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 the tendency in the other direction appeared first under the name' 
 of Republicanism. Regarded in the first relation, the government 
 is expected to direct exclusively the energies of the nation ; it 
 must find employment for the people, and if nothing useful can 
 be suggested, then it must build Chinese walls and Egyptian 
 pyramids to keep the poor people in employment and money. It 
 must not only build schools, but force the children to attend. It 
 must hot-bed amid the snows of Maine the cotton-plant of Texas, 
 and build ice-houses in Texas for the comfort and prosperity of 
 the moose. 
 
 The Republican doctrine is the reverse of this. Instead of a 
 parent or master, the government is a mere trustee or attorney. 
 It can afford facilities, but it ought never to force. Whenever the 
 abridgment of individual right is demanded, it must be justified 
 on the soundest expediency. In a word, its authority is limited 
 by necessity, and in all other conditions, non-intervention is the 
 golden rule. It believes that private enterprise will always keep 
 pace with the development of society, and that the intermeddling- 
 of government will surely lead to swindling, speculation, corrup- 
 tion and stock-jobbing. Under the Republican doctrine, the 
 agent's authority must be limited by the sti'ict construction of his- 
 powers of attorney. He has no authority except what is found 
 there. Now, as every power of attorney is revocable, the people 
 have at any time the power to rescind the government they have 
 authorized. As respects the Union, the only question that can 
 arise, or that has ever arisen, is, what is this people, who thus- 
 possess the will and power to establish and destroy ? Is it the 
 whole people, or the people of the States as separate integers? 
 
 The old Federal doctrine, that represents the government as 
 master, is the doctrine of England and monarchy, for there all 
 po-wer is declared to proceed from the prince. Yet, however 
 much its precepts have been acted on in this country, and however- 
 wildly ignorance and interest have ascribed sovereignty to the 
 Federal government, no one has ever ventured to affirm that it is 
 the ultimate source of power, as Federalism really requires we 
 should do. The distinct enunciation of the Virginia Bill of Rights, 
 the universal practice of our political organisms, and the oft-re- 
 peated declarations of our public men, declare the peor>le to be the- 
 great fountain of power. 
 
STATE SOVEEEIGNTT. 285 
 
 Sovereignty is the will of the sovereign people, and government, 
 Tvhich is a mere servant or trustee, can never be sovereign, for it 
 wields designated powers only. The people might have a hundred 
 governments, each with a specific power, M'ithout surrendering an 
 atom of sovereignty. Sovereignty, being the will of the people, is 
 spiritual and indivisible.' It may grant powers for the common 
 good ; but the revocation of those powers is of the essence of free 
 will. Accordingly, all that talk of the Jackson- Webster-Madison 
 school of sovereignty, part delegated to the Federal government 
 and part to the State government, is the veriest clap-trap ever de- 
 vised.^ 
 
 The only question that can arise, as stated before, is, who is the 
 3)eople that possesses the sovereignty? Is it the people of the 
 wliole country massed together, or is it the people of the States, 
 considered as distinct units? If the people of the various States 
 are the people in question, then the whole people have no sover- 
 eignty, and the Federal government exists in and through the 
 .sovereignty of the States. If the people of the whole country are 
 the single sovereign, then the State governments, in turn, exist in 
 and through the sovereignty of the whole people, and play the 
 part, in our grand political organism, of corporations possessed of 
 particularly high and important franchises. 
 
 Xow apply the doctrine of revocation. The first theory pro- 
 
 ' "A political society is a moral person, inasmachas it has &a understanding and 
 a will, of which it makes use for the cmduct of its affairs, and is capable of obli- 
 gations and rights." (Vattel's Law of Nations, p. 14,) "Every fovereignty, pro- 
 perly so called, is, in its own nature, one and indivisible, since those who have 
 united in society cannot be separated in spite of themselves.'" {Ibid., p. 27.) 
 " The sovereignty of the state is indivisible, and remains integral, even though all 
 the powers of government be delegated." (Republic of Bepublics, p. 2.) 
 
 ' Mr. Henry, in the Virginia Convention of 1788, effectually ridiculed the theory 
 of government taught by this school : "We are told that this government, collec- 
 tively taken, is without an example ; that it is national in this part, and federal in 
 that part. We may be amused, if we please, by a treatise on political anatomy. In 
 the brain it is national ; the stamina are federal; some limbs are federal, others 
 national. The senators are voted for by the State legislatures ; so far it is federal. 
 Individuals choose the members of the first branch ; here it is national. It is 
 
 federal in conferring general powers, but national in retaining them I shall 
 
 take leave of this political anatomy by observing that it is the most extraordinary 
 that ever entered into the imagination of man." (Robertson's Debates, pp. 128- 
 129.) The error lies in confusing pmoers, which are capable of division, with 
 sovereignty, which is not. 
 
286 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 ceeds entirely on State assent. It justifies a revocation of power 
 by each State separately ; and hence secession, with an accounta- 
 bility over, however, to the other States in union, who may, in 
 their discretion, release the seceding State, or compel it to perform 
 the obhgations of the compact of union. The second theory as- 
 cribes all power to the aggregate people of the Union. There 
 can be no secession as such, since there are no distinct and separate 
 integers. Both the State and Federal governments exist by virtue 
 of the authority of the whole people, and the only remedy to a 
 dissatisfied portion is revolution. The practical operation of the 
 Constitution, in respect to resistance, must be very much the same 
 on the ground of either theory. A State, no more than an indi- 
 vidual, has a right to violate its engagements, and the employment, 
 of force will depend in either case upon the discretion of the parties.' 
 
 Who doubts that if Mexico should renounce, for any cause, the 
 treaty of Gaudaloupe Hidalgo, that a war would ensue ? Would 
 the United States ever surrender California or New Mexico? 
 And why then, practically, so far as force is concerned, should 
 secession stand on another ground than revolution? The treaty 
 of Union is no less embracing than the treaty of limits with Mexico.. 
 Therefore, I fix the difference between secession and revolution at 
 this point : The right of secession is like the right of self-defense 
 — to be resorted to in the last extremity ; but a perfect one for 
 all that. It is not like revolution, which is justified by success 
 alone. Perish the resisting element as a sovereign State, and its 
 citizens are at least justified in their own eyes ; but perish it under 
 the other doctrine, — a plea urged by many in the South in 1861,. 
 ■ — and logic demands, in case, of failure, that every man should 
 hang himself to his own door.^ 
 
 This is no place to enter into an extended dissertation on the 
 
 ' I quote Madison's authority. "It seems to be forgotten," writes Madison, 
 "that in the case of a mere league there must be as much right on one side to as- 
 sert and maintain its obhgation as on the other to cancel it." (Madison Writings 
 iii., p. 663.) It is, therefore, entirely unnecessary to plead consolidation to explain 
 the employment of force on the part of the Federal government in case of State 
 resistance. The difference would be this : In the one case the citizens of the re- 
 sisting State would be rebels, in the other they would not. 
 
 '' In the case of success, the distinctive effect between revolution and seces- 
 sion would be that the former would place the people in a state of nature, as so 
 many individual persons, while the latter would continue them under the social 
 compacts of the States. See Madison's Writ., iv. p. 294. 
 
STATE SOVEREIGNTY. 287 
 
 nature of government. Suffice it now to state that Mr. Tyler 
 sincerely believed in the sovereignty of the States. Pie opposed 
 the idea of consolidation, since, to his mind, the blessings of local 
 self-government could be only maintained by keeping fresh the 
 federal character of the Union. It would otherwise be swallowed 
 up in the rule of an unrestrained majority, confined to some one 
 section of the country. 
 
 Virginia had in fact been a republic ever since the revolu- 
 tionary meeting of the adjourned burgesses at the old Kaleigh, in 
 May, 1774.^ This was before the meeting of Congress, which was 
 convoked in pursuance of it. Its declaration of independence of 
 the Crown preceded that of Congress, which was made in behalf of 
 the States separately and all collectively.'' In the treaty of peace 
 the States were named separately ; and the Articles of Confeder- 
 ation pronounced the union to be a "league." The Constitution 
 of 1787 did not alter this relation, though it distributed the powers 
 vested in the common agent in a somewhat different manner. It 
 pronounced itself to be a compact "between States," and was 
 ratified by the States as States.' Thus New York, as a perfectly 
 sovereign State, wields, under the new Constitution, the whole 
 complement of power, partly through the State government, and 
 partly through the Federal government.* 
 
 ' The American theory is that the colonies, before the Revolution, were united' 
 with England by the tie only of the Crown. Such rule as Parliament exerted was 
 a usurpation, and endured under protest. The Eevolution changed monarchy for 
 republicanism. The colonies — always free and independent states — became free 
 and independent republics. Their union is thus described by Vattel: ".Several 
 sovereign and independent states may unite themselves together by a perpetual 
 confederacy, without ceasing to be each individually a perfect state. They will 
 together constitute a federal republic ; their joint deliberations will not impair 
 the sovereignty of each member, though they may, in certain respects, put some 
 resttaint on the exercise of it, in virtue of voluntary engagements. A person 
 does not cease to be free and independent when lis is obliged to fulfil engagements- 
 which he has voluntarily contracted." (Vattel's Law of Nations, p. 3.) 
 
 ' Thus Judge St. George Tucker said, in Kamper vs. Hawkins : ' ' It'^jieems to 
 me an observation of great importance that the Declaration of Independence by thi& 
 State was first made in that instrument which establishes our Constitution." (1 
 Virginia Cases, p. 72.) 
 
 " Article VII. of the Constitution says: "The ratifications of the conventions 
 of nine States shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution betioeen 
 the States so ratifying the same." 
 
 ■* By the " State " I mean the people of it. Being sovereign, every power they 
 exert is a sovereign power. Hence the division into sovereign and local powers 
 
•288 LETIEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 Perhaps no man talked less o£ secession than Mr. Tyler. He 
 advocated "strict construction," — not the hide bound letter, but 
 the fair and strict intention of the parties to the Constitution. The 
 maxim which he made the rule and guide of his life was Shakes- 
 pearean : " Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, to silence 
 envious tongues." His constant practice was to eulogize the Vir- 
 ginia resolutions of 1798-9, and appeal to the good sense and 
 moderation of the Northern people.^ 
 
 The period during which Mr. Tyler took his seat in Congress 
 was one of wildest speculation. Old Federalism being dead, new 
 Federalism started off in its vast programme of the "American 
 System." The governments, State and national, were required to 
 .assume the parental character, ancl banks, tariffs, roads and canals 
 were to be established in all directions. Madison, who had op- 
 posed all banks and high tariffs, affixed his signature, in 1816, to 
 laws creating a new National Bank, and raising duties to about 
 twenty per cent. The tariff of 1S16 was, however, pi-imarily for 
 revenue, and only incidentally for protection. The Bank was 
 chartered at the first session of the 14th Congress, and Mr. Tyler 
 took his seat at the second session of the same. From President 
 Madison, whose public life was now rapidly drawing to its close, 
 he met with a warm and friendly reception. This is evidenced 
 by the following to his wife : 
 
 [John Tyler to Mrs. Letitia Tyler. J 
 
 February 1, 1817. 
 I dined on yesterday at the President's. He has invited me three times. 
 Mrs. Madison is certainly a most dignified woman, and entertains her com- 
 pany in superb style. In point of intellect, too, she far surpasses the foreign 
 ministers' ladies. I wish the great people here knew something more about 
 cooking. They have adopted the ^rench style, and I cannot relish anything 
 that they have for dinner in the eatable way; they have good drink, viz: 
 champagne, etc., etc., of which you know I am very fond, but I had much 
 
 is incorrect. The power to declare war is no more and no less sovereign than 
 that which protects the person and property of the citizen, — provided the pro- 
 tection proceeds from a, sovereign. The whisper of God, the Sovereign of the 
 world, is as sacred as his most august "fiat." 
 
 ' In his address, withdrawing from the canvass of 1844, Mr. Tyler used this 
 language: "I regard the preservation of the Union as the first great American 
 interest. I equally disapprove of all threats of its dissolution, whether they pro- 
 ceed from the North or South.'' 
 
THE HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATIVES IN 1817. 289 
 
 rather dine at home in our plain way, notwithstanding you complain so much 
 of Betsy, than to dine with them. What with their sauces and flum-flum- 
 meries, the victuals are intolerable. 
 
 Of the House of Representatives at this time, which was par- 
 ticularly rich in great men, Mr. Tyler has written as follows:' 
 
 The transition from a state of war to one of peace, which brings so many 
 blessings in its train to the country, nevertheless devolves upon government 
 no easy task. The reduction of everything to a peace establishment, involv- 
 ing of necessity the throwing out of employment of vast numbers of persons; 
 the task of discriminating between the equally meritorious in the selection for 
 continued service; the apportioning of the government expenditures among 
 different branches of service ; the abolishing of certain taxes and the modifica- 
 tion of others to suit a period of peace, and at the same time the making pro- 
 vision to redeem the heavy debts which a war with a power so formidable as 
 Great Britain necessarily superinduces, are all matters of the greatest moment, 
 and at the same time of si'eat difficulty. Talent of the highest order was 
 quite as necessary for this work as for a vigorous prosecution of the war, and 
 the Fourteenth Congress was composed very much of the same men as had 
 distinguished themselves in the stirring and exciting debates which had 
 occurred as well before as after the war had been declared. 
 
 The House of Kepresentatives was a model assembly for order in all its 
 proceedings. A sound from the speaker's hammer brought it to order in the 
 midst of excitement, and the ascription of an improper motive to a member 
 or to a co-ordinate department was immediately rebuked and the decorum of 
 the House vindicated. I do not mean to say that the debates were not often 
 characterized by much warmth; on the contrary, there was no restraint im- 
 posed on the freest and fullest canvass of measures; but in the very storm 
 and whirlwind of passion there was no forgetfulness when a co-ordinate de- 
 partment of the government was assailed, or the opinions expressed by a 
 member in debate came to be answered, of what was due on the score of 
 courtesy to the one or the other. The weapons of wit and ridicule were 
 often resorted to ; but then those weapons were of " the ice-brook temper," 
 of a keen and polished edge,— such as gentlemen might use for attack or de ■ 
 fense, — and contrasted favorably with the broad-axe or double-handled sword, 
 which inflict hideous wounds and degrade the combatants, as well as the 
 public assembly to which they may belong. 
 
 Langdon Cheves, of South Carolina, had filled the speaker's chair of the 
 preceding Congress with a dignity and intellect which, while it won for him 
 the respect and admiration of all, caused a general regret that one so well 
 calculated to illustrate and adorn any station under the government should 
 have voluntarily abandoned its service, and sought, — probably with true 
 wisdom, — the calm and repose of more retired life. 
 
 Over that House, at the time to which I refer, presided one who seemed 
 formed for the station, and the station made for him. To commanding talents 
 
 ' In his Lectiure at the Maryland Mechanics' Institute, in 1855. 
 19 
 
290 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 he united an urbanity with a decision of character, which commanded the 
 respect of the House, and awed into subjection to rule the most refractory. 
 He had enlarged his reputation by brilliant efforts on the floor of both Houses 
 of Congress, and his speakership may properly be referred to as a period 
 when to have held a seat in the House of Representatives constituted an 
 epoch in any man's life. That man was Henry Clay. Let me speak of him 
 in a manner worthy of myself and just to him. He had received the impress 
 in early life of the fervid and glowing eloquence of Mr. Henry, and had 
 profited greatly by it. He was a conspicuous leader of the Republican hosts- 
 that had elevated first Mr. Jefferson, and afterwards Mr. Madison, to the 
 presidency, and his voice sounded as a clarion in the ears of their adversaries. 
 Nature had bestowed upon him in profusion her gifts. He added to an in- 
 tellect of the highest order a commanding person, and his voice and gesture 
 and manner were those best calculated to sway the action of a popular as- 
 sembly. Had he lived in the time of Pericles, his name would have found a 
 place of high eminence in Athenian history. 
 
 On the floor of that House were to be found, contesting the leadership with 
 Mr. Clay, and rivalling him in public confidence, John C. Calhoun and Wil- 
 liam Lowndes, both of South Carolina, and amongst the most eminent men 
 that the age produced. The power of condensation of the first in expressing 
 his ideas, which was almost as great as that of a lens by which all the rays 
 of light are brought to a focus, was equalled by the vast range of information 
 possessed by the other, which caused him to be regarded as the Mentor of the 
 House ; and no man listened to him without obtaining new views and a more 
 enlarged understanding of the subject under discussion. Mr. Calhoun was 
 early called to the head of the war department; and the great ability he dis- 
 played in that office is well known to the country. He brought order out of 
 chaos, and presenting and preserving the outlines of his system, so arranged 
 them that recruits in case of war have only to muster into line and the army 
 is complete. As a debater and writer he had but few, if any, superiors. In 
 both departments his conclusions were drawn from a course of reasoning so 
 logical and precise, that it was almost impossible to strike out a sentence with- 
 out destroying the symmetry of the whole production. At a much later 
 period of his life I had occasion fully to appreciate the power of his mind in 
 the great aid he rendered in a high department of the government. 
 
 William Lowndes soon after fell a victim to a relentless disease, but not until 
 he had left, in the law establishing the sinking fund, a monument which will 
 speak to future ages of consummate ability and statesmanship. He wanted 
 the adventitious advantages of grace of person and of manners, and yet be 
 was the most engaging of men. He passed away from earth at the time that 
 the most brilliant prospects of political elevation were opening to him. 
 
 Daniel Webster, then a representative of a district from New Hampshire,, 
 had already made a deep impression upon the public mind; but that broad 
 and expansive intellect had at the moment but little room for display, as it 
 was engaged in sustaining a cause which at the time had sunk into a hopeless 
 minority. At an after day its full volume was exhibited, and drew upon him 
 the eyes of the civilized world. It may truly be said of him that at the 
 
THE HOUSE OF EEPEESENTATI^'ES IN 181Y. 291 
 
 forum he had but few co-rivals. He wore his senatorial cloak with a dignity 
 never surpassed; and upon his transfer to the State department, the coat of 
 diplomacy was so admirably fitted and adjusted to his person, that it seemed 
 destined from the first for his especial wearing. John Randolph was also 
 there, blazing like a comet through the heavens, and throwing off scintilla- 
 tions of wit and genius, until his course in debate was paved with stars. 
 How often has he been seen to enter the House booted and spurred, and with 
 his riding whip in his hand, just at the moment the Speaker had stated 
 the question for the decision of the House, after a three weeks' discussion, 
 when his penetrating voice would arrest the vote by the enquiry, " What is 
 the question, Mr. Speaker?" and while the Speaker would be restating the 
 question, would advance to his desk, and reopen the discu^ssion by one of those 
 brilliant speeches which would electrify the House and revive its exhausted 
 energies. 
 
 In that Ho>jse you would also have seen men constituting a galaxy in 
 themselves, who would justly have held a high place in any assembly upon 
 earth, — General Sam Smith, of Maryland, with his varied stores of mercan- 
 tile knowledge, to instruct the House in all that related to commerce; Grover- 
 nor Wright, the representative of the chivalry and patriotism of the same 
 State ; John Forsyth, of Georgia, who performed in after life so distinguished 
 a part; Mr. Grosvenor, of 'Sew Fork, who wore in off-hand debate the most 
 polished armor ; Hopkinson, of Pennsylvania, the author of our national air, 
 who to refinement of mind added the accomplishments of the gentleman ; 
 Gaston, of North Carolina, whose memory is precious in the recollections of the 
 State that gave him birth ; the chivalrous Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky, 
 whose "many scars" attested his bravery and patriotism; Henry St. George 
 Tucker, Philip P. Barbour, and Daniel Sheffey, of Virginia, each distinguished 
 for a logical acumen in debate rarely ever surpassed ; and there, too, was 
 Timothy Pickering, who carried you back to the days of the elder Adams- 
 and Pitkin, from Connecticut, ready upon all questions involving statistical 
 knowledge. Time is not allowed me to dwell on their respective merits, or to 
 enumerate others, — some of whom are still living, — whose names will find 
 honorable mention in history. Such was the House of Representatives of the 
 Fourteenth Congress, and such the men who composed it. Its second session 
 was held during the last winter of Mr. Madison's presidential term, and the 
 fourth of March ensuing witnessed the inauguration of a new era in the in- 
 stallation of Mr. Monroe. 
 
 An occasion soon offered for bringing into review the abilities 
 of Mr. Tylei'. This was the compensation law, on which an inter- 
 esting debate occurred. 
 
 By the law of 1789 the pay of members of Congress was fixed 
 at six dollars per day. In 1797, an increase was moved of twenty- 
 five per cent.; but after much debate the proposition was nega- 
 tived. From that time no alteration had taken place until the 
 session preceding this, when a bill was passed changing the per 
 
292 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 diem allowance of members of Congress to the annual compensa- 
 tion of $1,500. 
 
 This action of the Legislature was regarded with very unfa- 
 vorable eyes by the people at large ; and Mr. Tyler, always anxious 
 to represent the views of his constituents, thought himself called 
 on to support, though to his own pecuniary injury, the resolution 
 introduced by Mr. Nelson of Virginia to restore the old rate of 
 pay. In the running debate which ensued, enlisting the most 
 prominent members of the House, Mr. Tyler broke lances with 
 Calhoun of South Carolina, Clayton of Delaware, and Grosvenor 
 of New York, maintaining against them, with extraordinary fe- 
 licity, the State-rights view of the doctrine of instruction.^ 
 
 I submit to the reader the following extract from his first speech 
 on the compensation law : 
 
 Mr, Tyler said he felt it due to himself to offer a few remarks to the House 
 on this subject. "I did not,'' said he, "float into this House on the tide of 
 popular declamation ; I was elected to supply the vacancy occasioned by the 
 lamented death of my honored predecessor. Popularity is to be desired by 
 all, and- the good esteem of his fellow-men is the best reward the patriot can 
 receive. You have no robes of office here to bestow, no stars or garters to 
 confer, but the proudest title which we can boast, and the only one worthy of 
 being boasted of, is that which is to be read in the applause of our contem- 
 poraries and the gratitude of posterity. This is not to be obtained by a low 
 and grovelling pursuit of popular favor ; and the man who rests his hopes of 
 popularity on such a course will most assuredly be disappointed in his ob- 
 ject. Popularity, 1 have always thought, may aptly be applied to a coquette 
 — the more you woo her, the more apt is she to elude your embrace ; and it 
 is but by pursuing a steady, firm, and uniform course, not at variance with 
 the rights of the people, that she is ever made permanently to yield to your 
 possession. Neither is the applause of which I have spoken to be obtained 
 by the adoption of that high-toned principle which causes a man, the moment 
 he becomes a member of this House, to set up his opinion in opposition to 
 those of 35,000 of his constituents — to adopt .the belief that they might err, 
 but that he could not. If a member of this House is not a representative of 
 the people, what is he ? and if he is, how can he be regarded as representing 
 the people, when he speaks, not their language, but his own ? He ceases to 
 be their representative when he does so, and represents himself alone. Is the 
 creature to set himself in opposition to his Creator ? Is the servant to disobey 
 the wishes of his master ? From the very meaning of the word representative, 
 the obligation to obey instructions results. The Federal Constitution was 
 submitted to conventions of the different States for adoption. Suppose the 
 people had instructed their representatives in convention to have rejected the 
 
 > Annals of Cong., 14th Cong., 2nd Session, 1816-'17, pp. 619-'21 ; 649-52. 
 
, SPEECH OF MB. TYLER ON THE COMPENSATION LAW. 29S 
 
 Constitutiou, and their instructions had been disobeyed, would this be called 
 a government of the people adopted by their choice ? The gentleman from 
 South Carolina has not denied the right of instruction in the formatiou of the 
 government— was there any difference of principle between that case and that 
 of instructions to this House ? The members of the conveutions were the repre- 
 sentatives of the people in the organization of the government ; we are the 
 representatives of the people in its administration. Why is responsibility to 
 the people preserved ? If the opinion of a member of this House is to be re- 
 garded as more correct than theirs— if he is to be esteemed more wise than 
 they, why should he be responsible to his constituents for his conduct ? It is 
 the height of absurdity to say that a man shall owe responsibility to a tribunal 
 not so capable of deciding between right and wrong as the individual him- 
 self. 
 
 " I acknowledge that, if Instructions go to violate the Constitution, they are 
 not binding ; and why not ? My constituents have no right to violate the 
 Constitution themselves, and they have, consequently, no right to require of 
 me to do that which they themselves of right cannot. But where no such 
 violation is involved, I regard it as only necessary to know the wishes of my 
 constituents in order that they may be obeyed. In my support of this doc- 
 trine, however, I wish not to be understood as speaking of a mere buzz or 
 popular clamor; for I would be as little disposed to attend to a thing of that 
 sort as any gentleman. I speak of the voice of a majority of the people, dis- 
 tinctly ascertained and plainly expressed. 
 
 " The gentleman from South Carolina mentioned the name Edmund Burke. 
 I venerate the talents of that distinguished orator as highly as any man ; and 
 I hold in high respect the memory and virtues of the illustrious Chatham ; 
 but, highly as I esteem the memories of those great statesmen, they will suf- 
 fer no disparagement by a comparison with the immortal Sidney. I prefer 
 to draw my principles from the father of the Church, from the man who fell 
 a martyr in the cause of freedom, who consecrated his principles by his blood, 
 from the fountain from which had flowed the principles of the very Constitu- 
 tion under which we act. 
 
 " I shall vote for the repeal of the compensation law, as I know it to be 
 the wish of my constituents that it should be repealed. I have had a fair op- 
 portunity of knowing their wishes, for I am fresh from their hands. I am 
 not disposed to hold up my constitutents in the ridiculous light in which some 
 gentlemen have represented theirs. I have too much respect for them to do 
 so. They have looked to the large national debt, and think it requires reduc- 
 tion ; they believe that economy is necessary. They see the tax-gatherers 
 dispersed throughout the country, and they cannot be made to understand 
 why, at a time when retrenchment was so necessary, Congress should have 
 increased their wages. It is vain to tell them, as some gentlemen, very nice 
 at calculation, have made it appear, that each of them have only to bear 
 an additional burden of one-and-a-quarter cents. Their answer is at hand; 
 they say, and have a right to say to you, take the pressure from off our 
 shoulders ; we feel the weight of it — take the burden from our backs — then 
 take it from your own. They go farther. Although they do not believe that 
 
294 LETTERS AlTD TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 this Congress is corrupt — they regard you as setting a bad example. They 
 look forward to distant, and, perhaps, less honest times, when wicked men, 
 proiiting hj your example, may vote themselves ample fortunes, and laugh 
 at the people whose trust they thus abused. I repeat, that my constituents 
 do not think this Congress corrupt for having passed this law. They look 
 here and see men who have devoted their youth and manhood to the service 
 of their country, who have grown old at the helm of the vessel. They see 
 here amono- you many who have ridden out in security the boisterous storm o'f 
 faction and of party, and have avoided the whirlpools which threatened to 
 swallow up both you and them. They look to this field, and see many of you 
 who are willing to expose your own breasts to receive the lightning ere it 
 should fall upon the bosom of your country ; and, I repeat it, they do not 
 distrust your patriotism, but they strongly disapprove your course. It is not 
 for me to enquire into the correctness of their opinions. It is enough that I 
 know their will to cause me to obey it." 
 
 And Mr. Tyler concluded by declaring that he should vote for a repeal of 
 the law, to take effect from the first of the session, and expressing an earnest 
 hope that the bill might pass in that form. 
 
 After several day's debate, Mr. Tyler had the satisfaction of 
 seeing the compensation law repealed by Congress, and the old rates 
 restored. 
 
 Madison had signed the bank bill, and a law considerably rais- 
 ing the duties. In doing this, he was not considered as yielding 
 to the "American System." The bank had been established be- 
 fore, and he claimed to be merely giving his consent to its contin- 
 uance, on the plea that its unconstitutionality had been waived by 
 the repeated recognition accorded to it by the various depart- 
 ments of government. The tariff was merely a tariff for revenue 
 with incidental protection. Mr. Calhoun, who at the preceding 
 session had argued for protection pe?- se, now tested Madison with 
 a bill on the subject of internal improvements. This bill proposed 
 to set aside for the purpose the ionns and dividends accruing to 
 the United States from their interest in the National Bank. This 
 gave rise to the first grave debate on internal improvements. 
 
 Mr. Tyler attentively weighed all that was urged by the advo- 
 cates of the system, and perceiving the tendencies of Calhoun's 
 bill, promptly voted against it. In this he showed a far clearer 
 insight into the future than the Carolinian. Mr. Tyler felt intui- 
 tively that the only safety for Virginia and the South against a 
 dominant Northern majority, was strict construction. Acknow- 
 ledge once the rule of expediency, and there was no safety what- 
 ever to any Southern interest. This Monroe, the successor of 
 
D0C7TEINE OF INSTEUOTIONS. 295 
 
 Madison, did not sufficiently appreciate. Madison, indeed, repelled 
 tbe bin of Calhoun with a veto, which was sent to Congress on the 
 last day of his term of office ; but his successor, while he denied 
 the power of the government to engage in works of internal im- 
 provement without their consent, admitted the power with that 
 •consent, and the right of unlimited appropriation in aid of State en- 
 terprises, provided they were "national," and not merely "local" 
 in their scope and effects. Mr. Tyler saw no safety in these distinc- 
 tions. Practically, the subject would always remain in doubt, and it 
 was easy enough to give any enterprise the odor of nationality. 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1817, Mr. Madison's administration ter- 
 minated, and Mr. Monroe's began. Mr. Tyler returned to his 
 home in Charles City, but before so doing addressed his constit- 
 uents in a letter, which may be found in the files of the Enquirer, 
 of March 7, 1817. A few extracts from this article will serve to 
 explain more fully the proceedings of the Congress just passed. 
 
 In allusion to the compensation law, Mr. Tyler said : 
 
 Among the first subjects which claimed the attention of Congress, was the 
 act passed at the last session, altering the mode of compensation to the mem- 
 bers of that body. It is unnecessary to remind you of the murmurs excited 
 throughout the Union by this law. From every quarter it was severely 
 anathematized, and all were forced to acknowledge that the great majority 
 of the people required its repeal. The only question, then, which remained 
 to be discussed, was whether the representatives of the nation were bound to 
 respect the will of the nation? The discussion of this question gave to the 
 subject additional importance; and the repeal of the law may be regarded as 
 decisive of the opinion of Congress in regard to the doctrine of instructions— a 
 decision which goes to convince the people that they are not merely "hewers 
 of wood and drawers of water," but that government is a trust proceeding 
 from themselves — an emanation of their strength. Although it was the wish 
 of many, among which number I was, that the repeal of the law should have 
 had reference to the first of the session, yet, after trying every possible expe- 
 dient to obtain this object, we were compelled to vote its repeal from the 4th 
 of March, or to leave it as we had found it. As to myself, I did not hesitate 
 in my choice of the alternative. 
 
 He referred to the passage of a navigation act in terms of 
 approbation, and alluding to the appropriation in favor of the 
 navy made at the last session, he announced the principles which 
 afterwards guided him during his administration as president : 
 
 I cannot omit mentioning a measure of great national importance, which 
 was adopted at the last session, in perfect coincidence with the wishes of the 
 
296 LETTEKS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 American people, and which remotely points to the high destinies which await 
 this country. Our navy, in the late arduous struggle, shed a blaze of renown 
 over us, rarely equalled, and certainly never surpassed, in splendor by the in- 
 fant establishments of any other country. The names of many of our heroes 
 are already ranked with tiiose of the celebrated De Ruyter, Van Tromp and 
 De Wit Witzen, of former times ; and our seamen have evinced a spirit of chiv- 
 alry which, if nourished, promises to raise a wall of defence around us, not tO' 
 be broken through by any nation or combination whatever. A navy of com- 
 petent size would, it is believed, furnish the United States with the cheapest 
 and most efficient means of defense, and threatens no evil to civil liberty. Its 
 regular and gradual increase, therefore, cannot but meet the approbation of 
 every sound politician. I say its regular and gradual increase : for as the child 
 should grow in flesh as it grows in muscle and in bone, so should any great 
 system of policy be adapted to the extent of the public means. In the infancy 
 of the Republic, I would not have it attempt to bend the bow of Ulysses ; but 
 in its manhood, I would have it strong and powerful. An annual appropria- 
 tion of $1,800,000 was voted at the last, and has been continued at the present 
 session, to be expended in the construction of ships of war. A similar expen- 
 diture for seven years to come will, it is believed, furnish a naval force suffi- 
 ciently large to secure our flag from insults, and to protect our coasts during 
 a war. 
 
 In regard to the bill, which went to pledge the bonus and divi- 
 dends arising from the National Bank for the purposes of internal 
 improvements (about $750,000), he said: 
 
 No one can deny the great importance of good roads and canals. They 
 would be calculated, beyond almost any other means, to produce a unity of 
 interest in the nation. They may truly be regarded as the arteries of the body 
 politic, which circulate without interruption the wealth of the country ; but at 
 the same time, as a public agent, I did not regard myself at liberty to pursue 
 my own fanciful notions, without looking at the instrument under which I 
 had been elected to act. Congress has no power under the Constitution to 
 interfere with the police of the States, and I was not disposed to represent 
 the State of Virginia in so poor a condition as to require a charitable donation 
 from Congress. Independent of this, I felt a disposition, as far as we could 
 with a due regard to the operations of the government, to apply all our sur- 
 plus revenue, which could be diverted with propriety from other objects, to- 
 wards the discharge of our national debt. The day, it is to be hoped, has- 
 passed in which a national debt was esteemed a national blessing; and he 
 who, with the example of England before him, entertains such a doctrine, de- 
 nies to himself the exercise of his mental faculties. 
 
 When Mr. Tyler took the field for the Fifteenth Congress he 
 found Andrew Stevenson again ready to contest the palm with 
 him. Side by side they stumped the district, making a rare ex- 
 hibit of wit and eloquence, yet conducting the contest with the 
 
THE FIFTEENTH CONGEESS. 297 
 
 utmost politeness and courtesy to one another. The wildest ex- 
 citement prevailed among their particular friends, and each side 
 exerted itself to the utmost. The following extract from a letter 
 of Mrs. Tyler, written in 1845, mentions the name of one of those 
 staunch and devoted friends of Mr. Tyler who figured at this pe- 
 riod, and by whose zealous assistance he was eventnally enabled to 
 drive Mr. Stevenson from the field : 
 
 The President has a very kind and grateful memory of old Mr. Minge (the 
 ■wealthy father), who, in his early public life, took great and active interest in 
 his preferment. The President, you know, was never beaten as a candidate. 
 One time, in his contest with Mr. Stevenson, when it was thought the votea 
 would count very close, old Mr. Minge took his horses and wagon, in a perfect 
 fit of enthusiasm, and drove for three days over all the county, and collected 
 the maimed, the halt, the blind, and those who never had voted for any one, 
 and brought them to the polls, and the President had a larger majority than 
 there ever had been voters in the county before. Was it not a pretty signal- 
 defeat for Mr. Stevenson ? 
 
 This was the time when, out of two hundred votes given in his- 
 native county, Mr. Tyler received all but one, " over a strong and 
 distinguished competitor." ^ 
 
 The Fifteenth Congress, to which Mr. Tyler was thus returned, 
 was engaged with many subjects of interest and importance. The 
 question of South American independence and the war with the 
 Seminole Indians of Florida elicited much discussion. Mr. Tyler 
 opposed the proposition of Mr. Clay, to commit the United States 
 to a recognition of the independence of the revolted colonists of 
 Spain, by adding to the general appropriation bill a provision for 
 the sum of $18,000 to cover the outfit and salary of a minister to 
 the provinces of the Kiver La Plata ; not that he was wanting in 
 sympathy with the South Americans in their struggle for inde- 
 pendence, but because he believed the proposition premature and 
 otherwise objectionable.^ Such is the purport of the following 
 letter to his brother-in-law : 
 
 [To Db. Henry Curtis.] 
 
 Washington, January 19^, ISlSi 
 Dear Doctor : For the last week or ten days, our house has been almost ex- 
 clusively occupied with the case of John Anderson. You are no doubt fami- 
 
 ' In New Kent Mr. Tyler received 215 votes, Mr. Stevenson 16. llichmoird- 
 went largely for Stevenson, who resided there. 
 
 '' Mr. Clay's proposition was negatived by a vote of 115 to 45. 
 
:298 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 -liar with the cause of his arrest. It was made a serious question whether 
 Congress had a right to punish for a contempt, and this too, notwithstanding 
 various precedents had been furnished, from the first establishment of the 
 Union, as well under the old Articles of Confederation as under the new Con- 
 -stitution. We were called upon to look to the Constitution for the power, 
 upon the ground that our powers were distinctly marked out. In regard to 
 -subjects of legislation, this is most true ; but how caji we legislate at all, if by 
 the very act of our creation as a legislative body we are not necessarily in- 
 vested with the right to hold our deliberations without interruption. The 
 right of self-preservation attaches to every body, as well political as 
 natural, as soon as created. The case, in my estimation, called strongly for 
 the interposition of the House. The effects of bribery and corruption are 
 visible in the prostration of English freedom, and therefore I felt that it was 
 -due to the people, of whose liberties we are the guardians, to shut the door in 
 -the face of every attempt to corrupt. The military services of Anderson 
 during the late war, added to his sufferings and advanced age, softened down 
 his punishment to a severe and eloquent reprimand from the chair. 
 
 The question relative to the acknowledgment of South American indepen- 
 dence begins to he warmly canvassed in private circles among the members. 
 There are some, not very manj- I believe, who are anxious for an open declara- 
 tion of war against old Spain. Many are favorable to a recognition of the 
 independence of some of the provinces, while I believe a majority feel a desire 
 to avoid any course which might be calculated to involve us in a war. For 
 myself, I am not sufficiently informed of the actual condition of South 
 .America to make up any definitive opinion. The return of the commissioners, 
 who have lately been sent to that country for the ostensible object of de- 
 manding remuneration for spoliations on our commerce, but, as I believe, for 
 the real object of collecting correct information as to their actual condition, 
 will dispel many doubts which press on my mind. If the revolutionists are 
 worshiping the true genius of liberty, and not a fictitious deity clothed in a 
 monkish garb, then will I feel a very strong desire for their success. But at 
 the same time, this very desire may induce me to abstain from acting; for if 
 England and the legitimates should interfere in behalf of old Spain, because of 
 our interference in behalf of the provinces, it will be very worthy of con- 
 sidering whether we shall not injure the provinces by any overt act of 
 friendship. As to Amelia, I do hope the Government will never surrender it 
 until Spain remunerates us for past injuries. In fact, I should not be at all 
 .surprised if the government went on to take possession of the Floridas — and 
 it is more than probable that the Seminoles, if defeated by Gaines, will fly for 
 .shelter within the Spanish lines, and Gaines, in the eagerness of pursuit, may 
 cross after them, and not be willing afterwards to retrace his steps. These 
 are niere conjectures ; certain it is that, by the treaty of '95, the United States 
 have a right to demand of Spain to beat down the hostile spirit of the Indians 
 within her boundaries; and if she does not do so, she commits the first infraction 
 of the treaty. We have a report to day, but it comes in a very questionable 
 form, that the Governor of Cuba has caused to be sequestered, all American 
 property on that island, because of the occupation of Amelia Island by our 
 
THE BAI^-KKUPT BILL. 299 
 
 droops. For myself, I believe that the occupation of Amelia Island by our 
 forces, met with the approbation of the Spanish minister. 
 
 You have, no doubt, been looking out for my name at the head of some 
 speech. Would you know the fact? — we have so many speech makers, and 
 there is so great and unnecessary a consumption of time, that I almost feel it 
 my duty to remain silent. You will not, therefore, in all probability, hear 
 from me through the papers more than once or twice this session. 
 
 I wrote to Colonel Street some time ago, and have received from him no 
 answer. Be good enough to enquire of him whether he has received my 
 letter, and express to him the great pleasure I should take in hearing from 
 .him. 
 
 Let me hear from you soon. Give my love to all, and believe me to be, 
 Yours sincerely, J. Tyler. 
 
 An animated speech was made by him at this session in behalf 
 •of the Monumental Church, of Eiohmond. And on the 17th of 
 ^February, 1S18, he opposed, in a long and well-sustained effort, 
 the proposition to enact a bankrupt law, not on the ground of its 
 unconstitutionality, for the power was clearly granted, but simply 
 because he did not think that circumstances justified the one pro- 
 posed. Only the clearest necessity could excuse such a law, and 
 •" in principle " Mr. Tyler " was opposed to the grant of exclusive 
 privileges." This bill, however, was confined to the merchant 
 :alone, to the exclusion of the mechanic and the agriculturist. 
 Congress sustained Mr. Tyler's view, and no law of the kind was 
 ^passed until during his own administration and on his own recom- 
 mendation. 
 
 The question of internal improvements again came up for 
 discussion, and Mr. Tyler wrote home reprobating the power 
 claimed : 
 
 [To Db. Henry Curtis.] 
 
 Washington, Dec. Uth, 1817. 
 Dear Doctor : I propose, if I possibly can, to visit my family this Christ- 
 mas. 1 have some important business to transact at that time which calls me 
 ■home. I am not, however, perfectly certain that 1 can with propriety 
 leave this. General Tucker, from the committee on roads and canals, has 
 handed in a report in direct hostility to the opinions of Presidents Madison 
 and Monroe, and it is proposed to consider the report on Friday. If, how- 
 •ever, it should not then be taken up, and the House should resolve to take it 
 up during Christmas week, I will stay here and oppose its dangerous tendency 
 as far as is in my power. I have to ask, however, if it would not subject you 
 to too much trouble, that you would send me a horse to Hanover Court-house 
 on Tuesday, the 23d inst. I would prefer that you should meet me in a gig, 
 
300 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 but be not disappointed should I not be there ; you will know what detains 
 me. I will not at this tinae give you any account of our proceedings, trusting 
 that I shall have an opportunity of doing so at your own fireside. 
 
 Yours sincerely, J. Ttleb. 
 
 His hostility against this very popular feature of the American' 
 System was reiterated by Mr. Tyler in his second letter to his con- 
 stituents, reviewing the proceedings of this his second session in 
 Congress : 
 
 For myself I esteem it entirely a matter of State police, and appertaining: 
 exclusively to the State legislatures. A majority thought otherwise. The- 
 friends of State-rights, however, have no great cause to be alarmed at the de- 
 cision, even if a constitutional majority should be found at a future day to- 
 attempt its exercise. The theatre of legislation is so extensive, and the inter- 
 ests to be reconciled so various and conflicting, that but verj' few attempts to- 
 carry into execution the pretended power will succeed. But the doctrine- 
 which has been strenuously contended for in the discussion of this question is- 
 not of so harmless a character. It goes to confer on Congress the right to- 
 appropriate money to whatever objects it may think proper — a doctrine not 
 less dangerous than unsupported by reason. The States invested the general 
 government with certain specified powers, which investiture it became neces- 
 sary to make for purposes of general welfare and national defence. It was- 
 obvious, however, that those specific powers could not be carried into effect 
 without also conferring the power of raising money. The power of raising 
 money was intended, therefore, as a mean of carrying the other powers into 
 effect, and its legitimate expenditure may be tested by reference to the objects 
 for which the power to raise it was given. But money is the only instrument 
 which a legislature can use to accomplish any object. It appropriates, and 
 individuals execute ; and if the power of unlimited appropriation be conceded, 
 it would be extremely difficult to fix any limitation to the powers of the na- 
 tional government. 
 
 Of the bankrupt bill he said : 
 
 A bill of considerable length was reported to the House of Representatives'- 
 for the purpose of establishing a uniform system of bankruptcy. My course 
 upon this subject has already been made known to you through the papers.. 
 It was represented as a measure loudly demanded by the mercantile interest. 
 For myself I was ignorant of any such demand, nor did I believe it to exist 
 on the part of any of my constituents. The system was in my estimation 
 abhorrent to the first principles of our government, which countenances no- 
 discrimination between the different classes of the community, and in its de- 
 tails obnoxious to the best feelings of the heart. Besides holding out induce- 
 ments to fraud, which the experience of other countries informs us are too- 
 strong to be resisted, it first resorted to eavesdroppers or informers to detect 
 the fraud, stimulating them to this course by large offers of reward, and, as if 
 
ME.- TTLEE S LETTEK TO HIS CONSTITUENTS. 301 
 
 not satisfied with inviting a man's confidants to become his betrayers, seized 
 upon the person of the wife of his bosom to force a disclosure of his guilt. 
 
 These things of themselves would have decided me against the measure ; 
 but it went, if possible, still farther, and authorized persons composing the 
 ■commission of bankruptcy to enter into the chambers of the unfortunate man, 
 to break open his bureau, to pry into his most delicate transactions, and sub- 
 ject to examination his most intimate and private correspondence. If. then, 
 my course on this subject has met with the disapprobation of any individual, 
 it must have arisen from an iguorance of the details of the bill. Vain would 
 ■have been any attempt to amend it, for its friends avowed an indisposition to 
 alter any of its provisions. 
 
 He referred to his course on the South American question, and 
 to his speech (which, through the absence of the stenographer, was 
 not reported) in favor of a provision to protect the flag of the 
 Provinces admitted into our ports. He explained his opposition 
 to Mr. Clay's proposition to send an ambassador to that country. 
 In his opinion it was useless, for the President already had the 
 power under the Constitution; premature, as the Government of 
 La Plata had sent none to us; and if taken as expressive of our 
 opinion of the propriety of recognizing the independence of that 
 -country, still premature, considering the doubt and uncertainty 
 which existed as to the actual state of those provinces. But his 
 -sympathy with those people was expressed in eloquent language : 
 
 The exertions of an heretofore degraded and benighted people in the cause of 
 freedom cannot but meet with the approving smiles of an all-wise Providence, 
 and be crowned with ultimate success. If the inhabitants of that country 
 shall be governed by virtue, and a real desire to establish free government, the 
 minions and hirelings of a weak and despicable monarch in vain shall at- 
 tempt to crush them. The fire which blazes on the altars of liberty shall con- 
 sume the scourge of the tyrant and melt the chains of the slave. . . Let us 
 then wait the course of events. If, I repeat it. South America should be 
 operated on by enlarged and liberal views ; if the character of man's rights 
 should be correctly understood ; if, in truth, she should have reared altars 
 to the genius of true liberty, and not to an impostor wearing the livery of 
 freedom to cover treason and tyranny, she must and will succeed. " Thrice is 
 he armed who hath his quarrel just." If she fights beneath the banners of 
 truth and justice, the temples of superstition and fanaticism, the tortures of 
 the inquisition and the manacles of oppression will be crumbled into dust and 
 trampled under foot; and on their ruins will be erected the altars of the true 
 ■religion, and the principles of an enlarged benevolence. 
 
 The second session of the Fifteenth Congress, was marked by 
 .the agitation of a great commercial crisis. This was the first 
 
302 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 evil result of the "American System," which promised to make- 
 every one rich, and the whole country beautiful and glorious. 
 After the war with Great Britain, a regular bank mania had de- 
 veloped itself. At the session of 1816-17, the Virginia Legisla- 
 ture received twenty-two applications for bank charters. The- 
 following year, Kentucky chartered upwards of forty banks- 
 Other States were not far behind. Every one talked bank, and bet 
 on banks like race horses. The result was most disastrous. Specie- 
 disappeared, and the country was flooded with paper money. The- 
 United States Bank owed its existence to this bank mania, and, 
 though intended to operate as a check upon the State banks, en- 
 couraged all it could the rage for stock-jobbing. Enormous dis- 
 counts were made to speculators, and the stock of the Bank had 
 been, by such means, blown up into a bubble, now nearly ready to 
 burst. Stock could be, and was, purchased without the advance of 
 a cent by the purchaser, who had only to apply to the directors, or- 
 to the president and cashier, between discount days, for a loan on 
 the shares about to be bought, and by what was termed " a simulta- 
 neous operation," he obtained his discount, and with it paid for his 
 stock. A rise in the market would enable him to sell his shares,, 
 pocket the difference, and commence operations anew. 
 
 Congress could not overlook this enormous evil, and immedi- 
 ately appointed a committee to inspect the books, and examine into 
 the proceedings of tlie Bank of the United States. Of this com- 
 mittee, Mr. Tyler was one, his selection being a flattering proof of 
 the extensive reputation already acquired by him for energy and 
 industry in Congress. Indeed, it needed the vepy best material to 
 grapple successfully with the tremendous labor imposed upon the 
 committee. The character of the undertaking may be readily 
 comprehended from the following letter written by Mr. Tyler from 
 Philadelphia, whither the committee, consisting of Messrs. Spencer,. 
 Burwell, McLane, Tyler and Lowndes, had repaired, to examine 
 into the condition of the parent bank. 
 
 [Me. Tylee to Dr. Curtis.] 
 
 Philadelphia, December 18th, 1818. 
 
 Dear Doctor : I was perfectly at a loss to account for your silence towards 
 
 me, recollecting your promise to write me at an early day, when we last saw 
 
 each other, until I received a letter from Letitia informing me that you had 
 
 been very greatly indisposed. I feared that a severe attack awaited you, andr 
 
BANK COMMITTEE. 303^ 
 
 therefore, was the more anxious to hear how you were. T hope that you are- 
 nearly, if uot entirely, recovered, and that I shall receive assurance of such- 
 heing the case in a letter from yourself. 
 
 You DO doubt have learned long since of my heing appointed on the Bank 
 Investigating Committee. After encountering a most violent storm, we reached' 
 this in safety on last Sunday week, and proceeded forthwith to the discharge 
 of our duties, in which we have been engaged ever since most laboriously.. 
 We go into committee at ten o'clock, and rise at from four to five o'clock in 
 the evening. I certainly in the same time never encountered more labor. 
 To be placed in a situation of novelty and great responsibility ; to have to 
 wade through innumerable and huge folios in order to attain the objects of 
 our enquiry ; to have money calculations to make; and perplex one's self with 
 all the seeming mysteries of bank terms, operations and exchanges — the 
 strongest mind becomes relaxed and the imagination sickens and almost ex- 
 pires. Our wise men flattered us into the adoption of the bankin'g system^ 
 under the idea that boundless wealth would result from the adoption. Nature 
 improved by art was to put on a more fascinating appearance. Mountains- 
 were to sink beneath the charm, and distant climates, by means of canals, 
 were to be locked in sweet embraces. Industry and enterprise were to be 
 afforded new theatres of action, and the banks, like Midas, were to turn every 
 thing into gold. The dream, however, is over, — instead of riches, penury 
 walks the streets of our towns, and bankruptcy knocks at every man's door.. 
 They promised us blessings, and have given us sorrows ; for the snbstance- 
 they have given the shadow ; for gold and silver, rags and paper. The delu- 
 sion is over, however, and although the medicine will produce sickness almost 
 to death, yet we may still hope for health when the operation is over. As to- 
 the United States Bank, I do not mean to express an opinion particularly 
 until we have collected all the facts that we can. Many of the evils which 
 have been ascribed to it are incident to the system of which it is a part, and 
 common to all banks. For myself, I would support it in all proper measures 
 sanctioned by its charter, and shall censure where it deserves censure. 
 
 We have received many evidences of politeness from the inhabitants of this 
 place — frequent invitations to dinner; but we came to the resolution to accept 
 none except on Sundays, and there being hut little prospect of our remaining 
 here much longer, the probability is that we shall not dine out more than 
 once during our stay. On last Sunday, we dined with Mr. Biddle, and I 
 there saw King Joseph Bonaparte, and Le Rey de Chamont, President of the 
 Agricultural Society of New York. Apropos, I see that I have been admitted 
 a member of the Agricultural Society in Richmond, upon whose motion I am 
 yet to learn. 
 
 I wish, if possible, to visit my family at Christmas for one week, and shall 
 then see you in all probability. My love to Kitty, and believe me to be, 
 
 Yours sincerely, John Tyler. 
 
 " Finishing their investigation at the parent bank in Philadelphia 
 towards the close of December, they separated, the more easily and 
 
304 LETTEES AJ^D TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 expeditiously to examine into tlie affairs of some of its branches, 
 and while Messrs. Spencer, Burwell, and McLane visited Baltimore, 
 Messrs. Lowndes and Tyler repaired respectively to Washington 
 and Kichmond. Their report was presented to the House on the 
 16th of January; and of the immense and almost incredible 
 amount of labor performed by that committee in little more than 
 a month from the time of its setting out upon its dutie?, no idea 
 can be formed without an examination of its results. To a report 
 •of extraordinary length, and prepared with a skill, ability, and 
 clearness which at once betokened the perfect acquaintance of the 
 the committee with, and mastery of, the subject they had to deal 
 ■with, and placed its members prominently among the ablest of the 
 House, was appended a mass of documents and evidence, com- 
 prising nearly a hundred and fifty closely-printed octavo pages, and 
 .some twenty-two tabular statements, many of which were of a 
 most difficult and complicated character. The task they had un- 
 dertaken was Herciilean ; the manner in which it was accomplished, 
 and the brief space of time in which, perhaps, the most laborious 
 ■document ever presented by a congressional committee had been 
 prepared, were indeed astonishing ; and the results gave assurances 
 of an industry, capability, and untiring zeal in the public service, 
 on the part of those who had conducted the investigation, of 
 -which the country and themselves might be proud to boast." 
 
 The report of the committee denounced the conduct of the 
 Bank in the strongest terms, and at first there seemed no doubt 
 whatever that measures would at once be taken to effect its imme- 
 diate dissolution. But presently, through the immense exertions 
 made by the Bank to enlist public sympathies, a decided change in 
 public sentiment occurred. A middle ground was taken by the 
 ■majority, who thought it better to curtail and circumscribe its 
 powers, but not to pursue it to utter annihilation. 
 
 Such were not the views of Mr. Tyler. In an elaborate speech 
 on Mr. Trimble's motion to issue a scire facias against the Bank, 
 Mr. Tyler declared that the simple suggestion that the Bank had 
 violated its charter by systematic misconduct, precluded him from 
 .any further enquiry as to whether it might not be dnly restrained 
 in the future by new limitations : " Inasmuch as he believed the 
 ■creation of this corjioration to he unconstitutional^ he could not, 
 without a violation of his oath, hesitate to repair the breach thus 
 
JACKSON AT PENSACOLA. 305 
 
 <rnade in the Constitution when an opportunity presented itself of 
 doing so without violating the public faith." ^ 
 
 The proposition for a scire facias was lost by a large majority, 
 and the House contented itself with passing a bill restricting the 
 abuses in relation to the election of directors, which had accom- 
 panied the report of the Bank Committee. 
 
 The next question which engrossed the attention of Congress 
 arose out of the arbitrary action of General Jackson in Florida. 
 No man was more open and pronounced in his condemnation than 
 Mr. Tyler. Ambrister and Arbuthnot, the unfortunate victims of 
 Jackson's inhuman policy, were British subjects, but did not, on 
 that account, appeal less to Mr. Tyler's sense of justice and hu- 
 manity. He supported in a powerful speech the resolution intro- 
 duced to censure Jackson — for which 1 must refer the reader to 
 the pages of Abell, or the Annals of Congress. The debate con- 
 tinued for more than a fortnight, and enlisted the principal de- 
 baters in the House ;^ but Jackson's friends were numerous and 
 powerful, and the resolution was finally negatived. 
 
 The following letter comes in at this point : 
 
 [To Dr. Cuhtis.] 
 
 January 19, 1819. 
 
 Dear Doctor: We are engaged with Jackson and the Presi- 
 dent. I do not hesitate to say that the constitutional powers of the House of 
 Representatives have been violated in the capture and detention of Pensacola 
 and the Barancas ; that Jaolison overstepped his orders; that the President 
 has improperly approved his proceedings, and that the whole are culpable. 
 Yet I have greater confidence in Monroe than any other aspirant for the Presi- 
 dency. He has justified a single violation of the Constitution ; but they would 
 establish all the roads asked for, all the National Banks which can be asked 
 for, and do anything which might, in their belief, promote the general wel- 
 fare. Let us look well to our rights. Our day of difficulty has not yet ar- 
 rived. What think you of our banking gentry? Did you dream that we 
 had been visited with so much corruption ? I shall vote a scire facias, and 
 am almost ready to vote a positive repeal of the charter, without awaiting a. 
 judicial decision. 
 
 Health and happiness attend you. John Ttleh. 
 
 1 Abell's Life of Tyler, p. 39. Annals of Cong., 15th Cong., 2nd Session. 
 
 2 Messrs. Cobb, J. M. Nelson, Johnson of Virginia, Clay, Storrs, Mercer, 
 PuUer, Hopkinson, Harrison, and others spoke against Jackson, and Messrs. 
 Holmes, Johnson of Kentucky, Smyth of Virginia, TaUmadge, Barbour, Strother, 
 Khea, H. Nelson, Poindexter, etc., spoke in his favor. 
 
 20 
 
306 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 At this session also commenced the great struggle over the ad- 
 mission of Missouri. A bill to admit that Territory as a State into- 
 the American Union, with a restriction against slavery, was read 
 in the House, passed, and sent to the Senate. This body returned 
 the bill to the House with the restriction struck out. The House 
 then resolved to adhere to their former decision. So the question 
 rested for this session, both Houses firmly maintaining their re- 
 spective positions. At the next, it was again taken up, and seemed,, 
 at one stage of its discussion, to threaten almost certain destruction 
 to the Union. More will be said of this subject in the succeeding 
 chapter ; for the part Mr. Tyler played in the drama was strikingly 
 characteristic of the man, who, while seemingly willing enough to- 
 yield the trifle to him who made that the all-important consideration,, 
 always won the victor}' on the main point, and who, while loving 
 to win men by gentleness, was rigid and unyielding on questions 
 of principle, or where a great and vital interest was concerned. 
 
 Mr. Tyler put forth no address to his constituents at the close 
 of this session, but in lieu thereof distributed among them his. 
 speech against the United States Bank. 
 
 "With the following letter I close the chapter. 
 
 [To Dr. Curtis.] 
 
 February 28th, 1819. 
 
 Dear Doctor: I find it utterly impracticable for me to prepare a circular- 
 letter. The fact is, that I have been so incessantly engaged this winter as to 
 leave me not a moment scarcely from the business of the House. I have, 
 moreover, spoken on the two only important subjects, in a national point of 
 view, that have been before us, and I could add nothing to my remarks. I 
 have, however, had my speech on the Bank printed in pamphlets, not only 
 because of the importance of the subject, but also with a view of distributing 
 them through the district. I tax your goodness, as usual, by sending you on 
 several copies, which I have to ask you to distribute, — the Mr. Gardiners,. 
 Dr. Nelson, etc., etc. 
 
 My love to Kitty, and I hope to see you all soon after my return. 
 
 Truly your friend, J. Tyler. 
 
CHAPTEK X. 
 
 1819—1821. 
 
 "1 was not a member of Congress when that compromise was made; but it is due to 
 candor to state that my impressions were iu its favor; but it is equally due to it to say 
 that, with my present experience and knowledge of the spirit which then, for the first 
 time, began to show itself, I have entirely changed my opinion. I now believe that it was 
 a. dangerous measure, and that it has done much to rouse into action the present spirit." 
 —John C. Calhoch, (1838,) Works, iv., p. ISS. 
 
 "I would have stood there until I perished before I would have recognized that line. I 
 believed it to be unconstitutional. I believe it to be, moreover — if the gentleman will pardon 
 me for interrupting him thus longer— the opening of the Pandora's box which would let 
 out upon us all the present evils which have gathered over the land." — .Tohn Tyler, 1861, 
 171 the Secession Convention, 
 
 WooDBUKN. — Me. Tyler Ke-elected foe i Thikd Tekm, Without Opposition. 
 — The JIissouei Question. — Lust of Sectional Aggeandizement Teaced to 
 THE Mississippi Conteoveesy. — Mk. Tylee on the Akkansas Bill. — The Mis- 
 souri Question in the House and Senate. — Eufus King. — Me. Tylee's Let- 
 tee. — His Speech on the Missouei Question. — The Senate Yields and As- 
 sents to a " CoMPEOMisE. " — The Compromise Kepeobated by both Northern 
 AND Southern Members of the House. — A Confeeence had, and the House. 
 Yleles. — Inequality of the Compromise. — A Measuee Destructive to the 
 South. — Errors op Calhoun. — The Teems of the Texas Treaty, in 184.5, not 
 AN Endorsement of the Missouri Compromise. — Letter of Mr. Tylee on the 
 Subject. —His Dialogue With Colonel John B. Baldwin. — The Missouri 
 Question in 1821. — Me. Tylee's Letter to Tazewell. — The Tariff of 1820. 
 — Me. Tyler's Reply to Baldwin, of Pennsylvania. — Thomas Butherfoord's 
 
 i Richmond Memorial. — Defense by Me. Tyler. — Letter to John Ruthee- 
 poord. — Me. Tylee Declines a New Election. 
 
 MK. Tyler's residence in Charles City was now at a place called 
 " Woodburn." For reasons not necessary here to relate, but 
 growing out of the settlement of their father's estate, he and his 
 brothers had found it advisable to dispose of their places — Green- 
 way, Mons-Sacer, and the Court-House Tract, to Mr. William Doug- 
 las, in 1815.^ Wat ultimately took up his residence at Tarwood, 
 in Hanover county ; but Mr. Tyler removed to a neighboring tract 
 
 ' William Douglas, who married Miss Christian, Mrs. Tyler's sister, was the 
 father of the late Beverley and William R. C. Douglas, two talented gentlemen — 
 the former long a member of Congress. 
 
308 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 of land, on which he erected a decent and comfortable dwell- 
 ing house. This was "Woodbnrn," a name of his own giving. 
 Here he resided till 1821, when an opportunity was presented to 
 purchase Greenway, of which he promptly availed himself. 
 
 So satisfactory had been the course of Mr. Tyler in Congress 
 during the past three sessions, that, in view of the elections for the 
 Sixteenth Congress, which took place in the spring of 1819, he 
 found it entirely unnecessary to issue the usual circular address, or 
 even make a personal canvass. Instead of this, he contented him- 
 self with distributing among his constituents his speech against the 
 Bank; and to Dr. Curtis, in Hanover, he wrote as follows on the 
 subject of " stumping his district :" 
 
 Tour last informed me that the people in j'our neighhorhood wished me to 
 visit them. It is, however, impossible for me to do so sooner than the election. 
 My business is so much changed in consequence of my long absence as to re- 
 quire my earliest attention. But Mrs. Tyler's situation is such, expecting to 
 be confined every day, as to require me at home as much as possible. My 
 course is before them, and 1 have served them for three years. I should hope, 
 therefore, that a personal canvass might be dispensed with. 
 
 The result corresponded with Mr. Tyler's hopes, as above ex- 
 pressed. JSTotwithstanding the fact that the district he represented 
 was tlie metropolitan district, and as such was crowded with able 
 and aspiring men, he met with absolutely no opposition, and was 
 elected unanimously. Routed, horse, foot, and dragoons, in two 
 pitched battles before the people, his old rival, Andrew Stevenson, 
 gave up the contest in despair, and declined to offer for Congress 
 at the new election. 
 
 The Sixteenth Congress is memorable for the intense excitement 
 that prevailed throughout the country on the question of admit- 
 ting Missouri. Party lines seemed to be forgotten, and the South 
 and North stood regarding one another with angry and deadly as- 
 pect. The newspapers teemed with lengthy articles relating to it ; 
 men's passions were aroused ; and in face of the angry waves of 
 popular excitement, never before had the government of the United 
 States appeared more like a "rope of sand." 
 
 Mr. Tyler's course upon this great question was singularly in- 
 dicative of the sagacity and firmness that marked his character. 
 Never acting from impulse merely, Mr. Tyler was not the man to 
 threaten and then ingloriously back down; but "still in his right- 
 
NOETHEEN LUST OF POWEE. 309 
 
 hand caiTving gentle peace," and employing mild and patriotic lan- 
 guage, his position was ever immovable, and pointedly sugges- 
 tive of serious consequences to follow. Actions, indeed, speak 
 louder than words, and we shall see that while many of the states- 
 men of the loud-mouthed character yielded the whole principle of 
 the present contest, Mr. Tyler was never once "frightened by the 
 false fire of Federalism," but, courteous and modest to the last, 
 voted against every restriction sought to be imposed upon the ad- 
 mission of Missouri. In January, 1819, Mr. Tyler had written to 
 Dr. Cui-tis, in view of the gi-owing popularity of the American 
 System: "Let us look well to our rights; our day of difficulty 
 has not yet arrived ;" and here in less than a year the Philistines 
 were upon them ! 
 
 At this late day, no Southern writer would dream of denying 
 to the opposition of the Xorth to the unrestricted admission of 
 Missouri a great measure of honest sincerity against what they 
 chose to denounce as the spread of slavery. There were men of 
 the truest philanthropy even among the ultras. But while this is 
 cheerfully admitted, it can be as little doubted that the prevailing 
 motive was political and sectional. In 1833, when the contest 
 was one over the tariff, there was not a whit less union and resolve 
 on the part of the Xorth. 
 
 This appetite for sectional aggrandizement was no new thing in 
 the history of the Union. William Grayson bore accusing testi- 
 mony against the Xorth in the convention of 1TS8. The pro- 
 motion of the fisheries, and a perpetual ascendency in the national 
 councils, had been then- steadily pursued policy from the begin- 
 ning, and "he supposed it ever would be."' 
 
 Prior to 1TS7 most of the territory belonging to the States 
 was slave-holding by the lex loci. Only the districts of Vermont 
 and Maine were properly free. Hence it became the poUcy of 
 
 ' ' ' What has been their conduct since the peace ? When relieved from the appre- 
 hensions of losing that great advantage (the fisheries), they are solicitous of secur- 
 ing a superiority of influence in the national councils. Their language has been 
 ' Let us prevent any new States from rising in the western world, or they will out- 
 vote us. We shall lose our importance, and become as nothing in the scale of 
 nations. If we do not prevent it, our countrymen will remove to those places in- 
 stead of going to sea, and we shall receive no particular tribute or advantage from 
 them.' This, sir, has been the language and spirit of their policy, and I suppose 
 ever will be." (Elliot, iii., p. 343.) 
 
310 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 the Eastern States to restrain emigration to the West, since the 
 idea prevailed that those States would augment the Southern scale, 
 from the similarity both of their institutions and pursuits.' 
 Massachusetts to retain her inhabitants reduced the price of lands 
 in Maine to one dollar per acre.^ But the emigration continuing, 
 the Northern States had resort to a more decisive measure. The 
 boundary on the South, as well of Florida as of Georgia, had 
 never been settled, and the Spaniards, on their side, claimed, not 
 only the exclusive navigation of the Mississippi, but the half of 
 Georgia and Kentucky. The United States disputed this claim; 
 and the ordinary flow of events was certain, not only to open the 
 Mississippi and secure to them all of Georgia and Kentucky, but 
 all the territory, in fact, east of the Mississippi comprised under 
 the name of Florida. 
 
 This result the Northern States viewed with alarm, and by a 
 bold blow, to stop at once the flow of emigration West and ad- 
 vance their commercial interests, they resolved unanimously in 
 Congress, — -seven Northern States to six Southern, — to instruct 
 Mr. Jay, in concluding a commercial treaty with Spain, to sur- 
 render for an equivalent to the fishery industry the navigation of 
 the Mississippi for twenty-five years. This they did in the face 
 of previously contradictory instructions, and despite the fact, that 
 even if Jay had concluded the treaty, they could never have gotten 
 the requisite nine States to ratify it. 
 
 The alarm of the South was great. The stubbornness of the 
 North was regarded as proof positive that they intended to over- 
 ride the Constitution, or break up the Union. Such, indeed, was 
 the charge brought against them by as cautious and moderate a 
 man as Monroe.' 
 
 This was during the summer of 1Y86. Congress soon adjourned ; 
 and in the recess Shays' rebellion occurred, which taught the East- 
 ern States to appreciate more properly the benefits of their alliance 
 with the South.'* The sturdy inhabitants of Kentucky also stood 
 up for their rights, and proposed to arm ten thonsand men to 
 settle their dispute with Spain.' The very emigration to the West, 
 which they had attempted in vain to prevent, had by its extent 
 given a northern sympathy to the Northwest, while at the same 
 
 ' Bancroft's Const. Hist, ii., pp. 391-2. - Elliot, iii., pp. 350-'l. 
 
 3 Ban. Const. Hist., ii., pp. 388. ■• Ibid., ii., p. 405. = ii^^_^ ji^ p_ 415. 
 
ORDINANCE OF 1787. 311 
 
 time new interests were created opposed to the alienation of the 
 Mississippi. Accordingly, in the Congress which met in the fall 
 of 1786, the Southern party was immediately strengthened by the 
 adhesion of New Jersey ; Pennsylvania became divided, and sev- 
 eral of the delegates of New England declared for the opening of 
 the Mississippi. 
 
 The ordinance for the regulation of the Northwest Territory, as 
 ceded by Yirginia, January 2, 1781, was still pending before 
 Congress. At this moment it was given a powerful impulse from 
 an organization which, while operating in the West, owed its origin 
 and membership to the East. This was the Ohio company, or- 
 ganized at Boston for purchasing and colonizing a large tract of 
 land between the Ohio and Lake Erie. Congress was forced to 
 action before the band of hardy pioneers, impatient to start for 
 the promised land. The ordinance was revised, and embodied the 
 best part of the work of their predecessors. Grayson, the presid- 
 ing officer, was the soul of the action of Congress, and at his in- 
 stance Dane copied from Jefferson the prohibition of involuntary 
 servitude in the territory.' The insertion of this clause was de- 
 sired, but not even remotely contemplated by Dane,^ since of the 
 Northern States, only Massachusetts was present, and the Southern 
 States, including Virginia, had virtually twice rejected it, — first, 
 in 1784, when Jefferson proposed it, and again, in 1785, when 
 King moved to commit it. 
 
 The South now went unanimously for it; and the reasons were 
 obvious. They considered the Northwest Territory as already 
 lost to slavery, and that the present interdiction of it, while it 
 would subserve their own immediate interest in monopolizing the 
 growth of tobacco and indigo — the products of slave labor — would 
 also induce a more conciliatory disposition on the part of the 
 North towards the territory in dispute with Spain. 
 
 These calculations were not disappointed. In September, 1788, 
 the old Congress passed resolutions unanimously that the "free 
 navigation of the Mississippi is a clear and essential right of the 
 United States." Succeeding this, Grayson, who had had himself 
 returned to the Virginia Legislature, carried through that body a 
 ratification of the ordinance lately passed with the interdiction of 
 slavery. 
 
 ' Bancroft's Coast. Hist., ii., p. 115. ' Ibid., p. 431. 
 
312 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEE8. 
 
 That in interdicting slavery in the Northwest, the South and 
 Grayson were chiefly moved by political considerations is certain ; 
 for Grayson tells us so.' The ordinance permitted five States to 
 be formed north of the Ohio, and it is indicative of Grayson's sa- 
 gacity that the territory to the south admitted of exactly an equi- 
 valent number. 
 
 The sectional struggle is manifested again, to a great extent, in 
 the policy of Hamilton, which in the main was supported by the 
 North and opposed by the South. The North reaped the lion's 
 share of the spoils in each instance. 
 
 The annexation of Louisiana was in the same way bitterly op- 
 posed by the East; and when we keep in mind the cold-blooded 
 considerations that guided the North in the convention of 1787 on 
 the slave trade, as well as the countenance notoriously given to it 
 by New England vessels while the Missouri contest was going on, 
 the great and operating motives in the Missouri contest are laid 
 bare. 
 
 Louisiana Territory, acquired by tlie treaty of 1803, was slave 
 territory by the lex loci. Moreover, by the express terms of the 
 agreement with France, the inhabitants of the ceded territory 
 
 ' " The clause respecting slavery was agreed to by tlie Southern members for the 
 purpose of preventing tobacco and indigo from being made on the northwest side 
 of the Ohio, as well as for several other political reasons. . . . From the great 
 number of inhabitants in the Eastern States and in the Jerseys, I should not be 
 surprised to see them, in a very few years, extend themselves by additional pur- 
 chases quite to the Mississippi, and thereby form a complete barrier for our State, 
 at the same time greatly validating the lands on the Virginia side of the 0hi|O. . > 
 The Mississippi is where you left it, i. e. , nothing has been done. Mr. Jay has, 
 in one of his late letters, decidedly said he would do nothing more without fur- 
 ther discretion of Congress. I, therefore, think we are safe for the present." 
 (Grayson to Monroe, Bancroft's Const. Hist., ii. p. 437.) The apprehensions of 
 Grayson may be gathered from his language in the Virginia Convention of 1788 : 
 "If the Mississippi be shut up, emigrations will be stopped entirely. There will 
 be no new States formed on the Western waters. This will be a government of 
 seven States. This contest of the Mississippi involves this great nationnl contest; 
 that is, whether one part of the continent shall govern the other. The Northern. 
 States have the majority, and will endeavor to retain it. This is, therefore, a con- 
 test for dominion — for empire!" (Elhot, iii., p. 36.5.) "If the Mississippi was 
 yielded to Spain, the migration to the Western country would be stopped, and the 
 Northern States would not only retain their inhabitants, but preserve their supe- 
 riority and influence over those of the South." {Ibid., iii., p. 292.) 
 
 In giving the ordinance a political origin, I give fuU credit to that philanthropical 
 feeling which always glowed in Virginia breasts. 
 
THE SLAVE QUESTION. 313" 
 
 were to be admitted into the Union as soon as possible, to all tlie- 
 rights, advantages, and immunities of the citizens of the United 
 States, and in the meantime be " maintained and protected in the 
 free enjoyment of their liberty, property, and religion." Louisiana,, 
 the State, and a part of Louisiana Territory, had been admitted 
 with slavery in 1812. Missouri, another slice of the same domain, 
 had been settled by slave-owners, and not a single objection ap- 
 plied to her admission that did not equally apply to Louisiana; 
 and yet the North, in 1820, insisted on the restriction as the con- 
 dition of her becoming a State in the Federal Union. Never be- 
 fore were Southern men brought to a ruder realization of the de- 
 signs of the North. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, like his father, deplored slavery; bnt it was here; 
 without his fault or that of his cotemporaries, and he, like the best 
 patriots of the Revolution, would tolerate no ofiBcious interference 
 from without. Much as George Mason and Patrick Henry de- 
 plored the institution in the convention of 1788, they, with their 
 compeers, demanded assurances as to the action of the North. 
 Henry forewarned his countrymen of what actually came to pass- 
 A Northern commander at the head of a Northern army would 
 decree the forcible abolition of slavery. ^^ May Congress not say- 
 that every hlack man must fight V He wanted to know if the 
 Constitution guarded against this. " For," said he, " as much as I 
 deplore slavery, I see that prudence forbids its abolition."^ 
 Edmund Kandolph undertook to relieve his mind on this point: 
 " Where is that part (of the Constitution) that has a tendency to 
 the aholition of slavery ? . . . . Even South Carolina conceived 
 this property to he secure. I believe, whatever we may think here,. 
 that there was not a member of the Virginia delegation who had 
 the smallest suspicion of the aholition of slavery T ^ 
 
 The action of the North, in 1820, in restricting slavery in the- 
 Territories, meant from the tirst violence and war. No good could 
 come from shutting up the negroes in the old States, since it would 
 serve only to condense their numbers, and render the problem of 
 emancipation the more difficult to solve in the end. Mr. Tyler,. 
 had he lived till this day, would have heartily endorsed the 
 language of a just writer and good man, — Mr. George Ticknor 
 
 ' Elliot, iii., p. 590. ' Ibid., pp. 598-'9. 
 
314 LETTBES AND TIMES OF THE TYLBKS. 
 
 Curtis, — who says : " It is a cause for exultation that slavery no 
 longer exists in the broad domain of this Eepublic — that our 
 theory and our practice are now in complete accord. But it is no 
 cause for national pride that we did not accomplish this result 
 without the cost of a million of precious lives and untold millions 
 of money." ' Mr. Tyler, for one, reposed an implicit reliance on 
 the operations of time, and did do, and would have done, all in 
 his power to promote their success. Had the final consummation 
 been postponed for generations, even then it may be questioned 
 whether such an alternative was not preferable to the wounds 
 that our political organism has received. 
 
 The question of admitting Missouri had come up at the previous 
 ^session, but by a disagreement of the two HouseS', its settlement 
 had been postponed to this. At the previous session, also, a bill 
 providing a territorial government for Arkansas had been dis- 
 cussed. A clause in regard to slavery had been proposed, similar 
 to that which had been brought up in the case of Missom-i. Mr. 
 Tyler spoke against this restriction, and pointed out one of those 
 remedial agencies on which he relied. This . was the African 
 Colonization Society, organized in 1816, and which was engaged 
 at the time in laying the foundations of the present Republic of 
 Liberia.^ 
 
 The question of admitting Missouri coming again before the 
 House of Kepresentatives, was, on the motion of Mr. Scott, re- 
 ferred to a committee, who reported on the 9th of December, 
 1819, a bill, in the usual form, authorizing Missouri to form 
 .a State constitution. To this bill the same restriction was 
 moved as at the previous session. This, in effect, prohibited the 
 further introduction of slaves, and granted freedom to all those 
 born in the State upon their twenty -fifth birthday. At about the 
 .same time the subject began to be agitated in the Senate. A bill 
 providing for the admission of Maine, which had passed the House 
 -on the 3d of January, 1820, had been amended there by a clause 
 providing for the admission of Missouri. Mr. Roberts moved to 
 .amend this latter clause by a restriction on slavery in Missouri. 
 
 ' See Curtis' James Buchanan, ii., p. 283. 
 
 ' This speech of Mr. Tyler was not reported. Mention is made of several of its 
 features in the speech of Mr. Taylor, Annals of Congress, 2nd Session 15th Con- 
 gress, p. 1225. 
 
MISSOURI QUESTION. 315 
 
 Eotli the House and the Senate were the theatres of a long-con- 
 linued debate. 
 
 In the Struggle for power, the politician was not idle. The 
 pretensions of the North were favored by the doctrine of consoli- 
 dation; and the leaders of the old Federal party, who had been 
 left by the people in isolation, viewed the moment as a favorable 
 one to get back into power. Kufus King, a confirmed old Federal- 
 ist, led the North in their crusade against the South, and the in- 
 tention was cherished, if not avowed, to make the Missouri ques- 
 tion the means of wrecking the administration of Monroe, and 
 thus restoring the government into the hands of those who had 
 held it under John Adams. 
 
 The contest in the Senate ' between the opposing parties was 
 the first to reach a vote. On the 1st of February, Mr. Roberts' 
 restriction was voted down by twenty-seven to sixteen. 
 
 Soon after this result, Mr. Tyler wrote the following letter to 
 Dr. Curtis: 
 
 ' " Maryland was at the time represented by two men who would have done honor 
 ±0 the proudest state in any age of the world. They were William Pinkney and 
 Edward Lloyd, — the first, classical in style and manner, magnificent in rhetoric, 
 stnd resistless in logic ; the last, stem and infiexible in his principles, noble and 
 generous in his bearing, and while too honest to conceal an indignant sense of 
 wrong, mild, concihating and tranquil in the midst of excitement. The discus- 
 fiion which had sprung up in the Senate on the Missouri question called upon Mr. 
 Pinkney for a full display of all those wonderful talents he was known to possess. 
 After 1 protracted debate, in which most of the senators had joined, — among 
 whom was Kufui King, whose exalted character dignified the station which he 
 £lled, and whose advocacy of the Missouri restriction gave additional and weighty 
 sanction to a great wrong, — Mr. Pinkney announced his purpose to reply. The 
 scene which the Senate chamber presented the day on which he addressed the 
 Senate is not to be forgotten by one who had the good fortune to look upon it. 
 The exciting theme, united to the fame of the orator, had caused an immense 
 <!rowd to repair to the Capitol at an early hour, and every seat in the cham- 
 ber was occupied before the hour for the meeting of the Senate had arrived, 
 and the body of the chamber was overflowed by those who were permitted to till 
 all the avenues between the seats of the senators. I remember the exultation of 
 ihe Southern and South-western members in that triumphant vindication of truth 
 and justice ; and it added no little to the measure of gratification that the 
 championship of equality among the States as joint partners in all belonging to 
 the Union should thus have been assumed, through its senators, by the State of 
 Maryland. The effort of that day entitled Mr. Pinkney to be ranked among the 
 greatest debaters and most eminent orators who had in any age appeared upon 
 the stage of public affairs." — (John Tyler, Lecture at the Maryland Mechanics' In- 
 stitute, 1855.) 
 
316 LETTEKS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 [To Dr. Cuktis.] 
 
 February 6th, 1820: 
 
 Dear Doctor : Your letter of the 1st inst. is now before me, aad inasmuch 
 as I had been long expecting to hear from you, its receipt gave me additional 
 gratification. You should have heard from me long since if I had known in 
 what quarter of the world you had located yourself. I am pleased to learn 
 that you are fixed advantageously, and if the neighborhood be a good one for 
 a medical man you will certainly have done well in moving from Hanover 
 Town, I should have been much more highly gratified if you could have made- 
 an advantageous purchase in my own neighborhood ; but as this could not be, 
 I shall be content to hear often from you, and to be informed of your increas- 
 ing prosperity. You probably may have heard of Douglas having parted 
 with G-reenway to Dr. Minge. I had opened a negotiation for the whole estate^ 
 but my terms did not suit him, and he has sold Greenway separate from the 
 rest, most injudiciously, I fear, for his interests. 
 
 I have nothing of a public nature to write about. "Missouri " is the only 
 word ever repeated here by the politician. The discussion is over in the- 
 Senate, and the decision is against the restriction by a respectable majority. 
 I fear, however, that it is only a nominal majority, and one looking to a compro- 
 mise. In our House the debate waxes warmer every day. When it will 
 terminate cannot well be foreseen ; and what may be the consequences i.s- 
 almost beyond the art of prophecy. We are abused and deeply aggrieved by 
 the grossest ribaldry which newspaper editors and writers can bestow upon 
 us, and to reach us, and affect us vitally, Missouri is the scape-goat. You 
 can have no possible idea of the excitement which prevails here. Men talk 
 of a dissolution of the Union with perfect non-chalance and indifference. I for 
 one, however, will not be frightened at false fire. The storm I trust will 
 burst on the heads of those very wretches who have presumptuously raised it. 
 They talk here of jugglers behind the scene, and of a Federal caucus. Rufus- 
 King and De Witt Clinton, are the prominent men in this intended divan o^ 
 fools. Perhaps they may attempt to make head against Mr. Monroe. This- 
 I should like them to do, for then they would be unmasked, and stand exposed 
 as objects of derision and scorn. 
 
 I sustained a violent and singular shock, four days ago, on my consti- 
 tution. I had gone to the House on Thursday morning, having before ex- 
 perienced a disagreeable sensation in my head, which increased so much as to 
 force me to leave the hall. It then visited in succession my hands, feet, 
 tongue, teeth and lips, creating on each the effect which is produced by what 
 is commonly called a "sleepy hand," which all are subject to. But it was so 
 severe as to render my limbs, tongue, etc., almost useless to me. I was bled, 
 and took purgative medicines, which have rendered me convalescent But my 
 system is not altogether right yet, and I wish you to write me your ideas on 
 the best course to be pursued to bring about perfect health. The Doctor here 
 ascribed it to a diseased stomach, and, very probably, correctly did so; but 
 you know my habits, my frame, etc., and your advice would be most thank- 
 fully received. I am now walking about and am to appearance well, but 
 often experience a glow in my face and over the whole system, -which is often 
 
MISSOURI QUESTION. 317 
 
 followed up by debility with pains in my neck and arms. At all events, 
 
 writing on your part is done without effort, and might to me prove banefloial, 
 
 so I shall expect to hear from you as soon as may be. 
 
 My love to Christiana, and be assured of my friendship and regard. 
 
 ,, , John Tyler. 
 
 Monday 6th. 
 
 I wrote the above on yesterday, and only add that I continue to regain my 
 ^strength, and hope in a day or two to be entirely restored. 
 
 The bill for the admission of Missouri, with the restriction on 
 slavery, continued for days the subject of stubborn discussion in 
 the House. The excitement was intense, and speaker after 
 speaker succeeded on opposing sides. 
 
 It was not until the discussion was drawing to its close that Mr. 
 Tyler claimed the attention of the House. A severe and singular 
 .shock to his nervous system, described in his letter to Dr. Curtis, 
 had, greatly to his regret, prevented him from taking an earlier 
 part in the debate ; and even now he suffered from its remoter ef- 
 fects. Nevertheless, he felt it a duty he owed to his constituents 
 to express his sentiments on this vitally important question. Tlie 
 arguments of the adversaries of the South were principally drawn 
 from the sentiment prevailing against slavery. The able speakers 
 of the North opposed, on general principles, the policy of admit- 
 ting new slave States, because it " extended slavery ;" and the term 
 was unfairly employed, in reference to such admissions, to indicate 
 .an increase of number, and not a mere diffusion. This fallacy Mr. 
 Tyler thus forcibly exposed : 
 
 Slavery has been represented on all hands as a dark cloud, and the candor 
 of the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Whitman) drove him to the ad- 
 mission that it would be well to disperse this cloud. In this sentiment I 
 entirely concur with him. How can you otherwise disarm it? Will you 
 suffer it to increase in its darkness over one particular portion of this land, till 
 its horrors shall burst upon it ? Will you permit the lightnings of its wrath 
 to break upon the South, when by the interposition of a wise system of legis- 
 lation you may reduce it to a summer's cloud ? How is the North interested in 
 pursuing such a course ? The man of the North is far removed from its in- 
 fluence ; he may smile and experience no disquietude. But exclude this pro- 
 perty from Missouri, by the exercise of an arbitrary power ; shut it out from 
 the Territories ; and I maintain that you do not consult the interests of this 
 JQnion. 
 
 The gentleman from Massachusetts also conceded that for which we con- 
 tend — that by diffusing this population extensively you increase the prospects 
 ■of emancipation. What enabled New York, Pennsylvania, and other States, to 
 
318 LErrEES and times of the tylbeb. 
 
 adopt the language of universal emancipation? Rely on it, nothing but the- 
 paucity of the number of their slaves. That which would have been criminal 
 in those States not to have done, would be an act of political suicide in 
 Georgia or South Carolina to do. By this dispersion, you also ameliorate the 
 condition of the black man ; for I appeal to gentlemen who come from the 
 South to say whether the bettering of the condition of the slave has not been 
 owing to the increased demand for his labor. This increased demand has- 
 made it the interest of the master, independent of other considerations, to be 
 more tender in his treatment of his dependents A moment's reflec- 
 tion will also convince us that we do not, by extending this population, add 
 to their numbers by any ordinary means. The great rule which controls the- 
 progress of the multiplication of the human species and accelerates it, will 
 equally apply for the next century, if no longer, whether Missouri throws- 
 open her gates or not. The means of subsistence are abundant in the present 
 tlave-holding country, and will continue to increase with an increase of popu- 
 lation.^ You subserve, then, the purposes of humanity by voting down this- 
 amendment to the bill on your table. You advance the interest and secure 
 the safety of one-half of this extended Republic: you ameliorate the condi- 
 tion of the slave, and you add much to the prospects of emancipation, and the- 
 total extinction of slavery. 
 
 Mr. Tyler refuted in succession the arguments advanced in favor 
 of the restriction on Missouri. The right to impose the restriction 
 annihilated the equality of the States. Virginia could have slaves^ 
 and was protected in the enjoyment of them as property, but Mis- 
 souri was to be restricted. In the very face of the Constitution, the 
 new and the old States were placed upon a different footing. 
 
 By the treaty of 1803, it was stipulated that the '-' inhabitant& 
 of the added territory should be admitted into the Union as soon 
 as possible." These terms implied an absolute right of admission. 
 Congress could not limit a perfect right. The right to impose 
 this restriction involved the right to im-pose any other that Con- 
 gress chose. Where was the power to end ? " Suppose," said 
 Mr. Tyler, " that Missouri accepts your condition, and at a future 
 day thinks proper, as a State, to repeal it by an act of her legis- 
 
 ' This argument of the South was simply irrefutable. It crushed the plea that 
 the means of subsistence would increase with the diffusion of the slaves, and 
 hence an increase of population would take place. According to this jirgument, 
 the Indians should have been the most dense, since they were the most widely 
 diffused over the continent. . Moreover, the North had far more than an equal 
 chance in settling the Territories. It therefore followed that all those slaves that- 
 happened to be caught in a Territory at the time it adopted a State constitution 
 ran more than an even chance of being made free. 
 
ME. TYLEk's speech ON THE MISSOUEI QUESTION. 319' 
 
 lature. Then comes a man from Louisiana and moves into it with 
 his slaves, who immediately on getting there apply for a writ of 
 habeas corpus. In the States now existing, such a controversy, as 
 well as all controversies between citizens of the States, are tried 
 before the tribunals of the State. Not so in Missouri in this case. 
 The arm of the Federal judiciary would be extended between 
 master and slave." 
 
 Mr. Tyler exhibited other inconsistencies into which the admis- 
 sion of the power claimed by the Northern members must lead 
 the government. Nothing showed more clearly the character of 
 the contest than this simple argument. If a majority from the 
 free States could impose such a condition, and forbid slaves in the 
 new States, then whenever, or if ever, the slave-holding States ob- 
 tained the majority, they too might annex conditions the reverse 
 of this, and force slavery where it did not exist. This proved that 
 the war waged by the North was one, not of right, but of power. 
 
 Mr. Tyler next viewed the subject from the standpoint of ex- 
 pediency. This territory had been purchased out of the common 
 purse ; the South and North had contributed alike. They were, 
 then joint tenants in the estate, and without an act of injustice the 
 Southern people could not be ousted out of their right to an equal 
 participation in all its benefits. But the injustice of the measure 
 was made manifest by this further consideration : The lands in the 
 country in dispute had been opened to bidders from all the States. 
 The planters from the Southern States settled there had entered 
 the market trusting to the solemn stipulations of the treaty, which 
 guaranteed the property of the inhabitants of the territory. The 
 restriction, therefore, imperiled vested rights. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's objections took a still wider range. He went further 
 than to deny merely that Congress had power to impose a restric- 
 tion upon a territory in the formation of a State constitution. He 
 particularly renounced the idea that Congress, under its constitu- 
 tional authority to establish "rules and regulations" for the Terri- 
 tories, had any control whatever over slavery in the ten-itorial do- 
 
 ' ' ' Gentlemen should have issued their proclamation before the Territory was 
 settled, — a course, Juncever, which, even in regard to an unsettled Territory, 1 should 
 deny to be constitutional, — and distinctly atinounced their views and intentions, 
 and then men would have acted with their eyes open." (Annals of Congress, 1st 
 Session 16th Congress, p. 1391.) 
 
■320 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEE8. 
 
 This becomes highly interesting in the light of subsequent facts. 
 'The National Intelligencer, afterwards the central organ of the 
 "Whig party, maintained, in a series of able articles on the Mis- 
 .souri question, written in the fall of 1859, that Mr. Tyler was the 
 only member of Congress at that day who, in debate, denied to 
 Congress the constitutional right to forbid slavery in the Terri- 
 iories.' If so, it is the highest possible compliment to Mr. Tyler's 
 foresight, since the drift of events finally compelled all the Southern 
 leaders, the Democratic party, and indeed even the Supreme Court, 
 into the view publicly expressed by him so many years before. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's peroration to his speech on the Missouri question 
 was most touching. His appeal to the North in behalf of the 
 Union was replete with tenderness and pathos. His hymn was 
 his country, and he adjured them, by the glory and recollections 
 of the past, to ostracise the sectional feeling which threatened to 
 destroy the sacred fabric of government. With the North it was 
 a question of mere expediency ; with the South it was not only 
 this, but one of conscience and the Constitution. He employed 
 no words of recrimination, no abusive language, but stood firm 
 .and resolved. " For myself," said he, " I cannot and will not 
 yield one inch of the ground." He solemnly asked the Northern 
 members whether they meant to persist in their objects at all 
 hazards; and whether, if they did, they had reviewed the whole 
 field of consequences. '■'•Do you believe that Southern bayonets 
 will ever be jphmged into Southern hearts .?" Memorable words ! 
 No, never will Southern bayonets be plunged into Southern hearts. 
 
 But the reader will obtain an adequate conception only of Mr. 
 Tyler's eloquence by reading for himself his speech as printed at 
 length in the Annals of Congress. My space is confined, but I 
 venture to give the peroration here : 
 
 What will be the consequences if you persist in this measure? A sectional 
 feeling is already generated, a geographic line is drawn. Tell me not of that 
 .policy which shall divide the people of this country by local feelings and 
 
 1 "Mr. Tyler, of Virginia, afterwards President of the United States, was the 
 only member, so far as we can discover on a re-perusal of the debates, who 
 Tmequivocally disputed the constitutionality of a slavery restriction when applied 
 to a Territory as yet unsettled. A few other members doubtless shared in this 
 -opinion, as may be inferred from the votes of some Southern gentlemen against 
 rthe compromise which was adopted in the end." {National Intelligencer, Septem- 
 ber 15, 1859.) 
 
ME. Tyler's speech on the missouei question. 321 
 
 prejudices. This is the bane of a republic ; it is the roolt which ought to 
 be most cautiously avoided ; sir, it is the greatest of all dangers to the Union 
 ■of these States. Take not my poor word for it. Nay, disregard the admoni- 
 tions of hira who has so often been called the Father of his Country. Forget 
 the valedictory address of Washington. But can you, or will you, close your 
 ■eyes to the lights of experience? Remember ancient Rome; she conquered 
 mighty powers; the world obeyed her nod; but she, in the end, conquered 
 herself. The people divided among themselves, and these divisions led to the 
 erection of the throne of the Cassars over her prostrate liberty. So, too, with 
 the Grecian republics; united Greece stood up successfully against the mighty 
 power of Xerxes ; and the fall of Leonidas was but the precursor of the glory 
 achieved at Marathon and Platrea. But Sparta wished to domineer over 
 Athens, and their intestine feuds opened the channel to that flood of vandalism 
 which deluged Greece, and obliterated all trace of freedom. Such, too, was the 
 fate of the Achaean league. I beseech gentlemen then to pause, lest they 
 produce a similar division uf sentiment in this happy land. What else can 
 retard our onward march? What were you fifty years ago? By Europe we 
 ■were esteemed as little better than savages; nay, dozing philosophers had 
 ventured to pronounce that all animated nature here wore a degenerate as- 
 pect. But history has refuted and thrown back this slander in the teeth of 
 those who uttered it. We emerged with great brightness from the struggles 
 of the Revolution. Our prosperity continued to advance. We have emerged 
 from a second conflict with additional radiance. We bearded the Hercules 
 of the other hemisphere, and we lost naught by the conflict. Our proud ban- 
 ners floated in triumph over the waves. What now is our condition? Kings 
 and potentates court our amity. We are lifted up to a high station among 
 the nations of the earth. Say that our march is not impeded, who can set 
 limits to our glory? Tyre rose a little speck above the ocean, and she was 
 considered strong and mighty. England, with an area scarcely exceeding 
 that of some of these States, controls the destinies of Europe. And what 
 -shall be their glory in comparison with ours ? We direct the destinies of a 
 mighty continent. Our resources are unlimited; our means unbounded. If 
 we be true to ourselves, the glory of other nations, in comparison with ours, 
 -shall resemble but a tale from the days of chivalry. Our mighty and reful- 
 gent sun shall almost obscure, by its radiance, the little stars of their renown. 
 Let us, then, avoid a question like the present; disappoint not these fond 
 ■hopes. Gentlemen on the opposite side may yield without dishonor. They 
 pursue but a scheme of policy ; we are differently situated ; we cannot with- 
 out violation of our oaths support this measure. We believe, in our con- 
 sciences, that the Constitution confers on us no such power. For myself, I 
 cannot and will not, yield one inch of ground. Let me, then, adjure our 
 •brethren from the North to come and sit down once more by our side. I call 
 ■on them to heal the differences which this measure has produced. Your 
 course is palpable and plain. You have two roads before you, — take, this and 
 .all is harmony and peace; over that hang doubts and fears. I invoke the 
 genius of the Constitution to cover and protect us against the evils which 
 threaten us. What if you impose the restriction, and Missouri, instead of 
 
 21 
 
322 LETTERS AST) TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 submitting, shall form herself into a community, and demand admittance, or 
 aever from the Union ? Will you then retract ? How much more honorable 
 to do it now 1 Or do you mean to persist in your object at all hazards, and if 
 she prove refractory reduce her to submission ? Do you believe that Southern 
 bayonets will ever be plunged into Southern hearts ? I know not how this- 
 may be, but I require you to pause and deeply to reflect before you have to- 
 resort to this extremity. 
 
 But, Mr. Chairman, if no admonition will succeed, then pursue your own 
 course. Gentlemen may return to their constituents, receive votes of thanks,, 
 have their speeches translated into foreign languages, to be dozed over and 
 admired by those who know nothing of the principles of our government.. 
 But if evil flows from this measure, history will be true to herself, and will 
 record, That the United States were most fortunate and most contented; that- 
 no speck was seen on the horizon threatening danger; that while marching, 
 steadily on to the fulfilment of their high destinies, a proposition was made from 
 the North to abridge the rights of the South, in violation of the Constitution;, 
 that a storm suddenly arose, and in its fury blasted the hopes of the patriot 
 and overthrew the altar and temple. And, sir, it is not necessary to add 
 that, instead of the blessings, the deepest curses of posterity will be uttered 
 against the supporters of this destructive policy. 
 
 In his letter to Dr. Curtis, dated the 5th of February, 1820, Mr. 
 Tyler had expressed his fears that the decision against the restric- 
 tion in the Senate "was only a nominal majority, and one looking 
 to a compromise." Such, in fact, was the case. On the next day 
 after the defeat of the restriction of Mr. Koberts in the Senate,. 
 Mr. Burrill proposed an amendment, applying the general princi- 
 ple of the ordinance of 1787 to the case of Missouri. This, on 
 February 3rd, was withdrawn in favor of an amendment offered 
 by Mr. Thomas, of Illinois, prohibiting slavery north of the line- 
 36^° north latitude in all the territory ceded by France, and known 
 by the name of Louisiana. This proposition, which pretended 
 to proceed upon the principle of a division of the public lands,, 
 was received with favor by the Senate. Notwithstanding the 
 gross inequality of the contemplated division, enough Southern 
 members were found to secure its adoption. Leaving out of view 
 altogether the constitutional question, the "compromise," as the 
 amendment was called, while securing to the South one-ninth of 
 the territorial domain, surrendered to the ISTorth upwards of eight- 
 ninths ! 
 
 It cannot be presumed that the Southern senators who voted 
 for the " compromise " were ignorant of this inequality in the line- 
 of division. Their conduct is to be explained solely by the pe- 
 
TEEGrVEKSATION OF THE SENATE. 323 
 
 CTiIiar situation of Missouri, which made their anxiety for its present 
 admission more potent than their apprehension of a distant evil, how- 
 ever enormous. Equally fatal was the principle admitted by some 
 of the Southern senators, that while Congress had no right to im- 
 pose restrictions on a Territory applying for admission as a State, 
 it could do so when this was not the case. Mr. Pinkney might 
 as well have spared his eloquent breath, since, in voting for the 
 amendment proposed by Mr. Thomas, he gave his endorsement to 
 a clause infinitely more dangerous than the restriction imposed on 
 Missouri, and between which and the latter there was not a par- 
 ticle of substantial difference. 
 
 The tergiversation of the Senate operated with crushing effect 
 on the Southern members of the House. There were now two 
 bills pending in the latter body. There was, first, the bill, as 
 above described, combining Maine and Missouri, and amended 
 by a clause proposing a partition of territory ; and secondly, there 
 was its own bill for the admission of Missouri, fettered by an 
 amendment restricting slavery. 
 
 A few days after Mr. Tyler's speech, i. e., on the 23rd of February, 
 1S20, the House proceeded to the consideration of the Maine and 
 Missouri bill, sent down from the Senate. The restrictionists first 
 sought to separate the two territories, which they did by a^vote of 
 ninety-three to seventy-two. They then voted the compromise sec- 
 tion down also by one hundred and fifty-nine to eighteen, — being, 
 of course, joined in this by the Southern members. 
 
 The Missouri "compromise" was thus, in its incipiency, repro- 
 bated by both Xorth and South : by the South, because they could 
 not fail to see its inequality, and by the North, because, though it 
 gave them the lion's share, they were resolved to be satisfied with 
 nothing less than all. 
 
 Eut in this game of ambition the JSTorthern members received 
 a repulse from the Senate, who, in consenting to the compromise, 
 had gone as far as they were willing to go. On the return of the 
 Maine bill to the Senate, that body voted to insist on the union of 
 Missouri with Maine, and on the compromise line as applying to 
 the rest of the Louisiana territory. A deadlock had ensued, which 
 could only be relieved by the appointment of committees of con- 
 ference from both Houses. 
 
 On the 2d of March, a report was made to the House from this 
 
324 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 consultation of members, recommending that the restriction on the 
 Missouri bill in the House be struck out, and that the clause con- 
 taining the " compromise," attached to the Maine bill of the Sen- 
 ate be substituted. 
 
 After some discussion the previous question was called, and the 
 clause imposing a restriction on slavery in Missouri rejected by 
 ninety to eighty-seven. The vote then recurring on the so-called 
 compromise proposition, it was adopted by one hundred and thirty- 
 four to forty-two. Of the forty-two who voted iVo, all but five 
 were from the South, and of these, seventeen were from Virginia. 
 
 Mr. Tyler was one of the seventeen Virginians. His vote is 
 found recorded in the journal against every restriction sought to 
 be imposed on Missouri. He had boldly vindicated his word. 
 While Southerner after Southerner voted to impose fetters upon 
 his section, Mr. Tyler "had not yielded an inch" throughout the 
 whole controversy; nor had he once "been frightened by false 
 fire." 
 
 Carried to the President, the compromise bill received his ap- 
 proval and became a law. Mr. Calhoun, whom some are inclined 
 to put forward as the model Southern statesman, was a member 
 of Monroe's cabinet, and joined in sanctioning this measure — the 
 most fa^al blow the South had been dealt. This is not surprising; 
 for so little ti'ue appreciation did Calhoun have of the economic 
 relations of the South and North that at this time he was a zealous 
 advocate of the American System. AlthougJi as far back as the 
 first Congress, Grayson had pointedly foretold the sectional opera- 
 tion of the tariff, Calhoun did not wake up to it until seven years 
 after the Missouri compromise. In 1827, Calhoun cast his feder- 
 alism to the winds, took the lead as an ultra strict constructionist, 
 and in six years went so far the other way as to almost destroy 
 State-rights under the dreadful load of New England nullification. 
 After this, Calhoun figured as the champion of slavery, carried 
 his defence to the point of making it a "blessing," and even at- 
 tacked the ordinance of 1787, established with infinite wisdom by 
 Grayson, and under the solemn sanction of Virginia. 
 
 The difference between Mr. Tyler and Mr. Calhoun was often 
 that which obtains between the calm conclusions of a statesman 
 and the unreasoning acts of a zealot. Mr. Calhoun favored the 
 compromise of 1820, and opposed those of 1833 and 1850. Mr. 
 
DEATH-BLOW TO THE SOUTH. 325 
 
 Tyler opposed the compromise of 1820, and favored those of 1833 
 and 1 850. And Mr. Tyler was right. At the two latter epochs 
 the South was at a decided disadvantage. The power of the 
 North had not only increased formidably, but the questions at 
 issue did not permit the hope of the same union as was possible in 
 1820. Then the sections were pretty evenly balanced,^ while the 
 executive was in Southern hands. Moreover, the question was a 
 fundamental one. Had no backdown occurred on the part of the 
 South, non-intervention in the affairs of the Territories would have 
 become the established law. The men of the North were too cal- 
 culating to force a collision where they were certain to come out 
 the worst. And after aU, it was an infamous contradiction to say 
 that the North could abolish slaveiy, but the South must have it 
 for all time. 
 
 But after years had been allowed to pass by, and the North re- 
 ceiving the entire benefit of the internal laws of the Union and a 
 continuous stream of emigration from Europe, — which avoided 
 the South, because of the notorious dislike of the foreign laborer 
 to the negro,^ — it was too late to put in jeopardy the guaranty of 
 secession. Resistance in 1820 would have preserved the South, 
 and not have disrupted the Union. After that, the ruin of one or 
 the other was bound to follow. 
 
 The vote of the Virginia representatives in 1820 shows the 
 stoutness of spirit which at this time animated the people of the 
 State, who, always noted for their conservatism, have been the 
 last to surrender principle. The Enquirer counseled to the last 
 firmness and resolve. In his able editorial of March 7, 1820, Mr. 
 Hitchie denounced the "so-called settlement" of the Missouri 
 question, and utterly reprobated the folly of the Southern repre- 
 sentatives. The compromise was in Mr. Ritchie's opinion both 
 unconstitutional and unequal. One clause of the editorial, in the 
 light of after events, is especially interesting : " They " (the South- 
 ern and Western representatives), said the editor, "owe it to them- 
 
 ' The population of the North atid South, according to the four first ceneuses, 
 
 was as follows : 
 
 1790. 1800. 1810. 1820. 
 
 North, 1,968,455 2,684,625 3,758,820 5,132,372 
 
 South 1,961,327 2,621,.300 3,480,994 4,522,224 
 
 ' Not ilane. The mere presence of the negro is as active nmo (1884) as it ever 
 
 was in keeping off immigration. 
 
326 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 selves to keep their eyes firmly fixed on Texas. If we are cooped 
 up on the north, we must have elbow room to the west." 
 
 Apropos of Texas, the application to it of the Missouri line has 
 been strangely confounded with the principle that prevailed in 
 1S20. ISfo two things could be more distinct in character. The one 
 claimed for Congress no power except what proceeded from the 
 letter of the compact between Texas and the United States, while 
 the other — the principle established as to Missouri — conferred 
 upon the Federal agent what amounted, in fact, not to a mere con- 
 trol, but ownership of the property of settlers in the Territories. 
 This distinction was pointed out by Mr. Tyler in a letter to the 
 National Intelligencer, in September, 1859, and again in a dia- 
 logue with Colonel John B. Baldwin, in the A^rginia State Con- 
 vention, in March, 1861. This letter and this dialogue, though 
 widely separated in time from the events of this day, have so im- 
 portant a connection with them that I beg leave to insert them 
 here : 
 
 [To THE Editors of " The Intelligenoek."] 
 
 YiLLA Margaret, Sept. 22, 1859. 
 Messrs. Gales & Seaton : 
 
 Gentlesien : I have read with pleasure, as well as instruction, your num- 
 bers on the Territorial question, which have appeared in the National Intelli- 
 gencer. They present a compendium of facts which, sooner or later, will form 
 material for history; and hence my desire to appear in its columns to correct 
 an error in regard to myself, into which you have unintentionally fallen. I 
 propose to do so with the greatest brevity. 
 
 In your third number, you are good enough to say that, in the discussion 
 growing out of the Missouri question, in 1820, I was the only person who, in 
 debate, expressed the opinion that Congress possessed no constitutional right 
 to pass any law prohibiting slavery in the Territories of the United States. 
 In this you represent my opinion most truly. In your fourth number you as- 
 cribe to me a chaiige of opinion on this subject, which I feel it to be due alike 
 to myself and you to disclaim. You employ, in that fourth number, the fol- 
 lowing language : 
 
 "Up to the year 1845 we need not say that the power of Congress to pass 
 the Missouri compromise, and thus to exercise the prerogative of pro- 
 hibiting slavery in one part of our territorial dominion, while sanctioning it 
 in another, remained generally acquiesced in in all parts of the country. In 
 that year this sentiment received a positive expression and reaffirmation in 
 the resolutions adopted the first day of March, 1845, and approved the same 
 day by President Tyler, admitting the Republic of Texas into the Union 
 of the United States. In these resolutions it was provided, among other 
 things, that the Missouri compromise line, as a recognized compact on. the sub- 
 
TEXAS AND THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE. 327 
 
 ject of slavery, should be applied to Texas in case of any new States formed of 
 said territory north or south of said line. We cite the fact as showing that, 
 at that day, whatever may have been the opinions of certain distinguished 
 gentlemen with regard to the propriety of that great adjustment, its constitu- 
 tionality was held to be no longer doubtful by those who had been the most 
 determined among its opponents at the date of its adoption. Of those oppo- 
 nents, we have seen that no one was more decided, in the year 1820, than Mr. 
 Tyler, then a leading representative from the State of Virginia. Yet in 1845, 
 as President of the United States, he afBxed his signature to the Texas resol- 
 utions, which reaffirmed the Missouri line— thus giving his solemn assent to 
 a condition which, we may be assured, he would never have accepted if, at 
 that day, he had not become convinced of its constitutionality, whatever may 
 have been his recorded doubts upon the subject a quarter of a century 
 before." 
 
 With the acknowledgment of my obligations to you for the friendly terms 
 you have employed in the reference you have made to me, I must neverthe- 
 less express my regret that the reason for my approval of the Texas resolu- 
 tions should have been misunderstood and misapprehended by you. That 
 approval implies no change in my opinioQ since 1820, as to the powers of 
 Congress over the Territories belonging to the United States. That opinion 
 remains not only unchanged, but greatly strengthened, by all that is now pass- 
 ing or has transpired since. Nor is there anything in my advocacy and ap- 
 proval of the resolutions of Congress, which, upon their being adopted by Texas, 
 made her a bright and glorious star in our political galaxy, at war with 
 that opinion. 
 
 Pardon me for saying that you have mixed up a question of expediency 
 with one of constitutionality. The negotiating a treaty, or entering into a 
 compact with a foreign government in regard to territory belonging to that 
 foreign power, is essentially a different thing from that of making " rules and 
 Tegulatidbs " for the government of territory already belonging to the United 
 States. The first is only to be acquired on specified terms, which terms may 
 •emanate properly, either from the United States or such foreign power. Ex- 
 pediency and sound policy are the only umpires to decide for their reception 
 or rejection b}' both the parties to such treaty or compact. Texas might, for 
 instance, have proposed a stipulation for slavery throughout all her borders, 
 and it would have been for the United States to have accepted, rejected, or 
 modified the proposition after the manner that sound policy might suggest, 
 I suppose that no one would doubt that if Spain should propose to cede Cuba 
 to the United States she might do so with a stipulation that the island should 
 be received into the Union as a slave-holding State, with the further provision 
 ihat slavery should not afterwards be abolished by the State government 
 without an act providing fair remuneration to the owners accompanying the 
 act of emancipation ; or that, if it should fall out that Great Britain should 
 €nter into a negotiation with the United States for the cession of the Canadas, 
 she might urge a stipulation as a condition of the cession that slavery should 
 be prohibited in the territories thus ceded. It would in either case be for the 
 United States a question of expediency and sound policy which would deter- 
 
328 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 mine the acceptance or rejection of tlie proposition so made. In the numerous 
 contracts between the United States and the States themselves ceding terri- 
 tory, Virginia leading the way, terms and conditions for such cessiqns have 
 been tendered and accepted on either side, all going quite as far as the re- 
 solutions of Texas, without any question of constitutionality being raised. 
 
 These reflections, thus hurriedly stated, will, I hope, satisfy you of the 
 error into which you have fallen of ascribing to me a change of opinion on 
 the Territorial question. The correction of it is of no earthly consequence ex- 
 cept to put history right. I am free to confess that I the more readily sanc- 
 tioned the provision in the compact with Texas, because the line of 36 deg. 
 30 min. seemed by long acquiescence to have entered into the settled policy 
 of the United States, and was, therefore, to be regarded as the harbinger of 
 peace and harmony to the Union; and I may be permitted to add the ex- 
 pression of regret, without intending to imply any censure for its omission, 
 that a similar stipulation had not been introduced into the treaty of Guada- 
 loupe Hidalgo. It would most probably have exorcised the dangerous spirit 
 of sectionalism. 
 
 I am, gentlemen, most respectfully and truly, yours, John Tyler. 
 
 \_From the Richmond Enquirer of April 15, 1861. J 
 The Virginia State Convention. 
 
 Mr. Saldioin. — What was the next? The next was the Missouri compro- 
 mise, by which the line which has been so eloquently denounced by the dis- 
 tinguished gentleman from Albemarle (Mr. Holcombe), was established — the 
 celebrated line of 36 deg., 30 min. — a compromise by which slavery north of 
 that line was forever prohibited, while south of that line it was left to be de- 
 termined by the people according to their desire. What is the history of that 
 measure? I suppose that it will hardly be controverted here in a Virginia 
 assembly that that measure received the support of Virginia's senators in the 
 Congress of the United States ; the approval of Mr. Monroe, the President of 
 the United States, a Virginian, and of his cabinet, composed of a majority of 
 Southern men — Calhoun, Wirt, and Crawford. That was the Missouri Com- 
 promise ; and, sir, it not only received that sanction at the time, was not only 
 sustained by the voice of Virginia at that day, but it has since distinctly, over 
 and over again, received the approval of Virginia, as we shall see. The next 
 instance of slavery restriction was during the administration of the dis- 
 tinguished gentleman from Charles City (ex-President Tyler), now a member 
 of this body ; a measure which received his distinct approval and support. 
 
 Ex-President Tyler. — Will the honorable gentleman from Augusta give way 
 for a moment? In regard to the Missouri Compromise, I was an actor upon 
 the stage at that time — a member of the Congress of the United States. The 
 gentleman has very correctly stated the proposition. He has given you 
 the history, but he has forgotten one portion of it, of which I beg leave to re- 
 mind him, and that is, that Virginia, being represented by twenty-two per- 
 sons upon the floor of the House of Representatives, the negative to that pro- 
 position was sustained throughout, and would have been sustained, as I verily 
 
DIALOGUE WITH COL. BALDWIN. 329' 
 
 believe, to the present moment, by eighteen' members out of the twenty-two' 
 representatives. The gentleman is aware of that fact. In regard to my own 
 agency in that connection, my humble vote has been recorded throughout 
 against it ; and I would have stood there until I perished before I would have 
 recognized that line. I believed it to be unconstitutional. I believed it to be,, 
 moreover, — if the gentleman will pardon me for interrupting him thus longer, 
 — the opening of the Pandora's box, which would let out upon us all the- 
 present evils which have gathered over the land. In regard to my own action 
 in the administration of the government^ I am entirely persuaded — 
 
 Mr. Baldwin. — The distinguished gentleman might have waited for the at- 
 tack to be made before opening his defense. 
 
 Ex-President Tyler. — I did not understand that I was attacked. I merely 
 designed to make an explanation of my course. 
 
 Mr. Baldwin.- — I hope the gentleman, before he replies, will allow me to 
 state the case. I believe the prosecutor is entitled to the opening and the 
 closing of the argument. 
 
 Ex-President Tyler.— \ was merely entering into an explanation of this- 
 matter of the Missouri line in connection with the annexation of Texas, which 
 was spoken of by the distinguished gentleman (Mr. Baldwin). Mr. Chairman^ 
 it is essentially a different matter between a question of original jurisdiction 
 and right on the part of Congress, where you have a territory like this in 
 question, to draw discriminations unfavorable to any portion of the country,, 
 and to stipulate terms in the negotiation of treaties for the acquisition of a- 
 new territory. Why, I should no more question the right of the government 
 in the event of our feeling a desire hereafter for the annexation of Canada to- 
 the United States, to stipulate with G-reat Britain that slavery should never 
 exist within the Canadas. And so, in negotiating with Texas, we had a right, 
 not only to present our terms, but we had also a right to consider the terms 
 to present to it ; and when, therefore, it occurred to us that it would be wise- 
 to throw off the 36 deg., 30 min. line, we had an unquestionable right to do- 
 it in that treaty. I remember to have seen this statement upon a previous- 
 occasion, and it was answered by me at the time, for I wanted to stand right 
 in the forum of history. Whatever there is of me, is altogether of an histori- 
 cal character. I want, above all things, to preserve the little space I may 
 occupy upon the page of history legibly and correctly written. I never 
 would have yielded to that Missouri Compromise. I would have died in my 
 shoes, suffered any sort of punishment you could have inflicted upon me, be- 
 fore I would have done it. In regard to Texas, it was altogether the acquisi- 
 tion of new territory, and we were authorized to stipulate our terms. I beg: 
 pardon for having occupied so much of your time in making this explanation. 
 
 The Missouri question came up again undei- a new phase at the 
 session of 1820-21. By the authority of Congress, granted the 
 session before, Missouri framed a State constitution, but included 
 
 ' Mr. Kitchie, in 1820, erroneously put the number at seventeen. 
 
330 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 in it a clause proliibiting tlie immigration of free negroes. This 
 ■was done for purposes of police, — the free negro being considered 
 a disorganizing and dangerous factor in a community of slaves. 
 The Northern members of Congress maintained that this clause 
 should be expunged, since it conflicted with Section 2, Article IV. 
 of the Constitution, which guaranteed to the citizens of each State 
 the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several States. 
 Free negroes were citizens in some of the ISTorthern States. An 
 excited discussion arose as to who were citizens under the Consti- 
 tution. The South maintained that negroes did not come within 
 the purview of the Constitution on that subject, which was to be 
 construed by the state of things as they existed at the time of its 
 formation. The Constitution plainly treated negroes as property 
 quoad inter-state relations ; and although slave or slavery did not 
 occur in so many words therein, there was the plainest recognition 
 of the "peculiar institution" in the clause concerning the rendition 
 of fugitives from service, the apportionment of representatives, and 
 the slave trade. Treaties, equally with the Constitution, and laws 
 made in pursuance thereof, were the supreme law of the land; and 
 while the treaty of Ghent, in 1814, spoke of "slaves or other 
 private property," ^ the treaty of Independence, in 1783, forbade 
 the British to carry away " any negroes or other property of the 
 American inhabitants." ^ Mr. Tyler, as Governor, expressed views 
 somewhat similar to this in his public letter to Senator Tazewell 
 on the subject of Larche's claim for indemnity on account of a 
 slave impressed and killed in the service of the United States, — 
 a claim resisted by the Northern members on the ground that the 
 government of the United States had a free right to the services 
 of any of the moral agents whom it protected. Under cover of 
 this plea, if admitted, Congress might at any time emancipate 
 without compensation the entire slave population, as indeed it 
 ultimately did. 
 
 [To Littleton W. Tazewell.] 
 
 Richmond, May 2, 1826. 
 Dear Sir : Your favor of the 24th April, covering the report of a commit- 
 tee of the House of Representatives on the subject of Larche's claim for a 
 slave impressed by the United States, and killed by the enemy while in that 
 service, came duly to hand, and but for the corrective which may be found in 
 
 1 Elliot's Diplomatic Code, i., p. 269. "^ Ibid., p. 241. 
 
FEEE NEGROES AND CITIZENSHIP. 331 
 
 "the good sense of the House, would be well calculated to excite the most 
 .-gloomy forebodings. We shall indeed have reached a point of the most fright- 
 ful apprehension when the Congress shall he found mad enough to sanction 
 the principles, or more properly the no principles contained in the report. It 
 will be a point from which there is no receding and no advancing. But the 
 precedents, fortunately, are all the other way. The late treaty with England, 
 if anything more than the common sense of mankind was necessary to set- 
 tle the question, does settle it. Slaves are there placed on the footing of pro- 
 perty, and he must be a wretched and misguided enthusiast who would now 
 •question the correctness of that decision. I always thought that the Northern 
 politicians had gone a bow-shot too far when they attempted, as in the dis- 
 cussion of the Missouri question, to elevate to the condition of citizens the 
 free blacks ; but Mr. Martindale and his committee, in their notion of men 
 And moral agents, have made a new and wholly unforeseen discovery. This 
 is, what you properly call it, a great question, — a question big with the fate 
 of this Union ; one that startles and is well calculated to alarm all the sensi- 
 bilities of the patriot, and one the settlement of which I shall, along with 
 yourself and our common constituents, watch with the deepest interest. 
 
 I seize on this occasion to assure you of my unfeigned respect and regard. 
 I am, dear sir, your most obedient, &c., &c., John Tyler. 
 
 Hon. L. W. Tazewell. 
 
 ]Mr. Tyler viewed the attitude of Missouri on free negroes as 
 impolitic. The trne issue had been abandoned, and nothing could 
 be gained by the South at this late hour of the day. It was ar- 
 gued by the Southern members, that if the Constitution of Missouri 
 conflicted with the compact of Union, the United States Courts 
 would protect the free negro in the exercise of his rights. The 
 question was finally settled by a resolution of Mr. Clay, for which 
 Mr. Tyler voted, to admit Missouri, under its constitution, into 
 the Union, but with a proviso, that the State should exclude no 
 ■citizen of any of the States of the Union from the enjoyment of 
 any of the privileges to which he was entitled under the Constitu- 
 tion of the United States. 
 
 Some remarks of Mr. Tyler in rebuke of Mr. Sergeant of Penn- 
 sylvania, who let the cat out of the bag as to the secret motives of 
 the North, must not be omitted : 
 
 During the present session I maintained a profound silence on the interest- 
 ing topic which has so long engaged the attention of the House and nation. 
 Nothing but the expose which has been made to the House by the gentleman 
 from Pennsylvania (Mr. Sergeant) could have induced me now to present my- 
 self to the notice of the House upon a, subject so hackneyed. The remarks 
 made by the gentleman are of a character so novel and alarming, that it would 
 
332 LETTEES AU'D TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 not become me to pass them by unnoticed. The gentleman (Mr. Sergeant)' 
 has talked about the balance of power. What is it that he means by this- 
 language ? Has he well weighed it before he gave it utterance ' To my mind 
 the gentleman has conjured up a fearful fiend. He has told us that no danger 
 was to be apprehended from keeping alive this question. He has cried 
 " Peace, peace,' when he has presented himself as fighting under the banners- 
 of a fiend from which I cannot but turn with fear and dismay. Look on the 
 page of history, and tell me what has been the most fruitful cause of war, of 
 rapine, of death ? Has it been any other than this struggle for the balance of 
 power? Desolation has in all ages marked its existence, and hecatombs of 
 slaughtered viclims have been raised to appease its fury. Sir, it is a monster 
 that feasts on the bodies of mangled carcasses, and swills on human blood.. 
 And has it come to this, that we are now to enter into this struggle for power? 
 Against whom do gentlemen propose to carry on this war? Against brethren 
 — members of the same common family. It might be natural to wish to ele- 
 vate ourselves to a superiority of power in reference to foreign nations; but 
 it is unnatural, to say the least of it, for one section of a common country to 
 entertain a wish of the sort in reference to the rest. Equality is all that can 
 be asked for, and that equality is secured to each State of the Union by the 
 Constitution of the land. 
 
 At this session the question of a protective tariff as such was for 
 the first time raised in Congress. Petitions in favor of an increase 
 of duties, so as to afford, not revenue, as hitherto made tlie pri- 
 mary object, but encouragement to American manufacturers, were 
 early introduced. Mr. Tyler presented a counter memorial from 
 "the Yirginia Society for promoting agriculture." 
 
 These papers were referred to the committee on manufac- 
 tures, of which Mr. Baldwin of Pennsylvania was chairman. 
 In March, 1820, Mr. Baldwin reported a bill raising the tariff 
 rates on woolen and cotton goods, from about twenty per cent, 
 to thirty-three per cent. Mr. Tyler could not help regarding the 
 bill in its true light, namely, as one proposing to deliberately pil- 
 lage and plunder his constituents. He saw in a moment that the 
 whole South would suffer from the policy, and immediately set 
 himself to consolidating all the elements of opposition. Many of 
 the Southerners, at this time, were not as clear-sighted as Mr. 
 Tyler, and foolishly supported a system wliicjh cut the throats of 
 their constituents. JSTew England also was divided, on account of 
 the shipping interest, which needed free trade. But the opposi- 
 tion of the latter could not continue, since the rates hitherto im- 
 posed had raised among them considerable manufacturing estab- 
 lishments. 
 
THE TARIFF IN 1820. 333 
 
 Mr. Baldwin followed his report with an an able speech. On 
 April 22, 1820, Mr. Tyler moved to strike out the first section of 
 the bill, and two days after opened the debate against the tariff, 
 in an exhaustive reply to Mr. Baldwin.' In this debate Mr. Tyler 
 made the prediction, scoffed at then, but abundantly verified by 
 subsequent events, that "this was hut the incipient measure of a 
 system; that after the lapse of a very few years we should he as- 
 sailed by as urgent petitions as those which have poured in on us 
 at the jyresent session. '^ 
 
 During the recess, the uneasiness excited by this attempt to 
 impose duties directly in favor of protection continued unabated 
 in Virginia. The agitation over the admission of Missouri proved 
 that the Northern members would look alone to what they con- 
 ceived to be tlieir interests. The merchants of Eichmond met 
 together, in September, 1S20, and adopted a memorial, protesting 
 at length against a course in Congress which prostrated all other 
 interests to the advantage of some one or two. The memorial 
 was drafted by the skillful pen of Thomas Eutherfoord, — a man 
 of elegant accomplishments and incisive logic. It was given into 
 the care of Mr. Tyler, who presented it in Congress early at the 
 ensuing session, when, along with a multitude of similar petitions, 
 it went to the committee on manufactures. 
 
 On the 30th November, 1820, Mr. Baldwin, chairman of that 
 ■committee, made a report, severely arraigning the language in 
 which the Eichmond memorial was couched.^ 
 
 This Mr. Tyler regarded as entirely uncalled for, and he de- 
 termined to reply. On the 15th of December following, the report 
 being called up, Mr. Tyler arose and defended the action of the 
 merchants of Eichmond in the warmest manner.' He repelled 
 the charge brought against the report of offensiveness, and showed 
 that the only possible objection to it lay in the unanswerable logic 
 it contained. He enlarged upon the right of petition, and asked 
 if the report was not calculated to destroy that right The effects 
 •of the remarks of Mr. Tyler upon the House were marked. Mr. 
 Baldwin came to his seat and personally congratulated him. Many 
 years after, Mr. Tyler, being invited to lecture in Eichmond, ad- 
 dressed his audience on "Eichmond and its Memories." One of 
 
 'Printed on pages 1952-'7, Annals of Congress, 1st Session 16th Congress. 
 ^ Annals of Congress, 16th Congress, 2d Session, p. 466. ^ Jbid., p. 673. 
 
334 LETTERS AITD TIMES OF THE TYLBES. 
 
 those memories was Thomas Rutherfoord and his anti-tariff me- 
 morials, and other political writings. This evoked a letter from Col. 
 John Kutherfoord, his son, whose wife was one of the audience,, 
 thanking Mr. Tyler for his generous allusions to his father. The 
 reply of Mr. Tyler forms fitting matter for insertion here. 
 
 [To Col. John Rutherfooed.J 
 
 Sherwood Forest, Nov. 24, 1858. 
 
 My Dear Sib : Your letter reached me a few days ago at our summer- 
 residence near Old Point, from which we took our departure only on Monday 
 last. Be assured that in what I said of your venerated father I only gave- 
 partial utterance to the respect and esteem in which I ever held him, and I 
 promptly availed myself of the opportunity afforded me through my late- 
 address to bear testimony to his merits. He was an unrelenting opponent to- 
 the whole system of drawbacks and duties for the mere protection of domestic 
 manufactures ; and I remember well with what vigor my esteemed friend, 
 the late Judge Baldwin, of the United States Supreme Court, then (in 1821) 
 chairman of the Committee of Manufactures in the House of Representatives, 
 attacked the able view which a memorial, drawn by your father on behalf of 
 the citizens of Richmond, contained against the protective system. His- 
 attack called forth a reply from me of rather an acrimonious character ; and 
 the Judge, no way disturbed by it, came over to my seat after I had finished, 
 and not only admitted the memorial to be too powerful a paper to have passed 
 without notice from the committee whose chairman he was, but also prophe- 
 sied political advancement to myself from the spirited manner, as he was- 
 pleased to call it, in which I had met his assaults upon it. And so it was, 
 that I afterwards obtained no advancement in political life that I was not 
 certain to receive a letter from the Judge, reminding me of the above incidents 
 and his prophecy. You will therefore readily gather from the above a good 
 reason, apart from all others, for my retaining a vivid remembrance of your 
 father's ability as a writer. 
 
 Be assured, my dear sir, that Mrs. Tyler and myself, should opportunity 
 occur, will most gladly avail ourselves of your polite invitation to visit your- 
 self and Mrs. Rutherfoord. She unites with me in saying that there are no- 
 persons whom we should be more highly pleased to receive here, should a desire 
 to visit the country ever prevail over your attachments to a city life. Tell 
 Mrs. Rutherfoord that, until I received your letter, T was not aware that I was 
 honored by her presence on the occasion of the delivery of my address. Had 
 I been aware of it, I should not have left the building without making her a 
 bow. I fear that, unless she was fortunate enough to obtain a seat, her situ- 
 ation was painfully tiresome. 
 
 With constant good wishes, I am, dear sir, truly and faithfully yours, 
 
 John Tyler. 
 
 Mr. Tyler had suffered severely from dyspepsia ever since the 
 shock he had experienced the preceding winter. The summer's- 
 
LETTER TO OUETIS. 335- 
 
 rest had not sufficed to restore his health. Indeed, the effects of 
 the attack lingered in his frame until his death. The cause of it 
 was ascribed by Mr. Tyler to his eating some stale fish, imposed 
 by the keeper of his boarding house upon his unsuspecting guests. 
 Sensible of his precarious condition, Mr. Tyler made up his mind 
 at an early period of this session of Congress to decline a netv 
 election. Yet it is rarely the case that any man acts from a single 
 motive, and the following letter, besides containing several verjr 
 wise suggestions, is curiously illustrative of this : 
 
 [To De. Curtis.J 
 
 Washington, December 8ih, 1820. 
 
 My Dear Doctor : You have been in the habit of submitting to my con- 
 sideration all your plans in life anterior to their adoption. This is as it 
 should be, and if we withhold council from each other we forget the duty 
 which in fact we mutually owe. I come now to consult with you on a step 
 highly interesting to my future prospects in life, and your opinion is asked 
 for in the same confident tone with which you have heretofore made similar 
 appeals to me. I have become in a great measure tired of my present station, 
 and have brought my mind nearly to the conclusion of retiring to private 
 life, and seeking those enjoyments in the bosom of my family and in the cir- 
 cle of my frieods, which cannot be found in any other condition of existence.. 
 I was prompted to seek my present station, not only with a view of gratify- 
 ing the wishes of my friends, and the consideration which attaches to all of^ 
 personal promotion, but really with the disinterested motive of contributing, 
 as far as in me lay, something to the stock of general happiness. To this 
 latter object all my votes and all my exertions have been zealously directed. 
 
 But the truth is, that I can no longer do good here. I stand in a decided' 
 minority, and to waste words on an obstinate majority is utterly useless and 
 vain. My aye or no, in the present state of parties, can only count, and a 
 mere automaton would answer every purpose. To my latest breath I will, 
 whether I am in public or private life, oppose the daring usurpations of this^ 
 government — usurpations of a more alarming character than have ever be- 
 fore taken place, even during the fearful period of '98-99. And although I 
 might abandon my station at this time, yet I should not cease to exclaim 
 against and use what talents I possess to put down the dangerous principles- 
 which have in these latter days sprung up amongst us. In addition to the 
 above considerations, I am perfectly satisfied that my successor, whoever he 
 might be, would be as mentally capable of advancing the public good as my- 
 self, for I have not the vanity to believe that I can render greater services 
 than another. I should be followed into retirement by the good wishes of 
 many estimable men here, with whom it has been my felicity to have been 
 on the most perfect footing of friendship ; but my successor might be able to 
 ensure to himself a similar condition, and after a little, possess the same de- 
 gree of confidence which I am vain enough to believe I enjoy. So far, then,. 
 
536 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 as the public is concerned, there is not an objection to my retirement. How- 
 will my individual prospects be affected ? 
 
 1st. What can I promise myself on the score of personal ambition, if that 
 -is to enter into the estimate, by remaining ?— literally nothing. How few are 
 there who ever pass beyond my present condition ? Not more than one in a 
 thousand. By remaining here, then, 1 obtain for myself no other promotion ; 
 for were I to remain all my life, I should still die only a member of Congress : and 
 if I withdraw now, I shall have ceased in the same way to be a member. So 
 -that the honor of the station is already possessed, and like a colonelcy will be 
 remembered after having vacated my commission. I have been here, too, 
 long enough to make myself known ; and if I have rendered any services 
 (which I am fearful has not been the case), it will not be forgotten by my 
 State. I think on the whole the chance of future elevation is as great at 
 home as it is here, — although I confess my hopes are very humble, and " my 
 -ambition is bounded in a nutshell." Now comes on the most important view 
 of the case. I owe a duty to my family. My children will soon be treading 
 on my heels, and it will require no common exertions to enable me to edu- 
 cate them. My reliance to do this is on my profession. You must know that 
 a, station here and the practice of the law are almost incompatible with each 
 other. When I came here my practice was worth nearly $2,000, and was 
 growing. It is now not really worth more than $1,200. The plain business, 
 which is in trnth the really valuable business, has passed very properly into 
 other' hands. By devoting myself to my profession, I might soon make up 
 for leaway. Independent of this, I should promote my peace of mind, and 
 with it my health, as I fain would hojie, which is now very precarious. In 
 .settling the question, this last consideration would outweigh, if philosophy 
 were permitted to come in or adjust the balance, all the honor and standing 
 which my station affords me. On the whole, give mo your opinions freely and 
 without reserve. You discover the tendency of my inclinations. In January 
 or February, if my resolution be not shaken by what you may urge, I shall 
 place my district in possession of the same, so that its choice may fall on one 
 .as my successor who may well represent it. You may say that this is no 
 "time for withdrawing. The Missouri question is again up, and fills me with 
 no small alarm ; but on this question my successor would follow the same 
 
 ■ course with myself, and if a, storm should come, you would probably see me 
 in the Virginia Legislature, using what influence I might possess in behalf of 
 my native State. 
 
 One word on passing events. Missouri, I think, will not be admitted. The 
 
 ■ objection lies to the feature in her Constitution relative to free negroes, etc. 
 This she can, if she be not carried away by passion, readily expunge, and 
 next year she may come into the Union ; but if she refuses to do so, I know 
 •not what may be the result. 
 
 I propose to visit my family at Xmas, when I shall hope to see you. My 
 love to all, and be assured that I am sincerely, 
 
 Yours, etc., J. Tyler. 
 
 The severe and incessant strain of labor to -wliich Mr. Tyler was 
 
ME. TYLER DECLINES A NEW ELECTION. 337 
 
 ■subjected during this Congress— the first session of which he was a 
 member of the important Committee of Ways and Means — still fur- 
 ther confirmed him in his purpose of retiring from public life, by 
 still further reducing his health. He accordingly addressed the 
 following letter to the people of his district, in the month of Jan- 
 uary following : 
 
 To the Freeholders of the Gongressional District composed of the counties q/ 
 New Kent, Charles City, Eanover, Henrico, and the city of Richmond : 
 Fellow Citizens : The state of my health renders it necessary and proper 
 -that I should decline the honor of a re-election to Congress at the ensuing 
 •spring election; and in announcing to you my determination no longer to be 
 a candidate for your suffrages, permit me to return you my unfeigned thanks 
 for the high honor which you were pleased to confer on me three successive 
 ■elections, and the liberal support you have so cheerfully accorded me during 
 my course of political service. Believe me, that your goodness towards 
 me is impressed upon my heart in characters that cannot easily be ob- 
 literated. The station to which you raised me is one of the highest and 
 most responsible within your power to confer ; and to be called to that station 
 "by a district yielding to none in point of intelligence and sound political in- 
 tegrity, was an honor of no ordinary sort. How I have answered your expec- 
 tations, it is for you to decide. I retire from your service with the conscious- 
 ness that, as far as my limited talents would enable me, I have been studious 
 only to advance the best interests of our common country, and that I have, 
 on all occasions, discharged my duties with honest and correct intentions. I 
 have not the vanity to believe that I have never erred. You have, however, 
 exercised towards my errors so much liberality as to impress me more deeply 
 with a sense of your kindness towards me. 
 
 When I contemplate the march of this favored land in the road of power 
 and glory — when I recollect what, less than one century ago, we were, as a 
 people, and what we now are — and when I reflect on the high destinies that 
 await us, if we will be true to ourselves and continue in the observance of 
 "those sound political maxims which our fathers inculcated, I confess I feel 
 ■the liveliest gratitude to the Author of all good for the benefits we have al- 
 ready experienced, and the blessings we continue to enjoy ; and I offer up my 
 most fervent prayer that my anticipations of the future may not prove vision- 
 ary, but the ardent hopes of the patriot and philanthropist may be fully 
 realized. I go, fellow-citizens, into, retirement ; but should occasion require 
 it, and destiny permit, I shall ever be ready to contribute my mite to the ad- 
 vancement of my country's happiness. John Tyleb. 
 Washington, January 15, 1821.' 
 
 ' Under this letter was published a notice by Mr. Ritchie, that "in consequence 
 -of Mr. Tyler's retiring, we are authorized to announce Mr. Andrew Stevenson, of 
 this city, as a candidate for this congressional district at the next election. " It is 
 hardly necessary to say that Mr. Stevenson received Mr. Tyler's hearty support, 
 .and was sent to Congress as his successor, where he remained fourteen years. 
 22 
 
338 LETTERS AMD TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 Mr. Tyler left the House of Representatives at the close of the 
 session, carrying with him the respect of all who knew him, inspired 
 as much by his talents and industry in the public service as by 
 his many private virtues. Barely thirty-one ! and yet he had filled 
 a round of offices which most men would think cheaply attained 
 by a long life of laborious striving. Delegate, councilor, and 
 representative ; in each station he had played a most important 
 part, yet despising those arts which make one conspicuous, and 
 seeking only by an admirable combination of prudence and wis- 
 dom, guided by an honest principle and conviction of right, to de- 
 serve the reputation of a true statesman. 
 
 He opposed the Bank and the American System equally with the 
 Missouri compromise, since he regarded them as hostile to the true 
 principles of government, tending to beget a contempt for the Con- 
 stitution, the safeguard of the minority, and looking to mere sec- 
 tional interests. On nearly all the great subjects which agitated 
 Congress during his service of five years, he had occupied a promi- 
 nent position. The unflinching advocate of economy, urging the 
 payment of the national debt in lieu of running after wild schemes 
 of roads and canals, he proved himself the no less friend of lib- 
 erality in opposing, as he did at his last session, the proposition to- 
 reduce the Revolutionary pensions, small as they were already. 
 
 He spoke often during the latter period of his service, but from 
 the imperfect character of the reporting done at that time many 
 of his speeches have perished. He left Congress carrying with 
 him the reputation of an orator, a statesman, a diligent worker, 
 and a delightful companion; and he returned to his constituents,, 
 not as a man feeling his race was run, but with that mysterious 
 conviction, common to men of genius, that high honor was his due,, 
 and high honor he would have. 
 
irayedLA-KflisIL^ ■Soils.Fj 
 
 
 G^^lA/-ERNOR nf A^Ih?GII-TJA 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 1821—1827. 
 
 "You botli know that Joha Tyler is as Arm as a rock in his principles. You both know 
 that he is not to be shaken from an honest, correct and high-minded course, either by the 
 blandishments of the powers that be, or by the threats of those that would be."— Eobeet 
 DouTHiT, to the Editors of the Enquirer. 
 
 Me. Ttlee in Peitvate Lite. — Ee-eleoted to the House oe Delegates. — Takes 
 THE Lead in that Body. — Pkesidential Candidates. — Mk. Ttlek's Repoet 
 IN Fatok of Mb. Ceawfoed. — His Kesolutions at the Caucds Meeting of 
 the Genekal Assembly. — Speech in Fatoe of Robeet Douthat. — Contest 
 
 BETWEEN TyLEE AND TaZEWELL FOE THE' SENATE. — Me. TylEE'S SpeECH IN BE- 
 HALF OF William and Maey. — Defeats Floyd foe Goveenoe. — His Adminis- 
 TEATioN OP State Affaies. — Delitebs Commodoee Waeeington a Swoed. — 
 Obation on Jefpebson. — Me. Tyleb'b Message. — Schools. — Inteenal Im- 
 peotements. — Me. Tyleb's Populaeitt. — Testimony of Geoege Wythe Mun- 
 FOED. — Review of the Peesidential Election in 1824. — Accidental Elec- 
 tion of Adams. — Chaege of Baegain and Goeeuption. — Not Ceedited by Me. 
 Tylee. — His Lettee to Clay. — Adams' Message. — His Fedeealism. — His 
 Downfall. — John Randolph's Attack. — Me. Tylee's Codese. — Nominated 
 Against Randolph. — His Election.— Violent Assadlt upon Me. Tylee. — 
 "The Winchestek Paeagbaph." — Fiemness of Me. Tylee. — Lettee of C. W. 
 GoooH.— Statement op Me. Tylee. — His Victoey. — Resigns the Chief 
 Magisteaoy op Vlbginia. — Dinnee to Senatob Tylee. — His Eemaeks and 
 Toast. 
 
 M' 
 
 "E. TYLER returned home with broken health and shattered 
 . constitution. His affairs, thrown into disorder by the neg- 
 lect of his private interests, required close attention, and the in- 
 come accruing from the practice of his profession had been seri- 
 ously diminished by his constant and necessary absence from home. 
 To restore his finances to a more satisfactory condition, he con- 
 templated at this time a removal to Petersburg, where a better 
 field was open to the practice of the law. This scheme, however, 
 he abandoned on an opportunity presenting itself of once more 
 getting possession of the ancestral homestead — Greenway. Mr. 
 William Douglas, the first purchaser, sold it to John Minge, who, 
 in the fall of 1821, conveyed it to Mr. Tyler for $7,000. 
 
 It must have been a day of great rejoicing when he once more 
 
340 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 took up his abode under the shade of the old willow of his boy- 
 hood ! 
 
 But months elapsed before the disease, which attacked him in 
 Washington, flew away on the wings of the invigorating air of the 
 country. Even the mountain's air, which he tried, failed to sub- 
 due the stubborn nature of his malady. He wrote to Dr. Curtis : 
 
 [To De. Cubtis.J 
 
 July 20, 1821. 
 Letitia has added a fine, girl to our family since my return from Washing- 
 ton. All with the exception of myself are well. I get on but so so. For a 
 week at a time I feel as well as ever, but then comes the fit again, and I suf- 
 fer severely. You spoke of having used some remedy in dyspepsia with suc- 
 cess, — pray write me what it is, and all about it. The disorder not only af- 
 fects my body, but often my mind. My ideas become confused, and my 
 memory bad while laboring under it. This is a stumbling-block in the way 
 of my intended removal to Petersburg. Unless I can remove it, it would be 
 idle for me to enter into an active and mentally laborious business. 
 
 [To Dr. Curtis.] 
 
 WooDBURN, September SOth, 1821. 
 My health is improved somewhat by my mountain trip. The symptoms of 
 my disease are so variable that I cannot reduce them to form or order. I 
 shall, however, visit you as soon as I can, as I have a great desire to see you 
 all. My love to your family, and be assured of my friendship. 
 
 Gradually, however, his buoyant spirits returned. Under the 
 influence of the crisp and exhilarating atmosphere of autumn his 
 health pat on something of its olden strength. In the innocent 
 sports of the field, in the charms of a farmer's occupations, in the 
 sacred joys of domestic life, there was a power more potent to re- 
 store than the wondrous spell that blessed the fabled waters of the 
 fountain of perpetual youth. The anxieties, labors, and fatigues 
 of public employment had no longer any charm. The autumn 
 darkened into winter. Spring came and brushed away winter's 
 tears, and summer followed spring. Mr. Tyler was still happy 
 in the shades of his retirement. 
 
 But his constituents were not thus willing to forego the advan- 
 tages of his services on the public stage. They crowded around 
 the young man, revived his dreams of ambition, and urged him to 
 become a candidate for the House of Delegates in the ensuing 
 spring of 1823. After much urgent solicitation, he consented to 
 
MK. TYLEE RE-ELECTED TO THE HOUSE OP DELEGATES. 341 
 
 be put in nomination. No opposition to his election of any mo- 
 ment occurred. He was elected with almost unanimity, and in 
 December of 1823 once more resumed his seat — after an absence 
 of more than seven years — on the scene of his earliest triumphs. 
 
 Mr. Tyler almost immediately took the lead in the debates 
 in the House of Delegates. Mr. Monroe had been supported 
 by him at the last presidential election, but now liis term was 
 drawing to a close. With him the last chapter in the public 
 career of the old Kevolutionary politicians would conclude, and 
 his anticipated withdrawal from the public stage threw open 
 the oiBce of chief magistrate to younger athletes. At this time 
 five aspirants had loomed up, — William H. Crawford, Andrew 
 Jackson, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and John Quincy Adams. 
 All these claimed to be of the good old Republican school, suc- 
 cessors in principle as in time of Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe. 
 But the truth was, that only the first had any pretensions to true 
 orthodoxy. The others were latitudinarians from centre to cir- 
 cumference, — new men, supporters of the war of 1812, and all 
 fortunate enough to be on the national stage at that important 
 juncture, to gather political capital to speculate on for the rest of 
 their natural lives. Restless in the harness of the old party ideas, 
 they had kicked the traces of strict construction, and were now 
 eagerly bidding for the scattered Federal vote by vieing with one 
 another in patronizing the vast schemes embraced under the name 
 "American System." 
 
 Mr. Crawford alone was a strict constructionist. He was the 
 favorite of Yirginia and Mr. Jefferson. He was consequently the 
 favorite of Mr. Tyler. 
 
 Up to this period the candidates for the presidency had been 
 selected by a party caucus of the members of Congress. It was 
 foreseen that Mr. Crawford would have the majority in that 
 caucus, and thus be nominated. Hence the other candidates were 
 busy at this time in bringing the plan into disrepute. Soon after 
 Mr. Tyler took his seat in the Legislature, the Governor (who 
 was James Pleasants, late a senator of Virginia) transmitted to the 
 House the preamble and resolutions adopted by Tennessee, de- 
 nouncing the old system of nomination. On Mr. Tyler's motion, 
 they were referred to a select committee, of which he was ap- 
 pointed chairman. On December 23, 1823, he made his report, 
 
342 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 answering seriatim the objections of the Legislature of Tennessee.* 
 The report was debated at length.^ The champions of all the other 
 candidates were arrayed against Mr. Tyler, and his resolutions were 
 thus defeated by a close vote of seventy-seven to seventy-six. Out of 
 the seventy-seven opposed, forty-five were friends of Mr. Crawford, 
 who doubted the propriety of thus legislatively instructing a Con- 
 gressional caucus. A few days after, the Enquirer aimounced that 
 " the opponents of Mr. Crawford were chuckling at Washington and 
 elsewhere; they haii ventured to declare that Virginia was op- 
 posed to Crawford ; that no caucus would be held at Washington ; 
 and that William II. Crawford was forever defeated." 
 
 On January 5, 1824:, a caucus convention of the members of 
 the Legislature was held at the capitol. Mr. Tyler opened the 
 proceedings by pressing the necessity of harmony in the great Ke- 
 publican family, and moved the appointment of a committee to 
 bring in resolutions suited to the occasion. A committee was ac- 
 cordingly appointed, with Mr. Tyler chairman, who soon reported 
 resolutions, drafted by him and agreeing in substance with what 
 he had previously moved in the General Assembly. They were 
 concurred in unanimously, and thus the State was fully committed 
 to Crawford. 
 
 Soon after this Mr. Tyler delivered an eloquent speech in favor 
 of relieving his friend Robert Douthat from the penalties of send- 
 ing a challenge. It was a case of peculiar hardship, and Mr. 
 Tyler, in supporting Mr. Douthat's petition, had a fair opportunity 
 to display the full powers of his eloquence.'' A writer of this pe- 
 
 ' Journal House of Delegates, 1823-'+, pp. 74-76. The character of the report 
 may be gathered from the concluding resolutions : 
 
 "Resolved, therefore, That in the opinion of this General Assembly a recom- 
 mendation to the people of suitable persons to fill the offices of President and Vice- 
 President of these United States, by the members of Congress, is at this time both 
 politic and expedient to preserve harmony and secure union. 
 
 "Resolved, That it is now the only practicable mode whereby the wishes of the 
 majority of the nation are likely to be attained. 
 
 "Resolved, That the Governor be requested to transmit to the senators and repre- 
 sentatives of this State a copy of this preamble and resolutions ; and also a similar 
 copy to the executives of each of the United States, with the request that the same 
 be laid before their respective legislatures. " 
 
 ^ See debates in Eichmond Enquirer, Jan. 1, 1824. 
 
 ' See for his speech. Enquirer of January 13, 1824. 
 
THE VIRGINIA ASSEMBLY IN 1824. 343 
 
 Tiod, in a hurried sketcli of the leading men of the State, thus 
 speaks of Mr. Tyler's oratorical powers : 
 
 He is a most eloquent speaker. His allusions are sublime, and when he 
 speaks all the powers of his mind seem absorbed in his subject. There is no 
 coldness, no art, no speaking for the sake of speaking, in his observations ; 
 ibut his whole intellect appears wrapped in, and riveted to, the question before 
 the House. He is vehement, impetuous, and ardent in his manner ; he evi- 
 dently feels intensely, and causes every heart to feel. It is impossible to be 
 diverted from his remarks by the casual introduction of any extraneous thought. 
 While he commands his own soul, and exercises over it a fervent and energetic 
 control, he commands the souls of all who are susceptible to the effects of 
 oratory. He ranges every spot of classic and fairy ground to cull illustrations 
 for his arguments ; and he hurries along, and hurries his hearers along, with 
 a mixture of powerful reasoning, classic allusions, and elegant figures ; inter- 
 mingling with the flow of debate flowers and roses plucked from the loveliest 
 fields of Parnassus. 
 
 The Virginia Assembly was at this time particularly rich in 
 men of ability. Among the men competing with Mr. Tyler for 
 the favors of the people were Abel P. Upshur, William F. Gordon, 
 Linn Banks, William L. Goggin, and others I might name. These 
 were men of the same generation as himself, as yet kept down by 
 the still ascendant fortunes of the veterans of the last century, 
 William B. Giles, John Taylor of Caroline, John Eandolph, 
 John Floyd, Littleton Waller Tazewell, and James Pleasants. Of 
 these young men Mr. Tyler's star was admittedly in the lead, 
 and a conspicuous proof of this was afforded at the close of this 
 year. 
 
 The death of J ohn Taylor made way for a new senator. At the 
 next ensuing Legislature, to which Mr. Tyler was returned with 
 the usual majority, preparations were set on foot to fill the ofiice 
 thus made vacant. Mr. Tazewell, who had figured as far back as 
 the days of 1798-'9, was nominated and supported by the majority. 
 Mr. Tyler was supported by a very respectable minority. Mr. 
 Armistead, of Cliarles City, in nominating him, gave the brilliant 
 •details of his life : a graduate at seventeen, elected to the House 
 when barely twenty-one, and a member of Congress at twenty-six. 
 He had remained in the latter place five years; had taken while 
 there an active part against the bankrupt bill and the Seminole 
 "war ; had displayed great abilities on the Missouri question ; had 
 supported a scire facias against the United States Bank ; and had 
 
344 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEBS. 
 
 opened the debate against the obnoxious tariff. In a word, " he 
 had been throughout his life an undeviating Kepublican." 
 
 The contest between Mr. Tyler and Mr. Tazewell was one not 
 of principle, but of age. The fornaer was but thirty-three, the lat- 
 ter forty-nine. Mr. Tazewell, whom Mr. Tyler always regarded 
 with boundless love and admiration, both for his generous charac- 
 ter and his pre-eminent information and abilities, superior in Mr. 
 Tyler's estimation to that of any of the public men with whom he 
 ever came in contact, was elected — Tazewell, 139 ; Tyler, 80 ; 
 scattering, 2. Tet the nomination and flattering vote in Mr. Tyler's 
 favor proved that he was the coming man. 
 
 The session of 1824:-'5 was marked by the agitation over the 
 attempted removal of William and Mary College from its ancient 
 site to Eichmond. The institution had been reduced to a very low 
 ebb, the total number of students the year before numbering but 
 eighteen. Mr. Tyler, who was a visitor, in an elaborate speech,^ 
 and to the intense gratification of the eastern people, overwhelmed 
 the petitions in favor of the project of both the majority of the 
 visitors and the faculty, and carried the Legislature against the re- 
 moval. He imputed the trouble to the rigorous laws in vogue, 
 and put in practice by the present president, who was forward in 
 the movement. Out of a total of five hundred students that had 
 attended in ten years, no less than seventy-seven had been sus- 
 pended, dismissed, or expelled. Mr. Jefferson had, prior to this, 
 changed his views as to the proper location for his university, and 
 had urged objections to the health of Williamsburg, which were 
 without foundation in fact. This charge was zealously repeated 
 on this occasion, when the effect would no longer have been to have 
 made the old college the university of tlie State. Mr. Tyler trium- 
 phantly repelled this charge, and established beyond dispute the sin- 
 gular immunity that Williamsburg enjoyed with respect to disease. 
 
 Nor were his services unrewarded. He was made successively 
 Rector and Chancellor of "William and Mary," and by the wise 
 code of laws whicli he introduced he very speedily raised the col- 
 lege from its prostrate condition, and introduced a new era in its 
 affairs, which continued until the late war, excelling the prosperity 
 of its previously most halcyon days.^ 
 
 ' Printed in the Richmond Enquirer of February 8, 1825. 
 
 ' In May, 1840, the attendance was one hundred and forty. Hazard's Com- 
 mercial Register, ii. , p. 352, citing the 
 
ME. TYLER ELECTED GOVEKNOE. 345 
 
 I go no farther into the details of Mr. Tyler's service in the 
 Legislature. It was a period rendered golden bj' the visit of La- 
 fayette to Virginia; there were great times at Yorktown and 
 Richmond — ceremonies revivifying the glories of the Eevolntion 
 without the pain and suffering. Mr. Tyler was chairman of the 
 select committee appointed by the Legislature to audit the ex- 
 penses of the entertainment of the illustrious guest. Before me 
 lies the fragment of a manuscript address to the great French- 
 man at Yorktown, but which Mr. Tyler was prevented from de- 
 livering by sickness, I beheve, in his family. 
 
 I hasten to his election as Governor, which took place at the 
 next succeeding Legislature, to which he was once more returned 
 by his constituents. The young man's star was not for an instant 
 checked by the victory of Tazewell, but shot steadily upwards. In 
 December, 1825, Mr. James Pleasants' constitutional term of 
 office expired. The General Assembly enthusiastically conferred 
 the office upon Mr. Tyler by a large vote over John Floyd, there 
 being for Tyler, 131 ; for Floyd, SI ; scattering, 2. 
 
 During his administration of the affairs of Virginia, Mr. Tyler 
 earnestly devoted himself to the task of healing the sectional dis- 
 putes which had so long convulsed the State. Maintaining the 
 entire adequacy of every State to perform the full measure of its 
 requirements, he contributed his efforts, not less during the period 
 of his magistracy than when lately a member of the Legislature, 
 to the urging forward a system of internal communications by 
 which the east and west might be brought into closer connection 
 with each other. Canals and roads were pushed through the 
 mountains until these barriers between the different portions of the 
 State were morally thrown- down, and with them, in a measure,, 
 the separate interests and divided opinions which had so long dis- 
 tracted its councils. 
 
 Two ceremonies of importance and dignity graced the course 
 of Mr. Tyler's first year as governor. Mr. Tyler was invited by 
 the General Assembly to present to Commodore "Warrington a 
 sword, voted to him by that body. This he did in the Hall of the 
 House of Delegates, before a large assembly.^ The address Mr. 
 Tyler made on this occasion was one of his happiest efforts, but 
 was equalled and excelled by his elegant oration on the death of 
 
 ' Abell's Tyler, pp., 78-79. 
 
34:6 LETTEES Al^D TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 Jefferson, which occurred the fourth of July, 1826, just fifty years 
 after the promulgation of his celebrated Declaration. But the co- 
 incidence was rendered still more singular by the death, on the 
 same day, of John Adams, a signer, like Mr. Jefferson, of that 
 great state paper; and like him, an ex-President of the United 
 States. 
 
 " On the receipt of the intelligence of Mr. Jefferson's death, at 
 Eichmond, Governor Tyler was requested to deliver a funeral ora- 
 tion; and the beautiful eulogy which follows was accordingly pro- 
 nounced by him at the Capitol Square in Eichmond, on the 11th 
 of July. Having scarcely three days in which to prepare himself 
 for the task assigned him, he delivered an oration which very few 
 of the hundreds pronounced on that occasion, by the most distin- 
 ^guished orators of the nation, after weeks or months of prepara- 
 tion, can equal, and none excel. Had Mr. Tyler never earned any 
 other reputation for eloquence, this one production would have at 
 once established his fame upon a foundation too solid to be shaken." 
 
 ruNBRAL Oration on the Death of Thomas Jefferson, Delivered by 
 John Tyler, at Richmond, July 11, 1826. 
 
 Why this numerous assemblage ; this solemn and melancholy procession ; 
 these habiliments of woe ? Do they betoken the fall of some mighty autocrat, 
 of some imperial master who hath " bestrid the earth like a Colossus," and 
 -svhose remains are followed to the grave by the tools and minions of his power ? 
 Are they the tokens of a ceremonious woe, a mere mockery of feeling ? Or are 
 ■they the spontaneous offerings of gratitude and love ? What mighty man 
 has fallen in Israel, and why has Virginia clothed herself in mourning? The 
 tolling of yon dismal bell, and the loud but solemn discharge of artillery, hath 
 announced to the nation the melancholy tidiogs — Thomas Jefferson no 
 longer lives! That glorious orb which has for so many years given light to 
 ■our footsteps has set in death. The patriot, the statesman, the philosopher, 
 'the philanthropist, has sunk into the grave. Virginia mourns over his re- 
 .mains, and her harp is hung upon the willows. 
 
 Why need I say more ? There is a language in this sjjectaole which speaks 
 ■more eloquence than tongue can utter. This is the testimony of a well-spent 
 life; the tribute of a nation's gratitude. Look on this sight, ye rulers of the 
 ■earth, and learn from it lessons of wisdom. Ye ambitious and untamed 
 spirits, who seek the attainment of glory by a scaffolding formed of human 
 suffering, behold a people in tears over the funeral bier of their benefactor ; 
 .and if true glorj' be your object, profit by this example. 
 
 In pronouncing the eulogy of the dead, my countrymen, I have no blood- 
 ■stained banners to present ; no battles to recount ; no sword or helmet to de- 
 posit on his hearse. I have to entwine a civic wreath which philosophy has 
 
ORATION ON THE DEATH OP JEFFERSON. 347 
 
 -woven and patriotism hallowed. The achievements of the warrior in the field 
 ■attract the attention of mankind, and fasten on the memory, while the labors 
 of the civilian too often pass unnoted and unknown. But not so with that 
 man whose death we this day mourn. The results of his policy are exhibited 
 in all around. Although his sun has sunk below the horizon of this world, 
 yet hath it left a train of light, which shall never be extinguished. 
 
 At the commencement of his successful career, he manifested the same devo- 
 tion to the rights of man which he evinced in all his after life. At an early 
 day he so distinguished himself as the firm aod fearless asserter of the rights 
 of colonial America, as to draw upon him the frown of the royal governor, 
 and had already anticipated the occurrence of the period when the colonies 
 should be elevated to the condition of free, sovereign, and independent States. 
 Having drawn his principles from the fountains of a pure philosophy, he was 
 prepared to assail the slavish doctrine that man was incapable of self-govern- 
 ment, and to aid in building up on its overthrow that happy system under 
 which it is our destiny to live. On the coming of that tremendous storm, 
 which for eight years desolated our country , Mr. Jefferson hesitated not, halted 
 not. Born to rich inheritance, destined to the attainment of high distinction 
 under the regal government, courted by the aristocracy of the laud, he adven- 
 tured, with the single motive of advancing the cause of his country and of 
 human freedom, into that perilous contest, throwing into the scale his life and 
 fortune, as if of no value. The devoted friend of man, he had studied his 
 Tights in the great volume of nature, and saw with rapture the era at hand 
 when those rights should be proclaimed, and the world aroused from the 
 slumber of centuries. The season was approaching for the extension of the 
 -empire of reason and philosophy, and the disciple of Locke and Sidney re- 
 joiced at its approach. Among his fellow-laborers,.^those devoted cham- 
 pions of liberty, — those brilliant lights which shall forever burn, he stood 
 conspicuous. But how transcendently bright was that halo of glory hy which 
 he was surrounded on the fourth of July, 1776 ! Oh, day ever precious in 
 the recollections of freemen ! now rendered doubly so by the recollection that 
 it was the birthday of a nation, and the last of him who had conferred on it 
 immortality. Yes, illustrious man, it was given thee to live until the advent 
 of a nation's jubilee. Thy disembodied spirit was then upborne by the bless- 
 ings of ten millions of freemen, and the day and hour of thy renown was the 
 day and hour of thy dissolution. How inseparable is now the connection be- 
 tween that glorious epoch and this distinguished citizen ! Does there not seem 
 to have been an especial providence in his death ? The sun of that day rose 
 upon him, and the roar of artillery and the hosannas of a nation sounded into 
 hia ears the assurances of his immortality. So precious a life required a death 
 so glorious. Who now shall set limits to his fame ? 
 
 On the annual recurrence of that glorious day, when with pious ardor 
 millions yet unborn shall breathe the sentiments contained in the celebrated 
 T)eclaration of Independence, — when the fires of liberty shall be kindled on 
 ■every hill and shall blaze in every vale, shall not the name of Jefferson be 
 pronounced hy every lip and written on every heart ? Shall not the rejoicing 
 ■of that day, and the recollection of his death, cause the smile to chase away 
 
348 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 the tear, and the tear to becloud the smile? But not to the future millions of 
 these happy States shall his fame be confined. That celebrated state paper 
 will be found wherever is found the abode of civilized man. Sounded in 
 the ears of tyrants, they shall tremble on their thrones, while man, so long 
 the victim of oppression^ awakes from the sleep of ages and bursts his chains. 
 The day is rapidly approaching, a prophetic tongue has pronounced it " to 
 some nations sooner, to others later, but finally to all," when it will be made 
 manifest "that the mass of mankind have not been born with saddles on their 
 backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred ready to ride them legitimately, 
 by the grace of God." Already has this truth aroused the one-half of this 
 continent from the lethargy in which it has so long reposed. Already are the 
 pagans of liberty chanted from the Gulf of Mexico to the Eio de la Plata, and 
 its altars are erecting on the ruins of a superstitious idolatry. A mighty 
 spirit walks abroad upon the earth, which shall, in its onward march, over- 
 turn principalities and powers, and trample thrones in the dust. And when 
 the happy era shall arrive for the emancipation of nations, hastened on as it 
 will be by the example of America, shall they not resort to the Declaration 
 of our Independence as the charter of their rights, and will not its author be 
 hailed as the benefactor of the redeemed ? 
 
 But, my countrymen, this state paper is not the only lasting testimonial 
 which he has left us of his devotion to the rights of man. Where should I 
 stop were I to recount the multiplied and various acts of his life, all directed 
 to the security of those rights ? The statute-book of this State, almost all that, 
 is wise in policy or sanctified by justice, bears the impress of his genius, and 
 furnishes evidence of that devotion. But I choose to present him as a mighty- 
 reformer. He was born to overturn systems and to pull down establish- 
 ments. He had a more difficult task to accomplish than the warrior in the- 
 embattled field. He had to conquer man, and bring him to a true sense of 
 his own dignity. He had to encounter prejudices become venerable by age,, 
 to assail error in its strong places, and to expel it even from its fastnesses. 
 He advanced to the charge with a bold and reckless intrepidity, but with a 
 calculating coolness. The Declaration, of which I have just spoken, had an- 
 nounced the great truth that man "was capable of self-government, but it still 
 remained for him to achieve a conquest over an error which was sanctified by 
 age and fortified by the prejudices of mankind. He dared to proclaim the- 
 important truths, — " that Almighty God hath created the mind free ; that all 
 attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens, or by civil in- 
 capacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and are a 
 departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion, who, being Lord 
 both of body and mind, yet chose not to propagate it by coercions on either, 
 as was in His almighty power to do ; that the impious presumption of legisla- 
 tors and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fal- 
 lible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others,, 
 setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and in- 
 fallible, and, as such, endeavoring to impose them on others, have established 
 and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world, and through 
 all time ;" — " that truth is great and will prevail, if left to herself ; that she- 
 
ORATION ON THE DEATH OF JEFFERSON. 349 
 
 is the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing to fear from 
 the conflict, unless by human interposition disarmed of her natural weapons — 
 free argument and debate ; errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted 
 freely to contradict them." 
 
 This is the language of the bill establishing religious freedom, and is to be 
 found on our statute-book. How solemn and sublime, and how transoendently 
 important are the truths which it announces to the world. What but his 
 great and powerful genius could have contemplated the breaking asunder 
 those bonds in which the conscience had been bound for centuries ? Who but 
 the ardent and devoted friend of man would have exposed himself to the 
 thunders and denunciations of the church throughout all Christendom, by 
 breaking into its very sanctuary, and dissolving its connection with govern- 
 ment? If he consulted the page of history, he found that the church estab- 
 lishment, exercising unlimited control over the conscience, and unlocking at 
 its pleasure the very gates of heaven to the faithful devotee, had, in all ages, 
 governed the world ; that kings had been made by its thunders to tremble on 
 their thrones, and that thrones had been shivered by the lightnings of its 
 wrath. In casting his eyes over the face of the globe, he beheld, it is true, the 
 mighty spirit of Protestantism walking on the waters, but coofined and lim- 
 ited in its empire, and even its garments dyed in the blood of the martyr. 
 
 Over the rest of the world he beheld the religion of the blessed Redeemer 
 -converted into a superstitious rite, and locked up in a gloomy and ferocious 
 mystery. The sentence of the terrible inquisitor sounded in his ears, followed 
 by the clank of chains and the groans of the victim. If he looked in the di- 
 rection from whence the sound proceeded, he saw the fires of the auto defe 
 consuming the agonized body of the offender, and thus finishing the last act 
 of this horrible tragedy. He felt the full force of this picture, and, regardless 
 of all personal danger, set about the accomplishment of the noble purpose of 
 setting free the mind. He, who had so much contributed to the unbinding 
 ■of the hands of his countrymen, would have left his work unfinished if he had 
 not also unfettered their consciences. True, he had in all this great work able 
 coadjutors, who, like himself, had adventured all for their country ; but he 
 was the great captain who arrayed the forces and directed the assault. Let 
 it, then, be henceforth proclaimed to the world, that man's conscience was 
 created free ; that he is no longer accountable to his fellow-man for his re- 
 ligious opinions, being responsible therefor only to his God ; that it is impious 
 in mortal man, whether clothed in purple or in lawn, to assume the judg- 
 ment-seat ; and that the connection between church and state is an unholy 
 alliance, and the fruitful source of slavery and oppression ; and let it be dis- 
 solved. What an imperishable monument has Mr. Jefferson thus reared to 
 his memory, and how strong are its claims to our gratitude ! When from 
 every part of this extended Republic the prayers and thanksgiving of count- 
 less thousands shall ascend to the throne of grace, each bending at his own 
 -altar, and worshiping his Creator after his own way, shall not every lip 
 "breathe a blessing on his name, and every tongue speak forth his praise? 
 Tes, he was born a blessing to his country, and in the fulness of time shall 
 l)ecome a blessing to mankind. He was, indeed, a precious gift — a most be- 
 
350 LETFEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 loved reformer. Shall we not, then, while weeping over his loss, offer thanks 
 to the Giver of every perfect gift for having permitted him to live ? 
 
 But, my countrymen, we have still further reason for the deepest gratitude. 
 He had not yet finished his memorable efforts in the cause of human liberty. 
 The temple had been reared, but it was exposed to violent assaults from with- 
 out. Those principles which in former ages had defeated the hopes of man, 
 and had overthrown republics, remained to be hunted out, exposed, and 
 guarded against. The most powerful of these was the concentration and per- 
 petuation of wealth in the hands of particular families, and the creation 
 thereby of an overweening aristocracy. The fatal influence of this principle 
 had been felt in all ages and in all countries. The feeling of pride and 
 haughtiness which wealth is so well calculated to engender, and the homage- 
 which mankind are unhappily so much disposed to render it, cause the per- 
 petuation of large fortunes in the hands of families, the most fearful antagonist 
 to human liberty. Marcus Crassus has said, that the man vcho aspires to rule 
 a republic should not be content until he has mastered wealth sufScient to 
 maintain an army; and Julius Caesar paved the way to the overthrow of 
 Koman liberty by the imsparing distribution, from his inexhaustible stores, 
 of largesses to the people. Mr. Jefferson saw, therefore, the great necessity 
 for reformation in our municipal code, and the act abolishing entails, and that 
 regulating descents, are, in all their essential features, the offsprings of his 
 well-constituted intellect. He has acted throughout on the great principle of 
 the equality of mankind, and his every effort has been directed to the pre- 
 servation of that equality among his countrymen. Hoyv powerful in its opera- 
 tion is our descent law in producing this effect ! Founded on the everlasting 
 principles of justice, it distributes among all his children the fruits of the- 
 parent's labor. The first-born is no longer considered the chosen of the Lord ; 
 but nature asserts her rights, and raises the last to an equality with the first. 
 
 Thus it is that the spirit of a proud independence, so auspicious to the 
 durability of our institutions, is engendered in the bosom of our citizens; thus 
 it is that we are under the influence of an agrarian law in effect, while nature, 
 instead of being suppressed, is excited by new stimuli. The great law-giver 
 of Sparta in vain sought to perpetuate the great principle of equality among 
 the then renowned republic by various measures, all of which ultimately 
 failed ; but there is a measure which cannot fail — a measure which depends, 
 not upon the veneration of the character of any one man, but lays hold of the 
 affections, and records its own perpetuity in the great volume of nature — one 
 without which the blood shed in the Revolution would have been shed in vain 
 — without which the glories of that struggle would fade away, or exist but as 
 another proof of man's incapacity for self-government. What more shall I 
 say of it? May I not call it that great measure which, to our political, like 
 the sun to our planetary, system, imparts light and heat, unveils all its beau- 
 ties, and manifests its strength? Tell me, then, ye destinies that control the 
 future, say, is not this man's fame inscribed in adamant? Say, men of the 
 present age, ye lovers of liberty, ye shining lights from amid the gloom of the 
 -world, say, does Virginia claim too much when she pronounces her Jefferson 
 wiser than the law-givers of antiquity? Tell me, then, men of America, have 
 
ORATION ON THE DEATH OF JEFFERSON. 351 
 
 ye not lost your father, your benefactor, your best friend ? And you, the 
 men of other countries, where the light of his example is now dimly seen— 
 you who constitute the salt of the earth, will you not kindle your lamps in 
 the mighty blaze of his flame, and distribute the blessings of his existence 
 around you? 
 
 Here, then, I might stop. The cause of this mournful procession is ex- 
 plained ; his claim to the gratitude of mankind is made manifest, and his title 
 to immortality is established. But his labors did not here cease ; I have still 
 to exhibit him to you in other lights than those in which we have already re- 
 garded him— to present other claims to your veneration and gratitude. Pass- 
 ing over those incidents which history has already recorded, let us regard 
 him while in that station which I now fill, more by the kindness of the public 
 than from any merit of my own. We here recognize in him the able vindi- 
 cator of insulted America against the sarcasms of European philosophy. In- 
 dulging in the visions of fallacious theory, it was attempted to be proved that 
 the flush and glow which nature assumed on the other side of the Atlantic 
 was converted on this continent into the cadaverous aspect of disease and de- 
 generacy ; that while she walked abroad over the face of Europe in all her 
 beautiful proportions, here she hobbled on crutches and degenerated into a 
 dwarf. How successfully he threw back this slander upon our calumniators, 
 let the world decide. His Notes on Virginia will ever bear him faithful witness. 
 Slanders upon nations make the deepest and most lasting impressions. They 
 fall not on one man, but on a whole people, and if not refuted, tend to sink 
 them in the scale of existence. If under any circumstances they are to be de- 
 precated, how much more are they to be so when published against a nation 
 not even in the gristle of manhood, unknown to the mass of mankind, and 
 struggling to be free ? Such was the condition of America at that day. Shut 
 out from free intercourse with Europe by the monopolizing spirit of the parent 
 state, she had remained unknown to the world, and was regarded as an ex- 
 tensive wild, within whose bosom the fires of genius and intellect had not as 
 yet been kindled. Mr. Jefferson saw then the injury she would sustain, if 
 these slanders remained unrefuted. Vigilant at his post, and guardful of the 
 interests of the States, he encountered the most distinguished of the philoso- 
 phers of Europe, and his victory was complete. It was answer enough for 
 him to have said, what in substance he did say, that in war we had produced 
 a Washington, in physics a Franklin, and in astronomy a Eittenhouse; and 
 if his triumph had not been esteemed complete, might we not add, with the 
 certainty of success, that in philosophy and politics she had produced a 
 Jefferson ? 
 
 In all the several stations which he afterward filled, we find him laboring 
 imoeasingly for the good of his country. Having won by his virtues and 
 talents the confidence of Washington, he was called to preside over the De- 
 partment of State. In this station he vindicated the rights of America against 
 the sophistry of European cabinets, and gave proof of that skill in diplomacy 
 for which he will be distinguished through all future ages. When the future 
 statesman shall look for a model from which to form his, style of diplomatio 
 writing, will, he not cease his search and seize with avidity on that, the off- 
 
■352 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 spring of the secretary's pen, in his correspondence with Hamilton and Genet? 
 ■Called, at length, by the voice of the people, to the presidency of these United 
 States, he furnished the model of an administration conducted on the purest 
 principles of republicanism. He sought not to enlarge his powers by con- 
 struction, but, referring everything to his conscience, made that the standard 
 of the constitutional interpretation. Regarding the government in its true 
 and beautiful light of a confederation of States, he could not be drawn from 
 his course by any of those splendid conceptions which shine but to mislead. 
 He extinguished $33,000,000 of the national debt; enlarged the boundaries 
 ■of our territorial jurisdiction, by the addition of regions more extensive than 
 -our original possessions ; overawed the Barbary powers ; and preserved the 
 peace of the nation amid the tremendous convulsions which then agitated the 
 world. I will dwell no longer on this fruitful topic, nor indulge my feelings. 
 Party spirit is buried in his grave, and I will not disinter it. The American 
 people will, as one man, look with admiration on his character, and dwell 
 with affectionate delight over those bright incidents in his life to which I 
 iave already alluded. 
 
 Thus, then, my countrymen, in the sixty-ninth year of his age, he termi- 
 nated his political career, and went into the shades of retirement at Monticello. 
 But, unlike the politicians of other days, who had fled from the cares and 
 anxieties of public life, that retirement was not inglorious. He still lived for 
 his country and the world. Let that beautiful building devoted to the 
 sciences, the last of his labors, reared under his auspices, and cherished by 
 his care, testify to this. How choice and how delightful this, the last fruit of 
 his bearing I How lasting a monument will it be to his memory I It will be, 
 we may fondly hope, the perpetual nursery of those great principles which 
 it was the business of his life to inculcate. The youth of Virginia, and the 
 youth of our sister States, to use his own beautiful language, "will bring 
 hither their genius to be kindled at our fire." "The good Old Dominion, the 
 blessed mother of us all, will then raise her head with pride among the 
 nations.'' 
 
 When history shall, at some future day, come to draw his character, to 
 what department shall she assign him ? Shall she encircle his brow with 
 the wreath of civic worth? Or shall philosophy weave a garland of her own? 
 He is equally dear to all the sciences. In mournful procession they have re- 
 paired to the tomb where his mortal remains are inurned, and hallowed the 
 spot. Yes, hallowed be the spot where he rests from his labors. Wave after 
 ■wave may roll by, sweeping in its resistless course countless generations from 
 the earth; yet shall the resting-place of Jefferson be hallowed. Like Mount 
 Vernon, Monticello shall catch the eye of the wayfarer and arrest his course. 
 There shall he draw the inspiration of liberty, and learn those great truths 
 which nature destined him to know. 
 
 Is not, then, this man's life most beautifully consistent? Trace him from 
 the period of his earliest manhood to the hour of his final dissolution, and 
 does not his ardor in the prosecution of the great work of human rights excite 
 your admiration and enlist your gratitude ? May it not be said that he has 
 lived only for the good of others ? Look upon him in the last stages of his 
 
ORATION ON THE DEATH OF JEFFEESON. 353 
 
 existence. But a few days before his death he exults in the happiness of his 
 country and the full confirmation of his labors. With the prospect of death 
 before him, suffering under a cruel disease, he offers up an impressive prayer 
 for the good of manliind. When speaking of the then approaching jubilee, 
 in writing to the Mayor of Washington, he says : " May it be to the world — 
 ■what I believe it will be — the signal for arousing men to burst the chains under 
 which monkish ignorance and superstition have persuaded them to bind them- 
 selves, and to assume the blessings of free government." And it shall be that 
 ■signal. A flood of light has burst upon the world, and the juggernauts of 
 superstition and the gloom of ignorance shall melt before its brightness. 
 
 Will you look upon him, my countrymen, in the latest moment of his ex- 
 istence? Shall I make known to you his fond concern for you and your pos- 
 :terity, when the hand of death pressed heavily upon him ? Learn, then, that 
 he dwelt on the subject of the University — portrayed the blessings which it 
 was destined to diffuse, and, forgetful of his valuable services, often urged his 
 physician to leave his bedside, lest his class might suffer in his absence. One 
 •other theme dwelt on his lips until they were motionless. It was the fourth of 
 July. On the fourth, so says my correspondent, he raised his languid head 
 and said, " This is the fourth of July," and the smile of contentment played 
 upon his lips. Heaven heard his prayers, and crowned his wishes. Oh, 
 precious life I Oh, glorious death! He has left us, my countrymen, a pre- 
 -cious legacy. His last words were, " I resign myself to my God, and my 
 child to my country." And shall not that child of his old age — that only sur- 
 viving daughter, the solace of his dying hour — be fostered and cherished by 
 -a grateful country ? 
 
 Thus has terminated, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, the life of one of 
 the greatest and best of men. His " weary sun hath made a golden set." Let 
 the rulers of the nations profit by his example — an example which points the 
 way to the temple of true glory, and proclaims to the statesman of every age 
 and of every tongue, — 
 
 "Be just, and fear not. 
 Let all the ends thou aimust at be thy country's, 
 Thy Qod's, and truth's ;" 
 
 -then shall thy lifeless body sleep in blessings, and the tears of a nation water 
 thy grave. 
 
 Let his life be an instructive lesson to us, my countrymen. Let us teach 
 cur children to reverence his name, and even in infancy to lisp his principles. 
 As one great means of perpetuating freedom, let the recurrence of the day of 
 our nation's birth be ever hailed with rapture. Is it not stamped with the 
 «eal of divinity? How wonderful are the means by which He rules the 
 world ! Scarcely has the funeral knell of our Jefferson been sounded in our 
 ears, when we are startled by the death-bell of another patriot, his zealous co- 
 adjutor in the holy cause of the Revolution— one among the foremost of those 
 who sought his country's disenthrallment— of Adams, the compeer of his early 
 fame, the opposing orb of his meridian, the friend of his old age, and his com- 
 panion to the realms of bliss. They have sunk together in death, and have 
 fallen on the same glorious day into that sleep which knows no waking. Let 
 23 
 
354 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 not party spirit break the rest of their slumbers, but let us hallow their 
 memory for the good deeds they have done, and implore that God who rules- 
 the universe to smile on our country.' 
 
 If Henry Lee was fitted by association and feeling to be tli& 
 cbosen eulogist of George Washington, surely John Tyler, the 
 rigid advocate of strict construction, the consistent defender of his- 
 doctrines, one even more accessible to the people, was the man best 
 suited to perform a similar part by Thomas Jefferson — that second 
 "Father of his Country." Mr. Eitchie, in the Enq^uirer, com- 
 mented thus upon Mr. Tyler's eulogy : "^ 
 
 Governor Tyler's oration has beeo received with the warmest acclamations 
 in every quarter. Cunsidering the short time in which it was prepared, and 
 the various engagements which were pressmg upou him, it is a proud evi- 
 dence of the genius of its author. The National Intelligencer pronounces it 
 to be a "brilliant and impressive oration." It quotes the opening paragraph 
 as being "very happy." But what if the editor of the National Intelligencer 
 had heard it delivered. 
 
 At the convening of the General Assembly, in December, 1826,. 
 Governor Tyler sent in his annual message.^ It opened with a 
 tribute to the memory of Jefferson, and recommended that a 
 statue, or some more imposing monument, should be erected in his 
 honor. Turning to the subject of schools, Mr. Tyler commented 
 upon the defects of the present system. It was entirely eleemosy- 
 nary, and devoted to the education of the poor. A imiversal com- 
 mon school system should exist, which the rich and the poor might 
 enjoy together. He then made a recommendation which was in- 
 tended to meet the timidity and obstinacy of the Legislature. 
 Great and beneficial results had flowed from the Literary Fund, 
 which took its origin, as we have seen, from the urgent represen- 
 tations of the first Governor Tyler. Out of its womb had pro- 
 ceeded the University of Virginia, destined to rank among the 
 first colleges of the world, and which now, for the time, had thrown 
 open its doors to the public, attracting from every quarter such as 
 
 1 The news of Adams' death did not reach Kichmond until Mr. Tyler was putting 
 the finishing touch to his oration. He then added the paragraph which concludes 
 it as above. 
 
 2 The Boston Gazette said: "Governor Tyler's eulogium on Mr. Jefferson, de- 
 livered on the nth instant, at Kichmond, the capital of Virginia, is a proud speci- 
 men of sentiment and eloquence." {Enquirer, Aug. 21, 1826.) 
 
 ^ Journal House of Del., Session 1826-7, pp. 6-13. 
 
MESSAGE OF GOVERNOE TYLER. 355 
 
 longed to drink from the fount of knowledge prepared by the 
 illustrious Jefferson ; and the provision for the poor, though inad- 
 equate and deficient, had afforded means of instruction to 9,779 
 indigent scholars the year before. 
 
 But something more was expected of so great a State as Virginia, 
 which ranked first in the memories of the past, and second in the 
 extent and number of lier population. In despair of anything 
 better, — a feeling that the experience for forty years thereafter 
 justified, — Governor Tyler suggested the relegation of the county 
 schools for the poor to the support of the county levies, and the 
 propriety of ceasing the expenditure of all interest on the Literary 
 Fund, until that fund could reach an amount which, with private 
 and public contributions, might put the system of common schools 
 into full and successful operation. The time estimated to attain 
 this end was put at twenty years by the committee appointed to 
 report upon this part of the message, and objected to on this score. 
 Nothing was done, and so things remained as they were until the 
 adoption of our present Constitution. 
 
 Touching next on the subject, always dear to his heart, of the 
 material development of the State, he reviewed the many works 
 of inter-communication, either then going on, or already completed 
 within the limits of the same, and made many suggestions with 
 reference to their future success. He repudiated the idea that 
 Virginia, if properly directed by her own sons, was not fully and 
 entirely capable of working out her own destinies without inter- 
 ference from the Federal government in her local concerns. He 
 drew the line between the appropriate functions of the State and 
 general government with faultless rhetoric, and with such precision 
 and accuracy that Jefferson himself might have envied his facile 
 pen.^ 
 
 Mr. Tyler was now a most distinguished man. To be the gover- 
 nor of a State whose citizens, to within two years past, had unin- 
 terruptedly filled the ofiice of chief magistrate of the Union, 
 was in itself a badge of world-wide honor. He had become 
 beyond doubt the most influential man in Virginia. When he 
 was renominated for Governor at the close of this year, he re- 
 
 1 The singular immunity from crime enjoyed by Virginia was noticed by the 
 Governor. Out of 700,000 free white inhabitants, only ]3U were within the walls 
 of a prison ! 
 
356 LETTEES AIJD TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 ceived a unanim.ous vote. He possessed that rare faculty of 
 managing men without their apparently knowing the fact. He 
 never spoke for the sake of speaking. He never promulged sug- 
 gestions which he knew could only awaken a stare, and were im- 
 possible of realization. His mind was eminently creative, and 
 when an occasion of embarrassment or danger arose, he had al- 
 ways some happy device to render it harmless. He was prudence 
 and moderation itself. He modestly appeared to detract from his 
 own abilities, and raised the virtues of others to the skies, but all 
 tlie time he thus flattered the weaknesses of men they were 
 moulded as clav in his hands to suit his desires. But let the issue of 
 principle arise, let the time come for the true exhibition of char- 
 acter, and he stood firm and unshaken amid the storm that scat- 
 tered before it the fire-eaters, the brawlers, bullies, and cowardly 
 demagogues. At this time, George "Wythe Munford was clerk of 
 the of House Delegates, — a position he filled for twenty-seven years. 
 The doubt that may arise as to anything that may flow from this 
 pen cannot be entertained against him. In his lecture, styled the 
 "Jewels of Virginia," containing a rare review of the celebrities 
 of the State, he thus alludes to Mr. Tyler : ' 
 
 I come now to bestow a kind remembrance upon John Tyler, another of 
 Virginia's sons, whom she prized for the services he rendered, and the noble 
 qualities of his head and his heart. When I was first elected clerk of the 
 House of Delegates, his voice was among the first that I heard ringing in its 
 hall, and his hand the first that gave me a welcome to the position I occupied. 
 And there was a charm about the voice that won upon the heart, and a 
 warmth in the grip of the hand that felt cordial, and an attraction in the 
 countenance and the manner of the man that drew you to him with irresis- 
 tible power. When he was elected governor, which was at the same session 
 of the General Assembly, I was welcomed in the same way in the governor's 
 mansion and in the executive chamber ; and such was his ease and familiarity 
 that everybody could approach him without the least restraint, and he trans- 
 acted business with such promptness that it was a pleasure to have oflicial 
 intercourse with him. He was so frank and generous, so social and cordial, 
 BO genial and kind, and withal so manly and high-toned, and so familiar with 
 the duties of his station that you were ready to give him your hand and heart 
 in return for his, which he seemed ever ready to proffer. 
 
 An election for senator once more occurred in the winter of 
 1826-7, and once more Mr. Tyler's fortunes were brought in col- 
 
 ■ " The Two Parsons," etc., pp. 564-'6. 
 
int. TYLER AND ME. RANDOLPH. 357 
 
 lision with a representative of the preceding generation — with a 
 man whose singular character and genius had held tlie State under 
 the spell of his influence for many years. This was John Ean- 
 dolph, born in 1773, and therefore, at this time, in his fifty-fourth 
 year. No two men could be more unlike than Mr. Eandolph and 
 Mr. Tyler. The sting of Mr. Randolph's tongue is proverbial. 
 Mr. Tyler's heart flowed with so much kindness and generosity to 
 mankind, that there cannot be found a single sentence in any of 
 his numerous writings derogating from the character of any man. 
 Mr. Randolph won his victories by annihilating his enemies ; Mr. 
 Tyler managed them to better purpose, by making them willing 
 captives in his train, and adding their voices to the applause raised 
 in his honor. Mr. Randolph's life was stormy and unhappy ; 
 Mr. Tyler's equally as stormy, but cheerful as the sunshine. 
 Mr. Randolph made it his boast that " his whole aim had been 
 to prevent, not to promote, legislation." Mr. Tyler was a re- 
 former as far as reform was possible, but too practical a man to 
 advocate Utopian schemes. He made it his aim not to tear down, 
 but to remodel and repair. lie loved to suggest great schemes of 
 improvement, and he was a man of such address as to generally 
 carry them through. If he could not, no one else could. Texas 
 and the Ashburton treaty are only two of the many monuments of 
 his singular wisdom and genius. 
 
 Mr. Randolph had been in opposition to Calhoun and Clay for 
 many years prior to Mr. Tyler's election to the gubernatorial chair, 
 the leader in Congress of the par excellence " Old School Republi- 
 cans," a class to which Mr. Tyler belonged, and whose character- 
 istic was an adherence to a stricter construction of the Constitu- 
 tion than was popular with other branches of the supporters of the 
 administration of Madison. He, with Mr. Tyler, had supported 
 Crawford in the canvass of 1824, against the rival pretenses of 
 Jackson, Calhoun, Clay and Adams, who, resisting the "dictator- 
 ship" of the congressional caucus that nominated Mr. Crawford, 
 set up for candidates independently. 
 
 A stroke of paralysis, before the election in 1821, impaired Mr. 
 Crawford's health and dampened the ardor of his friends. Cal- 
 houn wisely consented to abandon the presidency for the vice- 
 presidency, and of the other four candidates, Jackson received 
 ninety -nine votes in the electoral college; Adams, eighty-four; 
 
60^ LETTEES A>T5 TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 Crawford, forty-one; and Clay, thirty-seven. There being no 
 choice by the people, the selection between the tlii-ee standing high- 
 est in the list devolved upon the House of Representatives. Craw- 
 ford, to whom Clay had inclined, being, by virtue of his indisposi- 
 tion, in the opinion of the latter, out of the question, Clay's friends 
 voted for Adams in preference to Jackson, and thus narrowly ef- 
 fected his installation into the coveted office of the chief magis- 
 tracy. Seven States voted for Jackson, four for Crawford, and 
 thu-teen for Adams. Had Maryland voted against Adams, he 
 could not have been elected ; and the vote of Maryland was carried 
 in his favor by a single vote. Out of a total of two hundred 
 and twelve, only eighty-seven members of the House supported 
 Adams, seventy-one Jackson, and fifty-four Crawford. The six 
 ISI^ew England States recorded their votes for Adams, the whole 
 of them together containing a population not much greater than 
 that of Georgia and Virginia, which voted for Crawford. Con- 
 sidering the fact, too, that the supporters of Jackson were chiefly 
 from slave States, who were allowed only a three-fifths representa- 
 tion for slaves — and yet, instead of contributing in a corresponding 
 proportion to the government, had to pay, under the terms of 
 Adams' tariff of 1>2S, at least four-fifths of the expenses of gov- 
 ernment — there was a great deal of force in the cry i-aised by 
 Jackson's fiiends, that the will of the nation had been defeated. 
 
 Mr. John Quincy Adams, with the generosity characteristic of 
 the author of Adams'' Ifemnirs, delighted in after days to allude 
 to Mr. Tyler's title to the presidency as "accidental;" but the 
 reader will never find a chapter more full of accidents than that 
 which records his own accession. These facts are absolutely unde- 
 niable: Eirst, that he never received even a plurality of the 
 electoral votes of the States ; second, that he never received a vote 
 of a majority of the people of the United States; and third, that 
 he never received a majority of the votes of the members of the 
 House of Eepresentatives, who had the final selection. The ac- 
 cession of the vice-president, on the death of the president, is, as 
 Caleb Cushing termed it, a "fixed fact" by the Constitution. 
 
 Be that as it may, the election of Adams had been due to the 
 votes of the Clay party in Congress.' The enraged Jacksonites 
 redoubled the cry that the will of the nation had been defeated. 
 This was unquestionably true, but in a sense entii-ely different 
 
"bargain and COERtJPTION." 359 
 
 from what was intended by them. The many headed canvass had 
 in real truth prevented the people from expressing a preference 
 in any manner whatsoever. This, however, did not keep the 
 friends of Jackson from making great capital ont of the fact that 
 his name stood first in the electoral vote. They raised a ridiculous 
 cry that Adams had bought Clay's aid by promising him the office 
 of Secretary of State. It seized upon the sensibilities of the 
 people to cry " bargain and corruption," and when Eandolph for- 
 mulated it as the combination of the " Black-leg with the Puritan," 
 the charge flew like wild-fire over the land, and was used with 
 tremendous effect against the parties concerned. 
 
 Clay's preference had been originally Crawford, and consequently 
 the Crawford party more or less sympathized with Clay in the 
 idle though ruinous imputation urged against him. Soon after 
 the election, the Enquirer, the organ of the Crawford party in 
 Virginia, described their position to be one of "neutrality," — one, 
 in fact, entirely dependent upon the President's future course. 
 Both Jackson and Adams were evils, but between the two, so far 
 as their characters had been hitherto developed, the Crawford party 
 in Virginia leaned to Adams. Jackson's violent conduct in Florida, 
 and strong arbitrary will, evinced in public brawls and personal ren- 
 counters, argued poorly for the observance of strict constitutional 
 limitations. Mr. Jefferson described him in his day as "choking 
 with rage, whenever he rose to address the Senate." Whatever 
 objections or doubts existed as to Adams, he was at least a civilian, 
 and pretended to be an ardent admirer of republican doctrines. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, as one of the Crawford men, reposed no faith in the 
 stories circulated about Adams and Clay. Personally, he cared 
 very little for Adams ; but Clay he had met in Congress, and had 
 there learned to admire, both for his talents and attractive man- 
 ners. Amid the avalanche of vituperation against Clay for bar- 
 gain and corruption, Mr. Tyler was induced, by his kindness of 
 heart, to express his sympathy to Clay in a letter, which, as it, 
 very unexpectedly to Mr. Tyler, came to play, in the hands of 
 enemies, a singular part in liis subsequent history, deserves to be 
 inserted here. 
 
 [To Heney Clat.] 
 
 Charles City County, March 27, 1825. 
 Deah Sir : In the midst of the numerous accusations which have of late 
 
360 LETTEES A2^D TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 teen urged against you from different quarters, and from none with more 
 acrimony than from the seat of government of this State, I have deemed it 
 proper, and in some measure called for, to make known to you that one of the 
 million, at least, still regards you as I am satisfied you deserve to be regarded. 
 Instead of seeing in your course on the late presidential question aught 
 morally or politically wrong, I am, on the contrary, fully impressed with the 
 belief that the United States owe you a deep debt of gratitude for that 
 course, resulting as it did in the speedy settlement of that distracting subject. 
 Believing Mr. Crawford's chance of success to have been utterly desperate, 
 you have not only met my wishes (which would he to you of little concern), 
 but I do believe the wishes and feelings of a large majority of the people of 
 this your native State. I do not believe that the sober and reflecting people 
 of Virginia would have been so far dazzled by military renown as to have 
 conferred their suffrages upon a mere soldier — one acknowledged on all hands 
 to be of little value as a civilian. 
 
 ^ will not withhold from you, also, the expression of my approval of your 
 acceptance of your present honorable and exalted station. To have refused 
 it would have been to have furnished your enemies with fresh ground of ob- 
 jection. Against an insidious and malicious attack you courted an investi- 
 gation, not oaly before the representatives of the people, but by accepting the 
 office before the Senate, and gave just evidence of your purity by your readi- 
 ness to encounter your accusers, supported as they were by the virulence and 
 intemperance of party feeling on the part of some of your very judges. For 
 a time the tide may run against you, but when the ferment, excited by the 
 feelings of the day, shall have subsided, and men shall regard things with un- 
 prejudiced eyes, your motives and your acts will be justly appreciated and 
 the plaudits of 3'our country will await you. 
 
 This is not the language of flattery to one lifted high in authority. As an 
 American citizen, I claim to be your equal. It is the voluntary offering of 
 truth at the shrine of patriotism, and is called for by the circumstance of our 
 having been, in times past, fellow laborers in the same vineyard of our com- 
 mon country, although I was at the time an unprofitable servant. When 
 one, however, is assailed by unjust reproaches, the expression of confidence 
 from a quarter even the most humble and the most retired cannot but be ac- 
 ceptable. It is under the influence of this feeling and of this belief that I 
 have thus ventured to address you. 
 
 I pray you £0 accept assurances of my sincere regard and unshaken confi- 
 Aence, John Tylee. 
 
 In the montli of December, succeeding this letter, Mr. Tyler 
 was elected Governor of Virginia, and about the same time Adams 
 sent to Congress his first annual message. His inaugural address,, 
 in which he talked about the "aqueducts of Kome" as the ex- 
 ample to be imitated in the way of internal improvement was bad 
 enough, but this latter production sufficed to wither every hope of 
 the Crawford following. Contrary to all the doctrines of that 
 
ADAMS FEDERALISM. 361 
 
 able thinker, Adam Smith, that " individuals are always the best 
 judges of what is for their interest, and that in prosecuting 
 branches of industry advantageous to themselves, they necessarily 
 prosecute such as are advantageous to the public," the President, 
 boldly announced his desire, as expressed in the language of his 
 Secretary of the Treasm-y, — Mr. Eush, — "to organize the whole 
 labor of the country ; to entice into the widest ranges its mechani- 
 cal and intellectual capabilities, instead of suffering them to 
 slumber ; to call forth, wherever hidden, latent ingenuity, giving 
 to effort activity, and to emulation ardor; to create employment 
 for the greatest amount of numbers, by adapting it to the diversi- 
 fied faculties, propensities, and situations of men, so that every 
 particle of ability, every shade of genius, may come into requisi- 
 tion.'" 
 
 Not only did he advise the extension of roads and canals on a 
 new and enlarged scale, but the nation must have a university also, 
 notwithstanding that the Federal convention of 1787 had denied 
 to Congress the power either to cut canals or establish a university.'' 
 
 Added to this, was the scheme of sending representatives to the 
 South American Congress at Panama, and the power claimed, but 
 waived by Adams, of appointing them without the consent of the 
 Senate. A more latitudinous policy on the part of the Executive 
 had never before been avowed. If the principles involved in the 
 message were to gain the ascendant, how idle to talk of the Con- 
 stitution as Adams did in the same paper, as " a charter of limited 
 powers." The strict-construction party, which had supported 
 Crawford in the last canvass, were precipitated into immediate 
 opposition. The Jackson men gladly united their forces with 
 them in Congress, and the assault immediately began. 
 
 Just at this time Mr. Randolph was elected to the Senate in the 
 place of James Barbour, resigned. He immediately took the lead 
 in the attack on Adams and Clay, and pursued it with a ferocity 
 and power that have few parallels. It was just the thing that he 
 exulted in — to pull down. ISTo wonder that the admirers of Clay 
 and Adams have very little use for his name. Around the heart- 
 strings of both he wound his long, thin fingers. Down he pulled 
 
 ' Congress. Debates, ii., Partii., Append., p. 27. 
 ^EUiot, v., p. 544. 
 
.■362 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 them from their high estate; left ashes on their lips and the 
 venom of disappointment on their tongues. In spite of the appeals; 
 made through messages and reports, to the jobbers, speculators, 
 and manufacturers, in spite of a majority at first in both Houses 
 of Congress, the opposition won a complete victory, and in less 
 than two years Adams' administration lay perfectly flat. 
 
 The means taken by the opposition to effect this end were 
 .certainly not always within the bounds of strict propriety. They 
 were, however, not more of a ruthless character than those em- 
 ployed during Mr. Tyler's administration, by both Adams and Clay. 
 The more impulsive members of the old Crawford party, like Mr. 
 Eandolph, soon identified themselves with the Jackson men; but 
 a very respectable minority, among whom was Mr. Tyler, while 
 avowing themselves opponents to Adams, refused to profess them- 
 ,selves converts to Jackson. It was natural for this class to view 
 with feelings of disapproval the partisan conduct of Mr. Randolph. 
 
 The Legislature met in December, 1826. Mr. Tyler sent in his 
 message, espousing doctrines of construction just the reverse of 
 Adams' message of the year before, and preparations were made 
 to fill Mr. Kandolph's ofiice, whose term expired the following 
 .March. The moderate members of the State-rights party, com- 
 mitted neither to Adams or Clay, brought up the name of the 
 Governor. The Clay and Adams men immediately combined with 
 them. Mr. Tyler had no wish to run against Mr. Kandolph, and 
 persistently declined to give his consent. Nevertheless, he was 
 put in nomination all the same. 
 
 In the speeches made on the occasion the supporters of Mr. 
 Tyler explained the reason of their action. They charged Kan- 
 dolph with consuming the time of the Senate at the last session 
 with endless speeches and intolerant abuse. His duel with Clay, 
 and alleged grossness in the presence of the Senate, were brought 
 up against him. They wanted, they said, a man who, while con- 
 .sulting the decorum of the Senate, would be quite as effective in 
 opposing the administration. Mr. Tyler was, thereupon, elected 
 senator of the United States by a vote of one hundred and fifteen 
 to one hundred and ten. His majority would have been larger 
 had not Captain Eutherfoord, Mr. Selden, and others of his confi- 
 dential friends declined to vote, out of deference to his wishes, 
 which had with them a superior weight to mere party ends. Mr. 
 
ME. TTLEE ELECTED OYER ME. EANDOLPH. 363 
 
 Eitchie put the number of the Clay and Adams men who voted 
 for Mr. Tyler at thirty only.* 
 
 The feeling which sincerely indisposed Mr. Tyler to get in the 
 way of Mr. Eandolph before the election, was not strong enough 
 to induce him to decline the high office of senator after it had 
 been conferred upon him by the General Assembly of the State. 
 And if it had been, the course pursued by the disappointed friends 
 •of Eandolph was certainly not conducive to confirm Mr. Tyler in 
 iis self-sacrificing purpose. If Mr. Tyler's support now was made 
 up of anti-administration and administration men, Eandolph's was 
 -equally heterogeneous, being made up in part of men who had 
 voted against him scarce a year before, at the last election, when 
 John Floyd, William B. Giles, and Henry St. George Tucker were 
 p)ut in nomination against him, and his election finally assured by 
 less than a majority vote.^ 
 
 But there was a political significance in the violent assault now 
 made upon Mr. Tyler. Mr. Tyler had carefully abstained from 
 committing himself to the support of Jackson as President dming 
 the next term. He looked to De Witt Clinton to lead the demo- 
 cratic host. Clinton was, in Mr. Tyler's opinion, the representative 
 of the State-rights idea, that each State was capable of working 
 out its own highest destiny, since, as canal commissioner and under 
 State auspices, he had perfected a work — the New York Erie 
 -canal — that threw all the enterprises of the nation into the shade. 
 
 The Jackson men were sure of Mr. Eandolph, but not so sure 
 of Mr. Tyler, and to drive Mr. Tyler into avowals in favor of 
 Jackson, or force his resignation, they now assumed the role of 
 deep sympathizers with Mr. Eandolph, and made themselves out 
 the especial champions of State-rights. The unselfish support 
 which Mr. Tyler had yielded to Mr. Eandolph,' and his modest, 
 
 ' Kichmond Enquirer, August 21, 1827. 
 
 ^ In 1825, the first ballot stood, Henry St. George Tucker, 65 ; Eandolph, 63 ; 
 ■Giles, 58 ; Floyd, 40. Floyd being then dropped, the second ballot stood : Tucker, 
 -87 ; Eandolph, 79 ; Giles, 60. Giles being dropped, the contest lay between Tucker 
 and Eandolph. Tucker, however, would not run against his half-brother, and 
 Handolph was elected by 104 votes out of a total of 226 — less than a majority. 
 
 ' A letter of Mr. Tyler to Dr. Curtis, dated April 13, 1827, gives the reason of 
 Ms wishing to continue Mr. Randolph in his station as senator : 
 
 "I was in favor of the re-election of Mr. Eandolph, and had worked for him 
 when he was elected to the Senate. Then many who now support Mm were 
 
364 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 nay, even persistent resistance to his own election, were interpreted 
 to mean a scheme of Mr. Tyler to lull Mr. Eandolph's friends 
 into a state of security ! — therel)y deadening their exertions with 
 an intention of consummating his own election. Ludicrous doubts 
 were started, because of the aiSliations of some of Mr. Tyler's sup- 
 porters, as to the orthodoxy of his State-rights views, — and this in 
 face of Mr. Tyler's career in Congress and the Legislature, in face 
 of his message hardly dry on their desks, and in face of a letter- 
 obtained by the friends of Mr. Kandolph from Mr. Tyler, and 
 read in the Legislature on the morning of the election, repeating- 
 his wish to be left alone, and declaring " that his preferences on 
 the fundamental principles of the government were the same as 
 those espoused by Mr. Eandolph ; that he admired him most highly 
 for his undeviating attachment to the Constitution, manifested at 
 all times, and through the events of along political life; and that. 
 
 against him. My preference for him was after his election uniformly avo-wed and. 
 maintained. When Mr. Randolph -visited Richmond last spring, I saw him at the- 
 race- field. He labored under a most extraordinary excitement, of which his course 
 in the Senate had furnished full evidence. Even then, in the midst of his then 
 condition, my preference for him was expressed to Col. Gooch, who called on me 
 as if for no other purpose than to ascertain my feelings towards Mr. E. While I 
 deeply deplored his course, I ascribed it to the influence of high political fervor, 
 which, having seen him in like circumstances pending the Missouri question, I 
 was satisfied would give way to rest and the sammer's repose. Before the meet- 
 ing of the Legislature I had no doubt of his re-election. I recollect that Judge 
 Hay called on me one morning before the sitting of his court, and the conver- 
 sation turued on the approaching election of senator. I unhesitatingly expressed 
 to him the opinion that Mr. R. would be elected over any man in -Virginia. To- 
 Judge Summers I held a similar language. No sooner, however, had the Assembly 
 met than I found myself pressed on all sides to become a candidate for the station, 
 and in a short time I became satisfied, as far as I could be rendered so by a strong- 
 expression of sentiment from various quarters of the State through the members, 
 that the ofBce was entii-ely at my disposal, if I thought proper to seek it. Col. 
 Boyd of the Senate (I prefer to give names where they are recollected) made- 
 known his wishes to my friend, Mr. Christian, who communicated them to me 
 with the wishes of many others as expressed in his hearing, and that of persons- 
 upon whom he could rely. My determiaation was already fixed. I desired him 
 at once to let it be understood that I not only would not be a caudidate, butthat 
 I did not wish the oflSce. He did so To Mr. Douthat, the two Mr. Chris- 
 tians, and to Mr. Selden, my remarks from the first to the last were of a similar 
 import Using every effort compatible with propriety to sustain Mr. Ran- 
 dolph, I am now denounced by some of those who, when I voted for him, were 
 opposed to him ; my motives misrepresented, and the gall and venom of personal 
 rancor and political disappointment poured out upon me." 
 
THE M-INOHESTEE PARAGRAPH. 365 
 
 if any man voted for liim under a different persuasion, he most 
 grievously deceived himself." ' 
 
 Mr. Tyler's letter to Mr. Clay, of March, 1 825, now came in to play 
 a part in the drama. Mr. Clay, as he informs us,^ made a casual 
 -allusion to the letter in the presence of a Mr. Clarke, of Winches- 
 ter, Virginia. The latter incidentally spoke of it in the presence of 
 -a printer. Immadiately, and to the no small astonishment of Mr. 
 Tyler, it was made the text of a paragraph in a Winchester paper, 
 which went to the effect that Mr. Tyler had written " a congratu- 
 latory letter to Mr. Clay." The Jackson papers took it up. The 
 Enquirer was now one of these, and Mr. Gooch, one of the edi- 
 tors, eagerly approached Mr. Tyler in the lobby of the House of 
 Delegates, and called his attention to the paragraph. Mr. Tyler 
 returned, as he thought, a suitable reply, and they parted. Soon 
 thereafter he heard, to his astonishment, that Mr. Gooch had re- 
 ported him as saying, "Mr. Clay has betrayed me!" This was, 
 oi course, proof positive to the anxious Jacksonians that he had 
 bargained with the Cla_y element in the Legislature to sacrifice his 
 principles for an election to the Senate ! ' 
 
 Mr. Tyler's friends were furious. Mr. Gooch was brought to 
 an explanation. His letter to Mr. Tyler lies before me.'' 
 
 ' Niles, xxxi., p. 340 ; Abell's Tyler, p. 88-9. ' Clay's Correspondeuce, p. 158. 
 
 ' Niles' Register, under a heading entitled "Elections and Electioneering," thus 
 commented upon this affair : " The blowing up of the common school system in 
 Massachusetts, the sinking of the New York canals, or the tumbling down of all 
 the magnificently useful bridges in Pennsylvania, would not have caused so much 
 feeling in either of those States as the non-election of Mr. Randolph to the Senate 
 ■of the United State's has excited in a certain portion of the politicians of Virginia. 
 This feeling may be partially estimated from what Governor Tyler states in the 
 extract from one of his messages, which we give below ; and a newspaper pub- 
 lished in Richmond, called the Virginia Jackson Republican, of the 5th ult., was 
 clothed in mourning, and the leading article 'oegau thus : ' John Tyler identified 
 with Henry Clay. .We are all amazement ! ! heart sick ! ! chop fallen ! ! dumb ! ! ! 
 Mourn, Virginia ! mourn ! ! for you, too, have your times-serving aspirants, who 
 press from round to round on the ladder of political promotion, under the disguise 
 of Republican orthodoxy, while they conceal in their bosom the lurking dagger 
 ■with which, upon mature conjecture, to plunge the goddess of liberty to the heart. ' 
 This t/remendous jeremiad seems to have been caused by a report that ' shortly 
 after the presidential election in the House of Representatives,' Mr. Tyler wrote a 
 letter to Mr. Clay 'approving in unqualified terms his course in that election, and 
 congratulating Mr. Clay and the country on the result. ' " (Niles' Register, 
 xxxii., p. 41.) 
 
 ■* On the back of this letter is endorsed, in Mr. Tyler's handwriting, ' ' Letter 
 
366 lbtteks and times of the ttlees. 
 
 [Fjjom C. W. Goooh.] 
 
 Richmond, Friday Evening. 
 
 I am willing at any moment to say that in the conversation with you, held 
 in the lobby of the House of Delegates, and within the hearing of several gen- 
 tlemen, if they thought proper to listen to what passed, you said, upon my 
 showing you the Winchester article, that you had written to Mr. Clay soon 
 after the presidential election ; the precise contents of the letter you did not 
 recollect, but that you had a copy by you, to which you wfould refer ; though, 
 if you had written such a letter as is described in the Winchester Republican, 
 and Mr. Clay had spoken of it as there represented, he had broken the seal of 
 private correspondence and friendly intercourse. Whether you added, "And 
 if he thereby expects to drive me over to the administration, he deceives him- 
 self," or used the general phrase, that " you were not to be driven over to the- 
 administration by such or any other means," I do not distinctly recollect. 
 Of these two things I am positive, that you expressed the idea of Mr. Clay's 
 having broken the seal of private correspondence, and that you were not to be 
 driven over to the administration ; for your principles and opinions were 
 firmly fixed, and had been recorded on the floor of Congress and in the House- 
 of Delegates. You also approved of Mr. Clay's vote for Mr. Adams, and as- 
 sented to the pioposition which I advanced, that a preference for Mr. Adams- 
 at the time of his election did not necessarily imply a preference for him 
 now. T am free to say that your wish appeared to be to satisfy me that you 
 stood in no way committed to the administration. 
 
 In the Enquirer of this morning, I did not state all that passed between us, 
 and so I carefully expressed it. I did not do it, because I did not think 
 that the communication of your friend Mr. D. called for anything but an an- 
 swer to the report of your having said, in my presence, that " Mr. Clay had 
 betrayed you " — and the fact of my having given a certificate on the subject. 
 Nor have I now alluded to all that passed. I do not do it, because it is not 
 pertinent to the point at issue. 
 
 From the conversation with you to-day, the substance of what we both re- 
 membered of the former conversation, is not essentially different. I do not 
 pretend to remember the precise words of the whole conversation. Some of 
 them made an impression on my mind at the time, and the substance I cannot 
 have misunderstood. 
 
 I should have lost my own self respect if I had not written thus much to you. 
 I have only to add what I here say: that I am willing to repeat, in any way 
 you may think will be serviceable to you, either by a note to anything you 
 may publish, or upon a request to do so. And I can assure you that the sub- 
 ject of any further statement from me on the subject of what this letter con- 
 tains, is unknown to any human being ; that I have neither had occasion nor 
 inclination to consult with my best friend to know what truth and fair-dealing 
 
 from C. W. Gooch, one of the editors of the Richmond Enquirer, as to a conver- 
 sation held between us on the subject of Mr. Clay, on my election to the Senate of 
 the United States over Mr. Eandolph. The object of the press of that day was to 
 force my resignation, and a false and bitter coui-se was pursued." 
 
MK. TYLEE AND THE EDITORS OF THE ENQUIRER. 367 
 
 required at my hands, as regarding you or my own consistency and dignity. 
 I have written to you frankly, and I douht not but that the matter of our 
 former conversation can he readily adjusted, as there is no great difference in 
 our verhal vievrs on the subject. 
 
 I leave it to you to say what course you desire to be taken. I have pointed 
 out two, above; either will suit my wishes. 
 
 Your obedient servant, C. W. Goooh. 
 John Tyler, Esq.. 
 
 Succeeding this, the following correspondence was pnbhshed.. 
 Mr. Tyler had suspected some sinister game on the part of Clay, 
 and the Winchester paragraph being cast under his eye without 
 warning, he spoke with heat. Realizing that his suspicions may 
 have been unjust to Mr. Clay, he very generously said as much in. 
 his statement : 
 
 [ROBEBT DOUTHAT TO THE EdITOBS OF THE ENQUIRES.] 
 
 Richmond, February 14, 1827. 
 Gentlemen : You will perceive by the enclosed letter from Governor 
 Tyler, that I am authorized to use the statement, received in the envelope of 
 that letter, as J may please. Eublic curiosity is so much on tip-toe in relation 
 to the matters contained in that statement, I have determined to gratify all 
 desirous to be informed of them, by handing over to publication the letter and 
 statement. It is hardly necessary for me to add, that pending the presi- 
 dential election, Mr. Tyler was the warm and devoted advocate of Mr. Craw- 
 ford; and in all our public meetings did not hesitate to proclaim that, Craw- 
 ford aside, Mr. Adams was his next choice. I remember well to have heard 
 Mr. Tyler speak of his correspondence with Mr. Clay, and I know that he, 
 upon many occasions among our constituents, unconditionally avowed that he 
 would have voted with Mr. Clay, and that he did not believe in the charges- 
 of bribery and corruption, then the talk of the day. I have thought it pro- 
 per to add these remarks, as they may in some measure remove from the minds 
 of all candid men the charge of concealment so unkindly made by the public. 
 Yours respectfully, Robebt Douthat. 
 
 Richmond, February 13, 1827. 
 My Dear Sib: I have esteemed it peculiarly proper to convey to you the 
 enclosed paper, since it has been my good fortune to stand on terms of per- 
 fect intimacy with you from the iirst of our acquaintance, and more especially 
 since you are intimately acquainted with the feelings and sentiments on. 
 political subjects which I may have entertained since the origin of our ac- 
 quaintance. Upon none have you more distinctly understood me than in re- 
 lation to the late presidential election and the principal actors on that in- 
 teresting occasion. To you I made known the fact of my having written to 
 Mr. Clay, in a day or two after I had done so ; and with you, along with 
 many others of my friends, it was my fortune, while differing in some measure 
 on certain political topics, to avow openly, often before the public, the reasons- 
 
-'368 LBTTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 for my convictions. Do with the enclosed whatsoever you may please. Such 
 destination as you may give it will entirely satisfy, 
 
 Your friend and servant, John Tyleb. 
 
 Robert Douthat, Esq. 
 
 EiCHMOND, February 13, 1827. 
 
 The well-established respectability of the editors of the Enquirer renders 
 any statement of a fact on their own responsibility worthy of notice, and I 
 readily concede that if they fall into any error, such error would be purely 
 unintentional. The account which is given by them in their paper of this 
 morning of a conversation held by one of them with me on the subject of a letter 
 written by myself to Mr. Clay, shortly after the presidential election, is cal- 
 culated to make the impression that I was disposed to complain of Mr. Clay 
 for the mere fad of having spoken of a letter, private, it is true, but not con- 
 fidential, thus leaving the public at liberty to infer that I had acted with 
 concealment, and had kept in reserve a set of opinions, to be acted on when I 
 had reached the Senate chamber. I am sure that such could not have been, 
 and was not the intention. Whatever regret I may have experienced at the 
 ■ degree of vituperation, as to which no man of sensibility can be wholly in- 
 different, to which the Winchester paragraph may have unjustly subjected 
 me, yet I had no right to complain of Mr. Clay, and in fact no possible motive 
 to do so, merely because he had spoken of a letter not confiderttial, and the 
 sentiments of which I myself had over and over again avowed, as those which 
 I honestly entertained. Now the circumstances attendant on that conversa- 
 "tion were these : 
 
 Being in the lobby of the House of Delegates, which at that time was some- 
 what crowded. Colonel Gooch, with whom 1 had been in habits of friendly 
 intercourse, approached me and placed in my hands the Winchester paper con- 
 -taining the so much talked of paragraph. I have no precise recollection of 
 the very terms of the conversation. In conversing with one supposed to be a 
 friend, 1 do not treasure up every syllable for future use. I can, therefore, 
 ■only deny what I did not say, if a manifestly false ascription is made to me, but 
 cannot repeat the precise words uttered. That man is truly to be envied whose 
 memory is so acute and so retentive as to retail with entire accuracy whole 
 sentences spoken in conversation under the circumstances attendant on this. 
 
 In this instance I can only speak with perfect confidence of the impressions 
 made on ray mind from reading the Winchester paragraph, then for the first 
 time seen by me. From the apparent eagerness with which he sought the 
 interview, I concluded that he labored under the impression that I stood com- 
 mitted to the administration, and at the moment it also occurred to me that 
 Mr. Clay, by s^tn&Wag publicly of the letter, sought to create that impression 
 with the public, and thereby to render all men opposed to the administration 
 reserved and distant towards me, and thus ultimately to cause me to side with 
 the administration. In this ascription I am convinced I was mistaken, and I 
 hesitate not to retract the imputation. My better reflection advises me that 
 this course was one entirely natural in itself, and which any one placed in his 
 ■situation would have been apt to have adopted. The object, then, with me in 
 
MK. Tyler's statement. 369 
 
 ■uttering anythiug to Col. Gr., could only have been to remove from his mind 
 the impression of my commitment, and the language I used was to this effect : 
 " I did write to Mr. Clay about the time of the presidential election. The 
 precise terms of the letter I do not now remember, but I have a copy, and will 
 recur to it; but if Mr. Clay thinks that he binds me to the administration by 
 breaking the seal of a private correspondence (or by making public the con- 
 tents of my letter, the expressions are of the same import) or that I can be 
 driven from my principles, he deceives himself. The coldness of my friends 
 may repel me from their intercourse, but nothing can cause me to abandon 
 my principles." 
 
 I further stated, that it was true I should have voted for Mr. Adams, Mr. 
 Crawford aside, but that that created no obligation to sustain him afterwards, 
 to which Colonel Gooch, as well as I remember, replied, " Virginia would 
 have done then the same thing, but not so now,'' or " that a preference for Mr. 
 Adams at the time of his election did not necessarily imply a preference for 
 him now." I repeat, I could not vouch for the precise form of expression, but 
 that the object of any remark used by me was as above stated. I am positive 
 I could have had no motive to speak of it in any other manner, since the fact 
 that the letter had been written had been made known by me to many, and 
 my opinions relative to Mr. Clay's conduct had been divulged in instances 
 without number. 
 
 In adverting to that letter, I shall content myself with stating its substance ; 
 but if Mr. Clay shall see cause to gratify the appetites of newspaper editors, 
 he is at liberty to publish it. I shall have no cause to complain of it. It is, 
 then, perfectly true, that I wrote to Mr. Clay in the spring of '25. It is also 
 true that I approved of his course growing out of the presidential election, 
 and concurred with him most emphatically in the result of his vote. It is, 
 equally so, that I esteemed Mr. Adams as decidedly better qualified for the 
 presidency than Gen. Jackson, and that I would have voted for him after Mr. 
 Crawford's chance of success was over. To this effect I wrote to Mr. Clay in 
 terms of perfect frankness. 
 
 Now, where is the commitment on my part to the administration ? Is it 
 because I preferred Mr. Adams then that I must support him through all 
 future time, no matter what may be his course of policy ? The same obliga- 
 tion exists with all men who contribute to elect any man to any office, to vote 
 for him at the expiration of his term, and this without regard to his course 
 while in ofSce. The boasted responsibility of the public agent to his constitu- 
 ents becomes the dream of a visionary, and there would be nothing substantial 
 in our- form of government. Instead of this, it would soon grow into an 
 adage, "Once in office, always in office." The conclusion is ridiculous enough. 
 Or, is it because I do not believe Henry Clay, with the Western delegation who 
 sided with him, to have been bought and sold, — for which, if guilty, he and 
 they deserve to be gibbeted,— that I am therefore bound to support an admin- 
 istration which may oppose all my convictions of proper poHoy ? Must I 
 wear a dagger to plunge into the bosom of every man with whom I may differ in 
 sentiment ? When we shall have attained a crisis so full of horror, it will be 
 a matter of little moment who shall be "the star of the ascendant." 
 24 
 
370 LBTTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 Error must be opposed with diiferent weapons in a free country, where men 
 will think, and, thinking, will differ in opinion. The weapon there to be used 
 is that of reason and argument. It was that weapon which gained us the victory 
 of '98-99. The fact is undeniable, that a majority of the electoral college of 
 Virginia, if Mr. Crawford had been removed by the hand of death, would 
 have voted for Mr. Adams. / assert ii fearlessly. The people of Virginia 
 are, then, equally committed with myself. 
 
 I shall make no public disclosure of the course I shall pursue in the Senate. 
 If my recorded votes in Congress, from the years '16 to '22, given on the 
 very subjects, or the greater part of them, now forming the subject of conten- 
 tion ; if a uniform course through all time, as well of peace as of war ; if my 
 conduct in the legislative and executive departments of this State do not de- 
 velop the principles which will govern me, any avowal I might now ijiake 
 might well be considered the result of the circumstances in which I am placed, 
 and as a propitiatory offering to those who have seen so much cause of dis- 
 quietude in my election to the Senate. I take to myself no share in that dis- 
 quietude, since complaints levelled at me are only intended against the majority 
 of the Legislature, and that majority is sufficiently strong and talented to 
 vindicate itself. John Tylbb. 
 
 The Jackson devotees ingloriously failed in their design of forc- 
 ing Mr. Tyler into avowals in favor of their candidate. Mr. 
 Douthat, Mr. Tyler's friend, struck the key-note of Ml'. Tyler's 
 character when, in his iirst note to the editors of the liichmond 
 Enquirer , he said, " You both know that John Tyler is as firm as 
 a rock in his principles. You both know that he is not to be 
 shaken from an honest, correct and high-minded course, either by 
 the blandishment of the powers that be, or by the threats of 
 Hhose that vjoidd 5e.'^ Mr. Tyler presumed to differ from the 
 editors of the Enqairer as to the relative importance of men and 
 'principles ; and while avowing his principles, would not avow his 
 preference for Jackson until nearly a year had rolled around, and 
 no other choice was possible. 
 
 The correspondent of the Enquirer, in a letter dated from Wash- 
 ington, January 16, 1827, thus announced the manner in which Mr. 
 
 1 liichmond Enquirer, February 13. In their editorial commenting upon Mr. 
 Tyler's statement as above, v^hile admitting his entire correctness, the editors 
 said: "We admit the force of his appeal to the general principles which have 
 hitherto governed his political course. They have hitherto been right, — we trust 
 that they will still be right, — we believe that they will be right. But his appeal 
 to those general principles is not sufJacient under the peculiar circumstances in 
 which he and his country are placed. Nothing but the boldest and most decided 
 bearing towards the coalition at Washington can suit these times, or can save the 
 nation!" {Richmond Enquirer, February 15, 1827.) 
 
eandolph's defeat. 371 
 
 Eandolph's defeat was received in Washington : " The intelligence 
 of Eandolph's defeat was received yesterday morning, and the 
 news of it was cried by runners through the streets more than half 
 an hour before the regular time for opening the mail. At the 
 opening of the Senate, a crowd of ministerialists rushed up from 
 the House of Eepresentatives to see how he would look. Their 
 letters are doubtless already on their way to Kentucky and Ohio, 
 and everywhere else, giving such accounts as you are wont to see." 
 
 The election of Mr. Tyler was, after all, the most popular one 
 that could have been made. Nileis' Register observed, in relation 
 to a. violent article which appeared in the " Virginia Jackson Re- 
 publican'''' of that period, a paper which had zealously circulated 
 the rumor about the letter to Mr. Clay : " Mr. Tyler is as faith- 
 fully wedded to Virginia doctrines as ever Mr. Randolph was, and 
 can give by far the most powerful support to themP Even the 
 Kichmond Enquirer, devoted as it was to Mr. Eandolph's interest, 
 in a paragraph regretting his failure, said, after enunciating a 
 long list of causes which, it asserted, led to that result: "Yet even 
 this 'coml|ination could not have succeeded in favor of any other 
 man in the Commonwealth than John Tyler, because he carried 
 with him personal friends who would have voted for John 'Ran- 
 dolph in preference to any other man than himself ;" thus giving 
 the highest possible evidence of the esteem in which he was held 
 by the people of Virginia. 
 
 A few days after the election, Mr. Tyler sent a message to the 
 General Assembly, in which he announced his acceptance of the 
 office of Senator. The feelings which actuated Mr. Tyler in de- 
 clining the honor before it was conferred, were not sufficiently sub- 
 limated to cause him to relinquish it after it had been bestowed 
 upon him in spite of his opposition. And even if it had been, the 
 course of the Jackson men was not sufficiently conducive to a con- 
 tinuance in so self-sacrificing a purpose. 
 
 Upon the occasion of his retirement from the chief magistracy, 
 on the 3d of March, 1827, he was invited to a public dinner by a 
 large number of the members of the Legislature and citizens of 
 Richmond, in number about one hundred and eighty. At five 
 o'clock the company sat down to a splendid dinner, furnished with 
 the best wine and accompanied by a fine band of music. William 
 C. Holt, Esq., Speaker of the Senate, presided, assisted by John 
 
372 LETTERS AiTO TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 Kobertson, Lieutenant-Governor, Dr. William Crump, a delegate 
 from Powhatan, and General J. B. Harvie, as vice-presidents. 
 Four of the judges of the Supreme Court, who had been invited by 
 the committee of arrangements,^ were present. The following 
 toast was offered : 
 
 John Tyler — our friend and guest — a Republican too firm to be driven 
 from his principles — too upright to be swerved by the laws of ambition or 
 power. 
 
 In answer to this, Mr. Tyler spoke at large.^ He alluded to the 
 unkind assaults made upon him by the adherents of Randolph and 
 Jackson. He exploded the chimeras that they had raised, and to 
 the last maintained his position as to Adams and Clay. The first 
 "splendid" message of Adams had long since withered all his 
 hopes. Mr. Tyler said he saw in it " an almost total disregard of 
 the federative principle — a more latitudinous construction of the 
 Constitution than ever before had been insisted on — not altogether 
 in the particular measures recommended, which were bad enough, 
 but for them he had some show of precedent, as in the broad and 
 general propositions there laid down as the basis of governmental 
 duty." He would not be a zealot to further the aspirations of any 
 man. He had agreed with Mr. Clay in his choice of Mr. Adams. 
 If this were treason, he boldly avowed it. "Why," said Mr. Tyler, 
 "he was indeed a 'rare bird' in Virginia who was, at that day, for 
 General Jackson. General Jackson was lauded for his victory at 
 New Orleans, but ever and anon he was represented as the Con- 
 stitution-breaker ; as having, without necessity and without law, 
 suspended the habeas corpus ; and as having trampled under foot 
 our dearest rights. I did not hesitate, on the floor of Congress, 
 to condemn his conduct in the Seminole war; but while I con- 
 demned his acts, I did not assail his motives. I never doubted but 
 that they were jMtriotic. . . I considered that we had substan- 
 tial grounds for our preference of Mr. Adams over General Jack- 
 son. Omitting others, I will merely mention that Mr. Adams 
 had, for a long course of years, been a member of the political 
 families of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Madison. I say nothing of Mr. 
 Monroe, since his administration had become unpopular in this 
 
 ' Peter V. Daniel, John Eobertson, John B. Clopton, William Crump, John W. 
 Nash, committee of arrangements. 
 ' Enquirer, March 6th, 1827. 
 
MK. tylee's toast. 373 
 
 State by reason of his doctrine on the subject of appropriating 
 public money. We had reason, therefore, to hope that, to a great 
 extent, he would have adopted their ideas of Federal power. A 
 political guaranty of this was furnished in the fate of his father. 
 I had no idea that, with the rock before him on which that father 
 had suffered political shipwreck, the son would so unskillfuUy 
 have navigated his vessel as to have incurred the risk of dashing 
 also against it. It should be incidentally mentioned, also, that Mas- 
 sachusetts had stood by the South in a preponderating vote against 
 the tariff, and I had fondly hoped that Mr. A. would have pos- 
 sessed the feelings of his parent State." 
 
 Mr. Tyler said that he honestly believed that the preservation 
 of the federative principle of our government was inseparably 
 connected with the perpetuation of liberty. But, in prosecuting 
 this doctrine, he should hold himself free to employ such means as 
 he might deem most fit, keeping always in view the principles of 
 our political creed. "I claim," said he, "the full advantage of 
 my situation; I claim to survey the whole battle-field; to consult 
 with my distinguished colleague (Mr. Tazewell), with whom I 
 anticipate no material difference of opinion ; to ascertain as far as 
 practicable the notions and feelings of the prominent actors in 
 the approaching contest, and thus deduce the probable chance of 
 advancing our principles. A war for them I shall be ready to 
 prosecute under any banner, and almost under any leader. In 
 such a cause I will consent to become a zealot. It is a cause cal- 
 culated to awaken zeal — ^for it is that of the Constitution and of 
 liberty. When those banners that now float above us shall be 
 made to cower on the embattled field, then may I abandon the 
 doctrines of our fathers, and forget my allegiance to the Constitu- 
 tion, — but not before." 
 
 With this exposition of his views, Mr. Tyler concluded, by of- 
 fering a sentiment, which, if it had nothing else to recommend it, 
 flowed at least from honest convictions : 
 
 " The Federative System : In its simplicity there is grandeur ; in its pre- 
 servation there is liberty; in its destruction, tyranny." 
 
 "What a truth!" cries Wise, " what a prophecy ! what a ver- 
 ification !" 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1827—1828. 
 
 " Should he [Jackson] abuse Yireinia by setting at naught her political sentiments, he 
 will ttnd her at the head of the opposition, and he will probably experience the fate of J. 
 Q,. A.'— John Tylek (1827). 
 
 FOEMATION OF THE DeMOCEATIC PaETY. — LeTTEES OF Me. TyLEE TO EUTHEEFOOED 
 
 AND Ctjetis. — Meeting of Cokgeess in Decembee, 1827. — Me. Stevenson 
 
 ELECTED SpEAKEE. — FuETHEE LeTTEES TO KuTHEEPOOED AND CuETIS, — TaEIFF 
 
 Agitation. — The Taeiff of 1828. — Lettees on the Takiff, etc. — The Cum- 
 
 BEELAND KOAD. Me. TyLEe's EePLY TO Me. SmITH, OF MaEYLAND. OtHEB 
 
 Speeches of Me. Tylee. — William Tyleb elected to the House of Dele- 
 gates. — State Contention Called. — Me. Tyleb's Lettees to his Daughtee 
 Maey. 
 
 MR. TYLER spent the summer succeeding his election as 
 senator in quiet retirement in the country, broken only by 
 a trip to Williamsburg as visitor of " William and Mary." 
 
 The great Republican party, which, in 1824, had been split 
 into five factions, was now slowly condensing into two great op- 
 posing bodies, called Democrats and National Republicans. In 
 1824 the Jackson men and " Old School" advocates stood furthest 
 apart in feeling; — it was Jackson, Adams, Clay, and Crawford. 
 Yet, by the circumstance of their both being "outs," they were 
 compelled into some sort of an agreement to beat the " ins." 
 
 These alpha and omega elements were thus finally brought to 
 constitute the Democratic party, and, as curiously illustrative of 
 the spirit of its Federal wing, old Timothy Pickering and the son 
 of Alexander Hamilton (James A. Hamilton) were Jackson men. 
 The friends of Clay and Adams fused more naturally into the 
 National Republican party.' Was it any wonder that Mr. Tyler 
 
 ' Thus Sumner says (speaking of the opposition to the Adams administration) : 
 "All the factions except the Adams faction — that is to say, all the Federalists and 
 all the non-Adams personal factions of the old Republican party — went into oppo- 
 sition," i. e., the Democratic party. (Sumner's Jackson, p. 101.) Speaking of 
 the opposition to the Jackson administration: "The opposition had taken the 
 name of National Republicans. They never acknowledged any succession to the 
 Federalists. They claimed to belong to the true Republican party, but to hold 
 national instead of State-rights theories." {Ibid., p. 139.) 
 
LETTERS TO EUTHEEFOOED AND OUETIS. 375 
 
 preferred to await developments before committing himself on 
 the presidential question ? The contest so far had been more of 
 a wrangle for persons than otherwise. It was, indeed, not until 
 the close of 1827 that the contest so far lost its personal character 
 as to become, in some measure, one of principle. 
 
 [To Captain John Rutherfoord.J 
 
 Greenway, June 16, 1827. 
 
 Mr Dear Sir : I regret very much that I cannot, in pursuance of the invi- 
 tation conveyed through your letter of the 8th instant, on hehalf of the Rich- 
 mond Fayette Light Artillery, dine with that corps at Clark's Spring on the 
 approaching national anniversary. It is the day set apart for the annual con- 
 vocation of the visitors of William and Mary College, and as one of them, I 
 design to be at my post. I pray you, however, to tender to each and every 
 member of that corps my most unfeigned thanks for this token of their kind 
 remembrance, together with the assurance that, although T shall be absent in 
 ihs flesh, I shall be with yourself and them in the spirit, rejoicing in the happy 
 fruits of our revolutionary victories, and breathing fervent aspirations for 
 their continuance through endless time. 
 
 I subjoin a sentiment which you will please propose. 
 
 I am, dear sir, truly your friend, John Tyler. 
 
 " The brave volunteer, the soldier of freedom : The last drop of his blood 
 and the last breath of his nostrils are held by him in trust but for his coun- 
 try's benefit." 
 
 [To Dr. CnRTis.J 
 
 Greenway, September 4, 1827. 
 
 My Dear Doctor : .... How do politics run with you now ? If Gen'l 
 Jackson holds one or two more Jireside conversations, he will seriously injure 
 his cause in Virginia. The persecution of Clay is likely to result, as from 
 the first I have conceived, in his probable advancement, which I do not desire 
 to see; for although I believe him to entertain the same opinions with Jack- 
 son, Calhoun, etc , yet the possible chance of getting rid ultimately of all 
 but one of them, and he limited to four years, had served to reconcile me in 
 a measure to Jackson's success. 
 
 But if Adams is re-elected, and Clay be his successor, or Jackson and he be 
 followed up by a latitudinarian, we may bid adieu to our cause. My own 
 opinion from the first has been that we, the people, have suffered ourselves to 
 be dragooned in this matter; and that if, instead of permitting ourselves to 
 'be dictated to, we had resolutely set to work, we might have now fought the 
 battle of principle with great probability of success. If we had taken up 
 De Witt Clinton by uniting with the State of New York, the result might have 
 been auspicious. 
 
 However, these are now but useless speculations, and we must make the 
 best of our situation. The people will choose between two latitudinarians, 
 and their choice I am sure will be properly made. 
 
376 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 What think you of Ritchie's having lately introduced my name into his- 
 paper in connection with this subject ? It raises a suspicion with me that he- 
 feels himself hard bestead. It has been obvious from the first that Virginia 
 was yielding her support to Jackson most unwillingly, and the course pur- 
 sued has been well calculated to produce a reaction. 
 
 I received last Saturday a letter from Severn E. Parker, of Northampton, 
 who unequivocally declares that he will not vote for Jackson. This looks 
 squally as to the Eastern shore. You know that he is there the leading Dem- 
 ocrat. These things are for yourself, as I do not wish to be heard of again 
 on a political question until I am called on to act. When I act, it will be in, 
 reference to the country, — on the floor of the Senate I will never be a par- 
 tisan. 
 
 My love to all, in which my household unite. 
 
 Sincerely yours, John Ttibe. 
 
 P. S. — Letitia sends to Christiana a few of the Virgelia pears. Let them 
 be put away for a few days to mellow, and they will be found of superior 
 order. 
 
 It will be observed from the latter letter how relnctantlj Mr. 
 Tyler accorded his support to Jackson. His final qualified resolve- 
 so to do arose simply from the fact that not enough of the " Old 
 School" would stand by him in nominating a more congenial can- 
 didate. 
 
 Mr. Tyler took his seat in the Senate at the commencement of 
 the following December. The current of events had rushed 
 rapidly on, and the realities of the future had lifted their shadowy 
 forms out of the receding waters. The following letters explain, 
 in Mr. Tyler's own words, the calculations by which the eventual 
 union of the various elements of the opposition in Jackson's be- 
 half was accomplished. One of the most prominent of these was 
 the election of Andrew Stevenson as speaker. He had supported 
 Mr. Crawford for president, and his success as a candidate for 
 speaker over John W. Taylor, of New York, presaged the final 
 downfall of the administration. Until this Congress, Adams' ad- 
 ministration had had a majority in the Senate. Now both Houses 
 had opposition majorities. Adams himself says that this was the 
 first time in the history of the country that such had been the 
 case: 
 
 [To John Rutherfoord.] 
 
 Washington, Dec. 8th, 1827. 
 My Dear Sir : In compliance with my promises to write you after reach- 
 ing this, and making myself somewhat acquainted with the grounds occupiedl 
 
LE'n'ER TO JOHN EDTHEEFOOED. 377 
 
 by the Republican party, and the views entertained and relied on by those 
 who agree with Virginia in political doctrine, I now proceed to the fulfilment 
 of that task. I perform this the more readily, since every thing which I shall 
 write will tend to confirm you in your sentiments of predilection in favor of 
 General Jackson. 
 
 The position of the Jackson party, as it is called, has been totally changed 
 by the events which have transpired since the opening of Congress. The 
 election of our friend Stevenson to the chair of the House of Representatives 
 has manifested a decided majority in that body, while that in the Senate is 
 equally well ascertained. Thus, then, we are prepared for a new mode of 
 action. The battle being ended and the citadel in their possession, the ma- 
 jorities have now merely to guard it against assault. The opposition party 
 constitute in fact the administration. Upon it rests the entire responsibility 
 of all legislative measures, and you may rest perfectly satisfied that all heat 
 and intemperance will be banished from our councils, unless, indeed, the fires 
 should be kindled by the minority. Rely also on this, that every step which, 
 will now be taken will be measured, and that the advancement of the public 
 good will be the main object. Some difiiculty may arise upon the tariff 
 question, but I do not anticipate, at this time^ any daoger from that source. 
 The fate of the President is considered as sealed, and so it inevitably is if wise 
 councils are followed. Rashness and intemperance on the part of the majori- 
 ties can alone save him. 
 
 What then are the hopes of the advocates of the Virginia doctrines, founded 
 on the present state of things ? I may be altogether too sanguine, but I do 
 esteem the prospects before us bright and cheering. 
 
 Firsts in regard to Geoeral Jackson himself, he voted for surveys; but I 
 have it from the best authority, next to having received it from himself, that 
 lie regards the mere employment of the engineer corps as essentially differ- 
 ent in principle from the using of the pick-axe and the spade. And from all 
 that I can learn he is decidedly indisposed to press the tarifi' further than it 
 has been carried. This last information is gathered from the letter written by 
 him to a gentleman in North Carolina, and published in the newspapers. 
 
 But I am assisted in my conclusions most essentially by facts which have 
 been more fully developed to me since I have been here, and by considerations 
 presenting themselves to my own mind. First, then, his ardent advocates from, 
 Tennessee are decidedly, as far as I can gather, in favor of a limited construc- 
 tion of the Constitution. Some, I learn, disclaim altogether the road-making 
 power, while all, I believe, are opposed to an augmentation of the tariff. Time 
 will develop the truth or error of this last belief. In short, my dear sir, I hear 
 Mr. Jefferson's administration constantly extolled and his policy commended. 
 But other considerations of immense weight are enlisted in our behalf. He will 
 come in on the shoulders of the South, aided and assisted by New York and 
 Pennsylvania. The first State espouses our doctrine on the road-making 
 power, and on that question we shall be sustained by the South and the 
 North. The North desires nothing, adB Maine atd Connecticut have already 
 spoken. I confidently hope to see the day when that daring innovation will 
 be totally abolished. 
 
378 LETTERS AND TIMES OE THE TYLEES. 
 
 As to the tariff, I have greatej fear ; but such fear would exist with the 
 most decided anti-tariff man at the head of affairs, provided he did not deny 
 to Congress the power to lay duties for other purposes than revenue. My 
 hopes are increased also from the following facts,— for facts they appear to me 
 -to be,— that in the nature of things. General Jackson must surround himself 
 by a cabinet composed of men advocating, to a great extent, the doctrines so 
 ■dear to us. Pass them in review before you, Clinton, Van Buren, Tazewell, 
 ■Cheves, Macon, P. P. Barbour, etc., etc., men, who in the main concur with 
 us in sentiment. Furthermore, General Jackson will have to encounter a 
 ■strong opposition. He will require an active support at our hands. Should 
 he abuse Virginia, by setting at naught her political sentiments, he will find 
 her at the head of the opposition, and he will probably experience the fate of 
 J. Q. A. Against this he will have to guard, and his own solicitude to do so 
 will not be greater than that of his cabinet, who, looking themselves, in their 
 -turn, to the presidency, will be led to conciliate the large States. They will 
 profit, if they be wise, by the example of Mr. Adams. 
 
 These, then, are the securities which are offered us, and I think they are 
 ample. These views are presented to you hastily ; and although it might not 
 be injurious to exhibit them to some few in whom you might confide, yet a 
 -sound discretion, which I am certain you will exercise, would forbid their 
 being rendered too public. Other States think not with us as to our doctrines, 
 ■although they pull with us at this moment. They might, you know, be 
 driven off. 
 
 My reception here has been entirely satisfactory, and my course will be the 
 Jesuit of honest conviction of the best interests of the country. Pray let me 
 hear from you, and write at large as to the state of parties with you, and 
 -touching your prospects, etc., etc. I trust my friends in the Assembly will 
 forget past occurrences as far as may be, and surrender all idea of opposing 
 those who were their adversaries last winter. I would sooner withdraw for 
 ■ever from public life than be the cause of contention in my native State. 
 Wronged, abused, and maltreated as I have been, I willingly forgive it all, 
 reposing on time and the good sense of the public to render me justice. 
 
 I am, dear sir, with sentiments of respect and friendship, yours, etc., 
 
 John Tyler. 
 
 [To Dr. Henry Curtis.] 
 
 Washington, Dec. 16, 1827. 
 
 My Dear Doctor : In a few days after reaching this, I ordered the National 
 Intelligencer to be forwarded, and presume that you have regularly received 
 it. The editors are quite chopfallen at having lost the printing of the Senate. 
 The discussion of the subject in the Senate entirely satisfied me that Duff 
 ■Green had actually been elected by the balloting of last year, and I awarded 
 to him his judicial rights. 
 
 The election of speaker in the House of Representatives has disclosed the 
 fact of the existence of decided majorities in the two Houses against the ad- 
 ministration. This, you know, would in England produce a resignation of 
 ithe ministers. Here the President must hold on. The newspapers are trum- 
 
LETTEE TO CTJETIB. 379 
 
 peting forth the great responsibility of the opposition by reason of this state 
 •of things. To my mind no greater responsibility now attaches than at any 
 former period. The course of acting has only to be changed. In order to 
 ■carry a citadel, furious onsets are often required; but, that being accom- 
 plished, the victors have only to be vigilant and temperate, but firm. This 
 will be the course now pursued. Some warmth may be elicited; but, if so, it 
 will be produced by the minority. I rejoice that we are now in a situation 
 when the good of the country will alone be consulted and its interests sought 
 to be advanced. 
 
 Since 1 have had an opportunity, by being here in the midst of the actors, 
 of surveying the whole ground, I must pronounce the victory which has been 
 achieved a most glorious one. It has been won in opposition to the patronage 
 of the government, obviously and manifestly used to produce a different re- 
 sult. I have come to the knowledge of facts since I have been here which 
 leave no doubt on my mind of the sinister efforts which have been resorted to 
 "to prop this administration. From having heretofore felt some indifference 
 touching the matter, I am now most earnestly solicitous for Jackson's suc- 
 cess. I do believe it to be loudly called for by the present state of things. 
 
 The President, you may rest assured, is as confirmed a Federalist now as at 
 any preceding day of his life. His principles, as given in his first message, 
 . are entirely ultra ; and the mere fact that Daniel Webster (a Hartford con- 
 "ventionist) has been his mouth-piece from the beginning, has been always 
 with me enough to damn him. To his opponent, Gen'l Jackson, I have en- 
 tertained the strongest objections ; there are even now many, many others whom 
 I would prefer, but every day that passes inspires me with the strong hope 
 that his administration will be characterized by simplicity, — I mean Repub- 
 lican simplicity. This contest has chastened and improved his temper ; and 
 "when you look to the men from among whom he must select his cabinet, his 
 course may already be anticipated. Who are they? Clinton, Van Buren, 
 "Tazewell, White, P. P. Barbour, etc., all agreeing with Virginia in principle, 
 ■or approximating very closely to her. I hear our principles again commended 
 and the Jeffersonian policy extolled. 
 
 Jackson voted for surveys, but I have it from the best authority, next to 
 receiving it from himself, that he esteems that question entirely distinct from 
 the road-making power. The first he considered as merely calculated to give 
 ■employment to otherwise idle engineers, but the last as involving a great 
 principle. If, too, we look to the objections which exist to him, those objec- 
 tions are found to exist while in the camp and tented field. I have been 
 •curious to trace him somewhat in civil life, and I find him invariably siding 
 with the pure democracy. In the very onset he stands in the same little 
 ■corps in which was found Jefferson, Gallatin, G-iles, etc. This man can be 
 none other than a Democrat without giving the lie to all his past political 
 life. I write you freely my opinions. I know the feelings which have in- 
 Huenced you for the last twelve months. They had great effect on me, as my 
 perfect silence on this question during the whole summer fully proves; but I 
 tave now entirely overcome them, and shall march on as if nothing had ever 
 occurred. 
 
380 LETTEES AJSTD TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 The administration are now playing their last game. Jas. Pleasants is 
 named as vice-president. This is to catch Virginia. What possible affinity 
 can exist between Jas. Pleasants and J. Q. Adams ? As soon could I have ex- 
 pected a union between oil and water. I have been well received in the 
 Senate. Mr. Randolph's health is very bad ; he can only speak in whispers. 
 He called on me three days ago, and I shall return his visit probably to-day. 
 Let me hear from you whenever your leisure will permit. 
 
 My love to all. Truly yours, John Tylee. 
 
 As early as the first session of the First Congress William Gray- 
 son had denounced the raising of revenue by impost as particu- 
 larly injurious to the Southern States. Even under the first tariff, 
 the Eastern interest was in the ascendant, although the rates, com- 
 pared with those of a later day, seemed modest and unassuming.^ 
 
 'On the 12th of June, 1789, William Grayson wrote to Patrick Henry, (See- 
 page 168) : 
 
 "Inclosed you have the bill for the imposts, by which you will see there is a- 
 great disposition here for the advancement of commerce and manufactures in 
 preference to agriculture. I have marked all the amendments made in the Senate 
 that I at present recollect. The bill with the amendments is now before the lower 
 House. You will easily perceive the ascendency of the Eastern interests by look- 
 ing at the molasses, which is reduced to two-and-a-half cents, while salt continues 
 at six cents, and with an allowance of a drawback to their fish, etc 
 
 There is a bill now pending before the lower House for the collection of the 
 revenue. The ports already agreed on, particularly in the Eastern States, will 
 swallow up a great part of the revenue, and have no other good effect except that 
 of creating dependents on the new government. The raising money by impost 
 has been thought very favorably of throughout America. I am, however, of 
 opinion that, considering the extent of our coasts and the impossibility of pre- 
 venting smuggling, that it will be found on experiment to be the most expensive 
 mode of raising money that could have been devised. Satisfied I am it will be 
 particularly injurious to the Southern States, who do not and cannot manufacture,, 
 and must therefore pay duties on everything they consume. The cry here is, 
 raise everything this way ; and, to be sure, this is good pohcy with the States east- 
 of Maryland ; some of the other States join in the cry, not because it is their in- 
 terest, but because they are afraid of trying any other mode of taxation. An excise 
 is talked of ; also a stamp duty ; and I believe seriously aimed at by a good many ; 
 but whether there will be found a majority in both Houses for this sort of busi- 
 ness is more than I can pretend to determine. If the Antis have their uneasy 
 sensations, in my opinion the Federals are not altogether on a bed of roses. The 
 creditors of the domestic debt (the great supporters of the new government) are- 
 now looking earnestly on their friends for a permanent provision for their inter- 
 est. But how is this to be accomplished? The impost, after deductions for 
 smuggling, cutters, tide-waiters, searchers, naval ofBcers, collectors, etc., will not 
 yield, after supporting the expenses of government, more than will pay the 
 French and Dutch interest, if so much. What is then to be done ? Ah ! there is 
 the question.'' 
 
INEQUALITY OF TAXATION BY DUTIES. 381 
 
 But lay the duties as Congress might, more taxes would be paid 
 by some States than by others, and hence the tariff system was to- 
 tally objectionable on this score, if no other factor had figured in 
 the matter. The impost of 1789, which averaged five per cent., 
 soon proved insufficient, as Grayson predicted, and the very next 
 year the march up the scale began, and that, too, in the interest of 
 the East — a march in which they were veiy much assisted by the 
 generosity, ignorance and cowardice — all combined — of many of 
 the Southern representatives, who feared to suggest to their con- 
 stituents any other scheme of taxation. Salt, which in 1789 paid 
 six cents per bushel, in 1790 paid twelve cents, while molasses was 
 advanced from two-and-a-half to only three cents per gallon, and 
 dried fish received a bounty of ten cents a quintal, instead of five 
 cents, as before. 
 
 Thus the years passed on, and the tariff rates and bounties stead- 
 ily grew in figure, until, under the tariff of 1816, duties on cotton 
 and woolen cloth stood at twenty and twenty-five per cent. 
 
 The ^Northerners, while they were thus shaping the entire do- 
 mestic legislation of the country to suit themselves, had a " sly 
 And dishonest way" of making Southern men presidents; and by 
 means of this delicate fiattery it was a long time before the South 
 became aware that they were little else than the "milch-cow" of 
 the Union. Absorbed in directing the foreign policy of the Union, 
 and in grandly extending its domain. Southern statesmen never 
 awoke to the character of their situation until the fetters of power 
 had been secured about their limbs. 
 
 When Mr. Tyler sounded the tocsin of alarm, in 1820, he was 
 listened to with skepticism — and that, too, though the Northern 
 men no longer hid their designs under pretenses of paying the 
 national debt, but demanded, unequivocally, an increase of rates on 
 the protected articles for the sake of protection. As Mr. Tyler 
 had predicted, the manufacturers, defeated in 1820, had returned 
 to the charge in 1824, and obtained an imposition of duties averag- 
 ing thirty-three and one-third per cent. 
 
 But this enormous increase, in a period of profound peace, only 
 sharpened the lust of the tariff men. Mr. Tyler took his seat in 
 the Senate just at the time when a new move had been made upon 
 Congress for new rates and more protection. He came back, 
 however, to see another of his prophecies fulfilled. In his speech 
 
382 LBTTEK8 AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 defending the Eichmond tariff memorial in 1821, he had foretold 
 that the protective policy must speedily unite the -whole South. 
 So brazen had the manufacturers and Northern speculators be- 
 come, that the slumbers of the whole South were perturbed. 
 South Carolina, which for forty years had acted with New Eng- 
 land, under a miraculous delusion as to the nature of its interests, 
 and which, through Lowndes and Calhoun, had supported the 
 tariff of 1816, now wheeled into line with Virginia, and the whole 
 South at length became aware, that the Antis, in the old Conven- 
 tion of 1788, "were not quite beside themselves when they in- 
 formed them of the different interests in the Union, and the pro- 
 bable consequences that would result therefrom to the Southern 
 States, who would be the milch-cow out of whom the substance 
 would be extracted." The patient milch-cow at length began to 
 kick and wickedly shake .her horns under the patent ■ operation 
 which kept her poor and starved her young.' 
 
 The administration of Adams had taken up the tariff subject 
 with an enthusiasm which would have done credit to the circle of 
 a manufacturing establishment itself. Mr. Secretary Hush's report 
 at the beginning of the session of 1827-'8 was as a kaleidoscope, 
 in which worthless bits of glass are made to assume the most 
 charming and exquisite pictures. The manufacturers saw in these 
 pictures iinending riches, while to Adams, and Clay his Secretary 
 of State, were presented the golden hopes of the succession. 
 
 But the North this time was not allowed the easy victory which 
 
 ' Grajson wrote to Henry, September, 1789, see page 170: "Gentlemen now 
 begin to feel the observations of the Antis, when they informed them of the dif- 
 ferent interests in the Union, and the probable consequences that would result 
 therefrom to the Southern States, who would be the milch-cow out of whom the 
 substance would be extracted. If I am not mistaken, they will, e'er long, have 
 abundant cause to conclude, that the idea of a diif erence between carrying States 
 and productive States, and manufacturing States and slave States, is not a mere 
 phantom of imagination. If they reflect at all on the meaning of protective 
 duties, by way of encouragement to manufactures, and apply the consequences to 
 their own constituents, I think thy would now agree that we were not totally be- 
 side ourselves in the convention. In my opinion, whenever the impost bill comes 
 into action, the friends of the South will be let into some secrets that they do not 
 or will not at present apprehend. You would be astonished at the progress of 
 manufactures in the seven easternmost States. If thej go on in the same proportion 
 for seven years, they will pay very httle on imports, while the South will con- 
 tinue to labor under the pressure. This, added to the advantage of carrying for 
 the productive States, will place them in the most desirable situation whatever. " 
 
THE TARIFF OF 1828. 38S 
 
 it had heretofore gained on all economic questions. The blood of 
 the South was up, as had been lately shown on the Panama 
 question. Mr. Secretary Kush and the manufacturers were 
 promptly met with able rejoinders from members in both Houses 
 of Congress, who undertook to answer their several interesting 
 and interested disquisitions on protection. The discrepancy of in- 
 terest in the North itself afforded tlie South an opportunity of de- 
 fense. New England wanted high duties on woolen and cotton 
 goods, but low duties on iron, wool, hemp, and molasses ; while Penn- 
 sylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky wanted high duties on iron, wool,, 
 hemp and molasses, and the South low duties on everything, but 
 especially on cotton and woolen goods. 
 
 When, therefore, the tariff bill at this session was introduced,, 
 the South boldly attempted to play off the interests of the North- 
 ern States against one another. They united with Pennsylvania 
 and Ohio to impose duties on iron, hemp, wool, and molasses,^ 
 hoping thereby to kill the bill in the estimation of its best friends. 
 In this they were partially, but not wholly, successful. The re- 
 presentatives of the North voted for the bill, but only because the 
 advantages in it barely overbalanced the evil. Yet if the protective 
 prmciple was a just one, the .tariff of 1828 was the best that had 
 ever passed into law, since its operation was made comparatively 
 general and equal by the policy of the South. On the contrary, 
 it satisfied nobody, and the fact that it stands stigmatized in his- 
 tory as the "bill of abominations," was, in Mr. Tyler's opinion, the 
 severest condemnation the system could receive. 
 
 The manufacturers went home with then- bill, but from the 
 poison infused into its vitals, they had very little heart to forward 
 the ambition of Adams, who was left in a hopeless minority at 
 the presidential election in the fall ensuing. 
 
 The following letters of Mr. Tyler, written during the pendency 
 of the tariff bill, are of particular interest from the anti-tariff stand- 
 point : 
 
 [To Dk. Henry Curtis.] 
 
 Washington, March 18, 1828. 
 
 Mt Dear Sir : I forwarded you by yesterday's mail Mr. Hamilton's report 
 
 on the case of the six militia-men, underscoring, as you will have perceived, 
 
 one single expression in that report, which, of itself, is sufficient to put the 
 
 whole subject at rest. The mutiny was committed before the expiration of 
 
;384 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 ithree months, the shortest period allotted by the aot of 1795 for their service. 
 But that aot was substituted by those of 1812 and '14. The sentence was 
 ■executed after the battle of Orleans ; but the enemy were off Mobile, and 
 had actually captured a fort in that neighborhood ; and here it was that 
 Pipkin's regiment was stationed. The mutineers merited the punishment 
 •which they received. This is my deliberate opinion. 
 
 In a few days, perhaps to-morrow, I will send you the report of the com- 
 mittee of finance on the tariff system, which is intended, and is substantially 
 a reply to Mr. Secretary Rush's political disquisitions. Contrast its language 
 and sentiments with those proceeding from Mr. Adams's secretary, and tell 
 me which you prefer. Many of the views of that report are those which I 
 have heard expressed by Mr. Calhoun, who now unites with the South in 
 .policy, and is a powerful auxiliary. 
 
 As to the contest which is now raging, or more properly, which has r^ged, 
 for it is now in my opinion definitively settled, you know that my course has 
 •been almost that of a neutral up to the time of my taking my seat in the 
 Senate. My self-respect prevented me, after the unjust assaults made upon 
 me by my enemies twelve months since, and which were all intended to force 
 me into avowals, from making a public avowal of my sentiments, but I have 
 never seen the day since Mr. Adams's first message when I esteemed it possi- 
 ble for me to vote for him. 
 
 That message I have ever regarded as a direct insult upon Virginia. It 
 mocked at her principles, and was intended to make her the laughing stock 
 of the rest of the Union. The truth is, that the administration were only 
 desirous of consolidating the North and the West. This accomplished, and 
 the discontent of the South would have been a subject of merriment. 
 
 Long since Mr. Clay pronounced us the admrs. de bonis non of deceased 
 principles, and every effort has been made to render us ridiculous in the eyes of 
 the Union. Pennsylvania was to be courted at the expense of Virginia ; hence 
 at Pittsburg Mr. Clay took especial care to place boldly forth the resolutions of 
 our Legislature disapproving of the road-making power, and of the tariff. 
 
 I dabble not in the billingsgate abuse which has been lavished equally on 
 both sides ; but I ask yon seriously to enquire into the actual character of 
 i;his administration. Do not its measures prove it to be entirely Federal? 
 Are the doctrines which it espouses different in principle from those which 
 gave rise to the Sedition law? The Constitution declared that the freedom 
 of speech or of the press should not be abridged. But ingenuity was taxed 
 to find out some excuse to evade this provision, and the effort was thought 
 to be successful. It was said that freedom was one thing, licentiousness 
 another, and the odious Sedition law was the fruit of the sophistry. 
 
 The mistake of the first Adams consisted in touching with heavy hand 
 the person of the citizen. But the second, more wise, seeks to secure himself 
 by an address to the principles of self-interest. The avarice of the North 
 and West is to be gratified by the spoils of Southern industry, and the at- 
 tempt is made to cajole us into compliance by urging the extraordinary doc- 
 trine that taxation is a blessing. 
 
 This is the plain, doctrine in maintenance of which Mr. Rush's elaborate re- 
 
LETTER TO DE. CtJETIS. 385 
 
 port is written. Cajsar paved the way to the overthrow of Roman liberty by 
 scattering largesses and bestowing favors upon the people. Pleasure-grounds, 
 public spectacles, etc., etc., were the instruments of his advancement. Our 
 rulers seek to win us by roads and canals, thereby giving additional value to 
 the property of all who reside in the vicinity, and affording the means of 
 comfortable travelling Look to the Constitution, and tell me the difference 
 in principle between these things and the measures of the elder Adams ? But 
 furthermore enquire, who are its supporters in the Senate and House of Re- 
 presentatives ? Mr. Webster, the advocate of (he Hartford convention, and 
 Everett, etc., etc.. Federalists of the most embittered stamp, the supporters 
 of what they would have us believe is a Republican administration,— Rufus 
 King sent on an important mission, and Webster now currently spoken of 
 for the same embassy. 
 
 I ask you, then, calmly to reflect and seriously to consider what evils you 
 are about to assist in bringing on the country by the re-election of Mr. 
 Adams. If Adams is re-elected. Clay is to be his successor. For twelve years, 
 then, the prevailing course of things is to exist ; and what possible chance 
 have we of making a stand for the Constitution during that period ? Rely 
 upon it, none. Virginia herself will in that time be revolutionized. Drained 
 of our resources at a rate fully equal to $2,000,000 annually, our poverty will 
 drive the State into the adoption of those pliant principles which subserve the 
 purposes of a temporary expediency. I say that we are drained annually of 
 $2,000,000. The sum may be considerably larger. It is, in fact, equal to the 
 third of all our exports. The average duty is 33J. Thus, then, if 3'ou raise 
 three bales of cotton, you will only receive the price of two ; for the cotton is 
 paid for in the foreign market in foreign goods, on which goods you pay a 
 duty of 33^-. 
 
 Was there ever so oppressive a tax levied on a people' — not for the sake 
 of revenue, but for the sake of the American System. The priests in England 
 and Ireland exact the tenth, and the tax is unquestionably heavy; but here 
 we pay to the Northern people a tax of one-third, and now it is proposed to 
 increase it. The Jackson men will alone arrest it. The bill reported by the 
 committee of manufacturers imposes corresponding burthens on the North 
 with those under which the South now labors. Molasses, iron, hemp, wool— 
 these are the means of equalizing the system ; and while taxation on cotton is 
 said to be a blessing to those who pay it, the able reasoners of the North ob- 
 ject to accepting a similar blessing when they have to pay it in their turn. 
 But I do not believe that any bill will pass this session calculated to have 
 much influence on the tariff; and I will ask you to say, by whom this fortu- 
 nate result will be produced, by the Adams or the Jackson men ? — and from 
 it draw your own inferences. 
 
 But let me give you other facts in relation to the principles of the parties 
 here. The appropriation for surveys has been confined by the Jacksonians 
 to the completion of surveys already begun. This is the first blow at the 
 system of internal improvement. All Tennessee votes against the system, 
 and is opposed to the tariff; but Jackson, you will say, voted both for the one 
 and the other. It is true that he voted for surveys, but I have it from the 
 
 26 
 
386 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 best authority, next to receiving it from himself, that he did not consider 
 himself thereby committed on the main question, viz.: the road-paaking power. 
 A man's opinions may be gathered from those of his friends. If so, he will 
 require, as did Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, an amendment of the Consti- 
 tution in these particulars. 
 
 The country, in my opinion, stands on an awful precipice; feelings of dis- 
 content to Union are becoming every day more and more apparent ; nor can 
 it be otherwise. We want an honest man at the head of the government, who 
 will frankly make known to the people their actual condition, and get the 
 government back to its legitimate sphere. If Jackson listens to the admo- 
 nitions of his friends here, this will be his glorious work. A civil victory 
 awaits him, more pregnant with glory than his victory of the eighth of Janu- 
 ary. Van Buren, Calhoun, Tazewell, etc., etc., are prepared to second his 
 efforts, and I rest in the firm persuasion that he can do none other than make 
 them. Turning to him T may at least indulge in hope ; looking on Adams I 
 must despair. 
 
 It becomes us, then, to choose calmly and as freemen, and not as those who 
 have become heated in the contest. For myself, I have chosen. I may be 
 disappointed, but the country cannot be injured by the choice — that is impos- 
 sible. And what have I to do with the excesses of Giles ? — of an old man who 
 feels too keenly, and expresses himself too warmly, touching the condition of 
 affairs ? If, however, you view things with a different eye, how are you to 
 better things by a convention ? What say you to the proceedings in Western 
 Virginia among the Clayites ? They are trusting to a division of the State, or 
 something else, through a convention proposed to be held at Staunton. I 
 know that the policy of Clay has been to divide Virginia in sentiment. The 
 election of Adams will realize all this. I do not believe that good is to arise 
 from a convention ; but be that as it may, let us cling to our principles, and 
 let us act in pursuance of calculations directed to their advancement. 
 
 Without one iota of any personal feeling towards those in power, I cannot 
 yield them my support. In my course I seek to conciliate no man, but to 
 perpetuate the liberties of the country. 
 
 I am sorry you entertain unfavorable opinions of my friend Floyd. He is 
 indeed a true friend to me, and I value him most highly. Rely upon it, he is 
 honest, faithful, and true ; and if you knew him, you would love him as I do. 
 
 I congratulate you on the birth of your boy. My love to all, and believe 
 me to be unchangeably, Yours, etc., John Tyler. 
 
 [To Dr. Henry Curtis. J 
 
 Senate Chamber, April 23, 1828. 
 Dear Doctor: . . The untiring speech-makers are still discussing the 
 tariff in the House of Representatives. It will pass that body, and its fate is 
 entirely uncertain here. We shall hope for reaction in the North, which may 
 ultimately enable us to get back to safe principles. I shall send you the Tele- 
 graph containing my remarks on the salt bill, ' which, short as they are, are pre- 
 
 ' Not reported in the Congressional Debates. 
 
THE TARIFF OF 1828. 387 
 
 cisely reversed in the National Intelligencer. The report there is truly ridicu- 
 lous. I have paid Gales and Seaton four dollars for six months. Had I not 
 better add $2.00 more for the whole year? 
 
 My love to all, Yours truly, John Ttleb. 
 
 [To Dr. Henry Curtis.] 
 
 Washington, May 1, 1828. 
 
 Mt Dear Doctor: ... Thejoint committee of the two Houses have reported 
 the twenty-sixth of May as the day of adjournment. Whether we shall ad- 
 journ or not is somewhat doubtful. The hated tariff bill — that curse to the 
 whole South — is reported to the Senate with sundry villainous amendments. 
 Its fate rests on our ability to preserve the bill in its present shape. If we 
 can do so, it will be rejected. The administration party play a deep game. 
 Their object is, I learn, to throw the decision of the question on the Vice- 
 President, and thus seek to prostrate him. In any event he will meet his re- 
 sponsibility like a man, and thus reap renown even in the field of defeat. 
 
 Sister Waggaman and family are here. Through my friend, Floyd, I have 
 got W — into a clerkship in the Postmaster General's department, and he is 
 assiduous and attentive. His family is thus rendered comparatively happy. 
 On my return to Virginia, I shall take the earliest opportunity of visiting you, 
 and probably shall bring Letitia with me. Her health is delicate. 
 
 With affection to all, I am, yours truly, John Tyler. 
 
 Mt. Tyler voted against the tariif bill on its passage ; voted 
 to reduce the duties on wine ; made a speech, in which he 
 advocated the taking off the duty on salt ; and opposed the bill 
 making appropriation for the completion of the Cumberland 
 road from Bridgeport to Zanesville, in Ohio. Mr. Tyler's re- 
 marks upon this latter subject are particularly interesting. They 
 were called forth by an indelicate insinuation of Mr. Smith, of 
 Maryland, as to the motives of his colleague, Mr. Tazewell, who, 
 in the mean spirit that controlled and guided the action of the 
 great improvement party, was represented as " chuckling " at the 
 passage of the bill a year or two since in aid of the Dismal Swamp 
 Canal. — " Although," said Mr. Smitli, " I know that the gentle- 
 man from Virginia both spoke and voted against it." 
 
 Mr. Tyler, in the absence of Mr. Tazewell, repelled the charge 
 with vigor and spirit : 
 
 He felt it his duty to express the thorough conviction that no local benefit 
 or temporary expediency could ever lead that gentleman to do other than re- 
 gret what, in his conscience, he believed violatory of the Constitution. Gen- 
 tlemen might represent, in as brilliant colors as they might please — paint with 
 the most glowing pencil — the benefits of any scheme, (and he knew that all 
 
388 LETTEES AN"D TIMES OP THE TYLEES. 
 
 the treasures of rhetoric had been employed in embellishing this usurpation 
 over roads and canals,) and yet, sir, if it were unconstitutional, it was inex- 
 pedient. The preservation of the Constitution was the height of expediency. 
 That instrument was the charter of American liberty ; destroy it, and that 
 liberty was gone; sap it by gradual encroachments, and its destruction in the 
 end was rendered as certain as if it were assailed by the bayonet. 
 
 Mr. Tyler said that the very iDsinnation of Mr. Smith proved 
 the danger of the policy. It represented senators as yielding to 
 the allurements of some local scheme, and as feeling more pleasure 
 in advancing their own interest than in preserving the Constitu- 
 tion of the land. Mr. Tyler defied the advocates of the measure 
 to point out an instance of importance vrhere a violation of the 
 Constitution had not been materially inexpedient. The late char- 
 tering of the Bank had given rise to a flood of paper money, though 
 its great object had been to bring about specie payments. It was 
 used as the instrument of speculation and stock-jobbing. So with 
 the Missouri question. Forgetful of its actual powers, Congress 
 sought to usurp the powers of the people themselves in the effort 
 made to fasten upon the people of Missouri a constitution which 
 they did not approve. As a consequence the safety of the country 
 had been imperiled. Mr. Tyler did not believe that anything 
 could atone for an alienation of feeling on the part of the people 
 towards one another, and towards this government.^ 
 
 Mr. Tyler spoke at large on many other subjects of interest at 
 this session — on the bill providing for the surviving officers of the 
 Eevolution,' on extending the franking privilege to his friend, the 
 Speaker of the House of Eepresentati-pes,'' on amending the rules 
 of the Senate, conferring upon Mr. Calhoun full authority to pre- 
 serve order in the Senate,"* on the graduation of the price of the 
 public lands,^ on granting lands to Kenyon College," on providing 
 for the payment of interest to the States,' and in favor of the free 
 importation of iron for railroads.' 
 
 At last, on the 26th of May, 1828, this eventful session was 
 brought to a close. Congress was declared adjourned until the first 
 Monday in the following December. There were the usual shakes 
 of the hand, and pleasant parting words among the members ; and 
 
 1 Congr. Debates, iv.. Part 1., p. 107. ' Ibid., p. 228, ^ Ibid., p. 475. 
 
 ^ lUd. , p. 337. <■ Ibid. , p. 659. « Ibid. , p. 540. ' Ibid. , p. 585. 
 
 »lMd., p. 687. 
 
ME. TTLEe's LETTBES TO HIS DATJGHTEE. 389 
 
 then the representatives of the States hurried to their constituents, 
 to prepare for the coming presidential contest. 
 
 But ere I eonchide this chapter, it may be well to add the fol- 
 lowing three letters of Senator Tjler to his oldest child, Mary 
 Tyler, who was at this time about tliirteen years of age. Mary 
 was one of six children : Mary, Eobert, John, Letty, Elizabeth, and 
 Alice the baby, to whom was afterward added Tazewell. Mr. 
 Tyler took the greatest delight in watching them develop, and 
 spared no pains to instil into them correct feelings and improve 
 their understandings. During this session died Jacob Brown, gen- 
 eral commanding the United States armies. In Virginia, Mr. 
 Tyler's brother "William was elected to the Legislature, and the 
 votes of the people cast for a state convention. These events are 
 pleasantly described by Mr. Tyler to his daughter : 
 
 [To Mart Tyler.] 
 
 Washington, Dec. 26, 1827. 
 
 Mt Dear Mart : Your letter of last week reached me too late ia the week 
 to enable me to reply to it earlier than this. I need not say to you that it 
 afforded me pleasure. You should write to me frequently — every week would 
 not, in fact, be too often, since it would tend to improve your hand and style. 
 A young lady should take particular pains to write well and neatly, since a, 
 female cannot be excused for slovenliness in any respect. You should never 
 feel cramped in writing. Write as you would converse, and give your mind 
 free play. Be not afraid to reflect, and write down your reflections as they 
 occur. If you have no neighborhood incidents to relate, give an account of 
 your studies, and dwell on the prominent occurrences of history, expressing 
 your own notions of the characters and actions which figure in history. Thus 
 shall I be enabled to judge of your progress, and bear witness to the expan- 
 sion of your mind. The history of Greece is the book you should now read ; 
 and when you open it, do so with the resolution to understand it. 
 
 You desire me to give you an account of the capitol. This I must post- 
 pone until I see you. The building is now nearly finished, and is very 
 splendid. It is so large that I have nearly lost myself in it two or three 
 times. What principally attracts attention is the large central dome, which 
 is about two hundred feet in circumference, and is ornamented with works of 
 the brush and chisel. Over each door is seen some emblematical represen- 
 tation of incidents connected with our early history. One of them exhibits 
 Captain Smith with his head on a rock ; Powhatan with a club over him, and 
 Pocahontas interposing to save his life. This, I think, is the best. In another 
 William Penn is exhibited with three Indians, who have made the treaty ceding 
 to him Pennsylvania. The others I do not now recollect. There are four 
 paintings by Trumbull, — a book explanatory of which I will bring on with 
 me when I come. 
 
390 LETTERS AST) TIMES OF THE TTLEKS. 
 
 Why did aot some of you write to me by the last mail ? Are you all so 
 much taken up with your Christmas frolics as to have forgotten me ? This 1 
 cannot believe, and yet I do think that your mother might have stolen one 
 hour to devote to me. T do not suffer anything to prevent my writing every 
 week. Tell her that I have attempted.in every way to account for her neg- 
 lect. Company would not prevent me from writing to her. She may have 
 gone to Mrs. Savage's wedding, and yet how easy was it for her to have writ- 
 ten, and sent the letter to Frazier's. However, if Providence permits, I shall 
 be at home on Sunday week, and will then listen to her excuses. I wish 
 to leave this so as to reach Richmond on Saturday evening, and to take 
 the steamboat on Sunday morning. Tell the overseer to send a canoe or boat 
 around to River-Edge on Sunday by the time that the boat reaches there 
 (Sunday the 6th January). I went yesterday (Xmas day) to the Catholic 
 church, where they performed high-mass. The preacher said that Christmas 
 took its name from Christ and mass, and hence inferred that mass should al- 
 ways be observed on that day. The ceremonies were very long, but I could 
 not understand them, — their prayers are sung out in Latin. The sermon was 
 a good one. On the same day I dined with Mr. Cary Selden, a brother of 
 Jas. Selden's. Several gentlemen were there, and after dinner Miss .... 
 and her brother danced a waltz, — a dance which you have never seen, and 
 which I do not desire to see you dance. It is rather vulgar, I think. 
 
 Tell your mother that I returned Mr. Randolph's visit, and was received in 
 a style somewhat stately, but entirely respectful; since when I have re- 
 ceived another card from him. He conversed in a low whisper, and said that 
 he labored under pulmonary consumption. All here is quiet, and we are 
 getting on smoothly. 
 
 I shall not write again until I reach home, unless something occurs to post- 
 pone my trip, but shall expect to receive letters by the next mail. 
 
 With my love to all, I am, dear daughter. 
 
 Your affectionate father, John Ttleb. 
 
 [To Mary Tylee.J 
 
 Senate Chamber, Feb. 24, 1828. 
 
 Mt Dear Daughter: Your letter of last Saturday found me in my seat in 
 this chamber, and it gave me much uneasiness to be informed of your mother's 
 indisposition. I hope, however, that it is no more than the ordinary head- 
 ache under which she labors, and that the next morning found her restored to 
 health. You did not say to me whether your mother received a letter from 
 me on Saturday week or not. If the weather permits, I propose to be with 
 you all some day next week, and shall write to your mother by the same mail 
 that bears you this. Mr. Robert is a bad fellow for not having written 
 to me. 
 
 I walked on Saturday last to Georgetown, distant a mile and a half from 
 my residence, on a visit to the monastery and college, and was much de- 
 lighted. They are both under the government of Catholics, and are re- 
 markable for their neatness. The monastery is under the government of 
 young ladies who have devoted their lives to the instruction of young ladies 
 
LETTERS TO MAEY TYLER. 391 
 
 and children. They are nuns, and are entirely secluded from the world. It 
 is an excellent school, and if I bring you on here next winter I think I shall 
 place you there at school. I will give you a more full account of it when I come 
 on next week. This morning I visited a school under another religious order 
 ■of Catholics, called the Sisters of charity, and was much delighted. There 
 ai'B now in the school upwards of an hundred poor orphan female children, 
 and the principal (one of the Sisters) stated that there were sometimes in the 
 school upwards of two hundred. I was carried through the whole house — 
 •even into the kitchen — and I never saw so much neatness and order. It is 
 ■altogether a charitable institution, none of the children paying anything for 
 their schooling. 
 
 To-day Major-General Jacob Brown, the late commanding general of the army 
 of the United States, is to be buried. He died on Sunday. He will be buried with 
 ^reat pomp. All the military- — militia and regulars — will turn out, and the 
 two Houses of Congress will attend the funeral. If it be a good day I expect 
 ^n immense crowd. You should know something of a man so distinguished, 
 and also of all our distinguished men. General Brown was born a Quaker, in 
 the State of New York. Upon the breaking out of the late war, he raised 
 volunteer companies, and, residing near the Niagara frontier, was always 
 under arms. Every week brought the tidings of some gallant achievement, 
 in which he always bore a conspicuous part. His corps of volunteers con- 
 stantly increased in number, and at length he was commissioned as brigadier- 
 general by the State of New York. In consequence of his gallantry, he was 
 soon thereafter commissioned a major-general by the United States govern- 
 ment. In the battles of Erie, Niagara, and Bridgewater he particularly dis- 
 tinguished himself, and won for himself in the end the command of the whole 
 .army on the restoration of peace. He was a good citizen and patriot. I am 
 -told that he is to be buried in the Quaker graveyard. When any one asks 
 you in future who General Brown was, you will know. 
 
 No more at present. My love to all. Your father, John Tyler. 
 
 I shall leave this, unless prevented, on Monday next; and shall, if nothing 
 occurs, be at River-Edge landing on Wednesday. Send horses for me. I say 
 this to you lest my letter to your mother should miscarry. If I don't come 
 on Wednesday, I may reach home on Thursday or Friday. 
 
 [To Mary Tyler.J 
 
 Washington, April 30, 1828. 
 Dear Mary : Your letter reached me on Sunday. Although your style is 
 still cramped, yet you are certainly improving very much. Why did you not 
 give me the number of votes which your Uncle William and Mr. Graves re- 
 ceived ? I should also have been gratified at learning the state of the poll for 
 a convention. I suppose you know what that means ; but lest you should not, 
 I must tell you that the votes of the people are now taken in order to ascer- 
 tain whether there be a majority in favor of changing the Constitution of the 
 State government— I mean a majority of all the freeholders of the State. If 
 there is, then delegates will be elected to meet at some future day, whose busi- 
 ness it will be to revise, alter or amend the present Constitution of the State. 
 
392 LETTEKS AND TIMES OE THE TYLEES. 
 
 Various amendments are spoken of — one is to do away with the Executive 
 Council, and give the governor more power ; another is to elect delegates to 
 the Assemhly according to some general rule of numhers ; this would seem tO' 
 be just, siace Charles City, with but one hundred and eighty votes, has as 
 much weight in the General Assembly as the county of Shenandoah with its 
 one thousand two hundred votes ; that is to say, Charles City sends two dele- 
 gates and Shenandoah but two. This seems to be unjust. Other changes 
 are to be proposed. 
 
 Now think on this until you understand it, and let it not be said that a 
 great movement is going on in the country which you do not understand. 
 Tell Mr. Robert the same thing. In short, my dear daughter, you should 
 always try to understand everything you hear talked of, for it is only in that 
 way that you will ever acquire much knowledge. 
 
 As to the reason which led Mr. Adams to give "Ebony and Topaz" for s, 
 toast, no one can say, unless indeed it was to show his learning.' The story 
 which you have read is an excellent moral tale, and one you should always 
 recollect. There are, according to it, two genii who always attend upon us — 
 the one good, the other evil. The first Voltaire calls Topaz; the last Ebony. 
 The first is evermore resisting the last. The last is constantly tempting us 
 from the path of virtue and morality, and in order to do so, spreads before us 
 the most captivating illusions. The first whispers in our ears that vice can 
 never give any real lasting pleasure, but is followed by certain destruction. 
 Ebony speaks the language of the passions, Topaz that of reason. Listen to 
 Ebony, and you will be ruined ; to Topaz, and you will not fail to be happy 
 and respected. The Scriptures represent these genii under the names of 
 Satan and eternal goodness. They both mean the same thing, and teach us 
 to restrain our tempers and dispositions, always asking ourselves before we 
 commit any action, is it right, is it proper, is it virtuous, is it honorable? 
 This I fondly hope my children will do through life, and Ebony, or the spirit 
 of darkness, will exercise no power over them. 
 
 Mr. Robert : You say you could find nothing to write to me about. Could 
 you not have told me how the corn had come up, how it looked, how the 
 wheat looked, how many lambs there were, how many times Mr. Vaiden had 
 whipped you, and whether you were able to keep up with your cousin John 
 in Latin? 
 
 Learn to write exactly as you would talk, since the writing a letter is nothing 
 more than conversing with one who is too far off to hear you. None of you 
 said a word about John or Letty, nor of the baby. Ton might have let me 
 know whether she was handsome or not. But practice makes perfect, and so 
 you must write to me often, and don't think so much of play. Give my love 
 to John, Letitia and Elizabeth, and when you write next, Mary, make them 
 sit down and send me messages. Your father, John Tylee. 
 
 ' " . . And when he gave his 'Ebony and Topaz' toast, which has never been, 
 understood to this day, he was set down as a visionary." — SeDen Decades, p. 85> 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1828—1832. 
 
 *'Now, my son, I venture the prediction that, at the end oE twenty years. If not sooner, 
 the correctness of our conrsn here will be fully and entirely acknowledged — our vote against 
 appointing printers to office by the President — and the effort we have made to restrain the 
 power of the President in appointing to office without the advice and consent of the Senate. 
 Take care of this letter, so that you may see how the thing works with time, when you 
 may the more fully understand my meaning."— John Tylee, (1832.) 
 
 Pbesidential Canvass of 1828. — Adams' Defeat. — His Chaeactee. — Jackson's 
 Cabinet. — Calhoun and Van Bueen. — Constitutional Convention in Vie- 
 oiNiA. — Contest Between the East and West. — Me. Tylee's Speech. — Let- 
 tee on the Basis Question. — Adoption of the Amended Constitution. — Mk. 
 Tylee Resumes His Seat in Congeess. — Oeigin op the " Spoils System." — 
 Jaokson's Nominations. — Me. Tyler's Lettee to De. Curtis. — He Votes 
 Against the Editoes. — The Maysville Road Bill. — Lettee to Tazewell. — 
 Mk. Tylee's Motion in Behalf or the Virginia State Line in the Revolu- 
 tion. — Remotes to Gloucestee County in the Recess. — Second Session op 
 THE Twenty-fiest Congeess. — The Turkish Mission. — Couese op Tazewell. 
 AND Tylee. — Ruptuee Between Jackson and Calhoun. — Van Bueen's Nomina- 
 tion AS Minister to England and Rejection. — Me. Tylee's Lettees to His 
 Daughtee. 
 
 THE canvass between Jackson and Adams exceeded all that 
 preceded it in the foulness of the language employed on 
 both sides. "Against Jackson was brought up his marriage, and 
 all the facts of his career which could be made the subject of un- 
 favorable comment. Against Adams were brought charges that 
 he gave to Webster and the Federalists, in 1824, a corrupt pro- 
 mise ; that he was a monarchist and an aristocrat ; that he refused 
 to pay a subscription to turnpike stock on a legal quibble ; that his 
 wife was an Englishwoman ; that he wrote a scurrilous poem against 
 Jefferson in 1802; that he surrendered a young American ser- 
 vant woman to the Emperor of Russia ; that he was rich ; that he 
 was in debt ; that he had long enjoyed public ofSce ; that he had 
 received immense amounts of public money, namely, the aggregate 
 of all the salaries, outfits and allowances he had ever received ; 
 that his accounts with the treasury were not in order ; that he had 
 
394: LETTERS AND TIMES OP THE TTLEES. 
 
 charged for constructive journeys ; that he had put a billiard table 
 in the White House at public expense ; that he patronized duelists 
 (Clay) ; that he had had a quarrel with his father, who had disin- 
 herited him ; that he had sent out men in the pay of the govern- 
 ment to electioneer for him ; that he had corrupted the civil ser- 
 vice ; that he had used the Federal patronage to influence elections. 
 The Federalists in their turn charged him with not having kept 
 his promise to Webster." ^ 
 
 Such weapons of attack always injure most those who employ 
 them ; and the rout of Adams and Clay is to be ascribed to other 
 causes than mere personal detraction. 
 
 Clay was bi-illiant, and Adams well-informed ; but political tact 
 and sound judgment were entirely absent from both. Adams was 
 like James I. — a pedagogue, rather than a statesman. The Ameri- 
 can System which they advocated held out ample allurements to 
 the moneyed elements of society — the jobbers, the speculators, and 
 contractors — and, prudently pressed, was calculated to influence the 
 opinions of men in the private walks of life. Moderation of ex- 
 pression, without sacrifice of honor, might have permanently at- 
 tached to their support many of the followers of Crawford, who 
 notoriously leaned to them in the beginning. But instead of keep- 
 ing this in mind, no sooner had the new administration been in- 
 stalled than loose was given in the official papers to views and 
 doctrines, the inevitable consequence of which was to drive oif all 
 men of strict construction affiliations. This speedily left the ad- 
 ministration in a hopeless minority. After that, of what possible 
 value were its suggestions or recommendations, however wise they 
 might be ? 
 
 Hardly a single brilliant achievement, legislative, diplomatic, or 
 otherwise, renders memorable Adams' four years stay at Washing- 
 ton. His great Panama plan fell through, and the national debt 
 was allowed to hang on in order to accomplish local surveys and 
 temporary improvements. The Panama alliance went back in spirit 
 to Clay's early attempt to obtain the recognition of the South Amer- 
 ican provinces. He had been checked then, and was checked now as 
 Secretary of State by Congress in a policy ill-timed and ill-advised, 
 and urged without good sense or prudence. The opposition saw 
 
 ' Sumner's Andrew Jackson, pages 115-'16. 
 
CHABACTER OF ADAMS. 395 
 
 in the measure of a Panama congress something more than Ben- 
 ton's "entangling alliances" with provinces in a state of revolt; 
 but an extension of the spirit of Mr. Rush's report mentioned in the 
 last chapter. It was necessary to make head against the Federal- 
 ism of the administration at all points, and the Panama congress 
 was only another egg hatched in the same nest with the " aque- 
 ducts of Rome." 
 
 Adams was in many ways at a disadvantage in the canvass with 
 Jackson in 1S2S. He had no personal magnetism, and could not 
 employ the removing power against the appointees of Monroe, 
 whose successor he pretended to be in principle, without placing 
 his action on the most purely personal grounds. 
 
 Cold, rigid and inflexible, Adams repelled his friends, and then, 
 in the mortification of every new defeat, incurred by his own lack 
 of common sense, he had recourse to his " Diary," where he poured 
 out unsparingly the stench of his resentments. A friendly writer 
 thus instances some of his fierce diatribes. The senators who did 
 not call upon him he regarded as of " rancorous spirit." He spoke 
 of the "falsehoods and misrepresentations which the skunks of 
 party slander had been squirting around the House of Represen- 
 tatives, thence to issue and perfume the atmosphere of the Union." 
 John Randolph was the "image and superscription of a great 
 man, stamped upon base metal," — a frequenter of "gin lane and 
 beer alley." So also it was with William B. Giles. ^ 
 
 To this may be added the facts remembered from my own per- 
 usal, that "Webster had a " rotten heart," and all Southerners were 
 never dignified by any other name than " slave drivers" and " slave 
 breeders." In 1874, all this pent-up flood of abuse and gall was 
 poured out upon the world, by the publication of his Memoirs, to 
 saturate the grave of every reputable statesman that had figured 
 from 1795 until his death in 1848.' 
 
 From all the filth of the canvass of 1828, its wild intolerance 
 
 ' Morse's John Qnincy Adams, pp. 210-'13. 
 
 * Notwithstanding the malignity of Adams, from which every man of correct 
 feelings must shrink, Mr. Morse speaks of his wrath exploding with harmless 
 violence between the covers of his "Diary" (Morse's Adams, p. 211), and praises 
 Adams for never retaliating on his enemies by resorting to personal detraction. 
 (Ibid., 213). Mr. Morse doubtless never heard of Adams' speeches in Congress, 
 or his letters to his constituents, or his falsely describing Wise as ' ' coming to 
 Congress with his hands dripping with blood. " 
 
396 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 and vituperation, Mr. Tyler stood grandly aloof. He as little be- 
 lieved the foul-mouthed stories about Adams and Clay as he did 
 those about Andrew Jackson. He vrarred not against the charac- 
 ters of the first two, but their political principles.^ He supported 
 and voted for Jackson as a choice of evils only, looking to the; 
 councilors by whom he would be surrounded to correct the evils 
 of his inexperience in civil affairs and the rashness of his temper- 
 Jackson carried the election with a "rush." Out of two hun- 
 dred and sixty-one electoral votes, Adams received but eighty- 
 three. The Crawford vote gave to Jackson Virginia and Georgia^ 
 and there, as elsewhere, severely rebuked the indiscretion of 
 Adams. 
 
 After the late political agitation, the closing session of the 
 Twentieth Congress was a period of almost absolute dullness. 
 Not to detain the reader needlessly, I pass on to the administra- 
 tion of Jackson, which began amid the great rejoicing of a de- 
 cided majority of the people on the 4th of March, 1829. 
 
 From the organization of the administration, the State-rights 
 men had at first good reason to argue success to their principles. 
 Tlie vice-president was Calhoun, and Jackson made up a cabinet 
 consisting of a majority of Calhoun's friends. Only Martin Van 
 Buren, Secretary of State, and John H. Eaton, Secretary of War, 
 were classed with the Federal Democrats. Indeed, until the tariff 
 act of 1828, Yan Buren had been regarded as one of the "Old 
 School" also. On his re-election to the Senate, in 1827, he had 
 wi-itten a letter, in which he represented himself as on a mission 
 to recover the lost rights of the States. In the election of 
 1824, he had been a Crawford man. Attaching himself to the 
 rising fortunes of Jackson, he found it advisable to vote for the 
 " tariff of abominations," a course which the other red-hot Jackson 
 men, like Benton, adopted. He took the precaution, however, to 
 shelter himself behind certain resolutions of instruction of the 
 New York Legislature, passed, it is said, at his own instance. His 
 position was equivocal, but would have been subject to less question 
 
 ' In his letter to Curtis, of Februnry 22, 1830, (see p. 407), he uses this language : 
 " I have said uniformly that I urged no personal objection, carried on no personal 
 warfare against Messrs. Adams and Clay. If their measures had been right, they 
 should have received my support. Nay, I have no personal ill-feeling to either, 
 as you well know." 
 
CONVENTION OF 1829. 397 
 
 were it not for the office lie held. That office, since John Adams' 
 day, had been the stepping stone to the presidency. It thiis in- 
 terfered with the claims of the vice-president, Calhoun, who 
 wished to restore the rule in favor of the higher clainas of his own 
 office. 
 
 Jackson was inaugurated in the month of March 1829, and the 
 next month, elections occurred in Virginia for a State convention 
 to amend the Constitution of 17T6. This was therefore a most 
 momentous year in the annals of Virginia. The subject of a con- 
 vention had been mooted in Virginia ever since the Revolution, 
 but the conservatism of the State had steadily defeated the project 
 for a continuous period of forty-six years. The jealousies of the 
 west and the discontent expressed by the disfranchised non-free- 
 holders forced the Legislature, in 1828, at length to submit the 
 call of a convention to the people. The fact was, that the changed 
 state of society justly required a change in the fundamental laws. 
 The eastern counties, whose white population consisted principally 
 of free-holders, voted heavily against the proposition, pregnant as 
 it was with injury to their present political influence, by threaten- 
 ing to increase the voting power of the west, and to abrogate the 
 equality of the counties, — each county, under the old Constitution, 
 being entitled to two representatives irrespective of population. 
 Nevertheless, the proposition to call the convention was carried 
 by 21,896 to 16,646 votes. 
 
 Immediately a deep interest was spread throughout the Com- 
 monwealth. The people next began to cast about for such men 
 as were best qualified to represent them. There was no restriction 
 on their right of selection in any of the twenty-four districts into 
 which the State was divided ; and in some cases the people were 
 induced to look out of their district for such men as they thought 
 most suitable for the purpose. Mr. Tyler was one of the four 
 delegates chosen to represent the district of the city of Williams- 
 burg, Charles City, Elizabeth City, James City, city of Richmond, 
 Henrico, New Kent, Warwick and York. The other three were 
 Chief- Justice John Marshall, Philip N". Nicholas of Richmond 
 city, and John B. Clopton of New Kent. Mr. Tyler's vote in the 
 district stood next to Marshall's, and in Charles City and James 
 City he ran ahead. 
 
 The consequence of this great excitement was, that an assembly 
 
398 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 of men was drawn together of the first order of talent. " Some,"' 
 writes Mr. Kitchie, in his preface to the Debates, "have held it 
 equal to the celebrated convention which met in Virginia in the- 
 year 1788, to pass upon the Federal Constitution. Much of what 
 was venerable for years and long service; many of those who 
 were most respected for their wisdom and their eloquence; two of 
 the ex-presidents of the United States; the chief justice of the 
 United States ; several of those who had been most distinguished 
 in Congress or the State Legislature, on the bench or at the bar,, 
 were brought together for the momentous purpose of laying anew 
 the fundamental law of the land.' The scene was truly an in- 
 teresting one, not only to the State itself, but to the Union. Almost 
 all eyes were fixed upon it. Several distinguished strangers, as 
 well as many of the citizens of the State, were spectators. The 
 great importance of the subject, as well as the high character of 
 the members, diffused an interest over it which has been very 
 seldom equalled ; aud it may truly be said that the reality did not 
 disappoint the public expectation. — The debates were of the most 
 animated sort. The fundamental principles of government, the 
 elements which should enter into the composition of its various 
 departments, were discussed at length, and with much ingenuity. 
 The struggles between the local interests of the different parts of 
 the State were likewise maintained with great spirit and persever- 
 ance. At length, after a session of three montlis and a half, which 
 called into play most of the wisdom and eloquence of the House,, 
 a constitution was formed, which was subsequently proposed to the 
 people, and ratified by a vote of 26,055 to 15,563." 
 
 Coming from one of the smallest of the eastern counties, Mr. 
 Tyler was naturally under the highest inducement to oppose all. 
 change in the then existing constitution.^ The western people 
 
 ' To mention the names of only a few of the distinguished men in the conven- 
 tion, — James Madison, James Monroe, John Marshall, John Tyler, Littleton Wal- 
 ler Tazewell, Abel P. Upshur, John Randolph, William B. Giles, Benjamin W. 
 Leigh, Philip P. Barbour, William H. Brodnax, John W. Jones, William F. 
 Gordon, James Pleasants, Charles F. Mercer, "William H. Fitzhugb, James M. 
 Garnet, John Y. Mason, Briscoe G. Baldwin, Chapman Johnson, Philip N. 
 Nicholas, John B. Clopton, William 0. Goode, Samuel McD. Moore, Philip' 
 Doddridge, etc. 
 
 ° But twelve votes were cast for the convention in Charles City, one hundred 
 and fifty-eight against it ; in Warwick, two for it, seventy-one against it ; Eliza- 
 beth City, twenty-seven for, ninety-eight against it ; James City, one for, eighty- 
 
PEOCEEDINGS OF THE CONVENTION. 399 
 
 maintained that all representation should be based on the white 
 population. A. P. Upshur was the Ajax Telamon of the principle 
 favored by the eastern people, that property should be made one 
 of the factors in the constitution of the two Houses. His speech 
 is certainly one of the most singular specimens of ingenuity and 
 reason ever put together. A mere majority rule, he said, was 
 based on no a priori principle, but the expediency of society was 
 the single criterion. A system of checks and balances had been 
 found necessary in all civilized communities, and while the equality 
 of county representation could not be maintained, due regard 
 should be had to the slave interest of the east.' 
 
 The opposite view was maintained, if not with the same ability^ 
 at least with the same zeal, by the representatives of the west. 
 The parties being nearly evenly matched in numbers, and neither 
 being inclined to give way, propositions of compromise were in- 
 troduced by Mr. John E. Cooke of Frederick, Gen. William F. 
 Gordon of Albemarle, Mr. Abel P. Upshur of Northampton, 
 Judge Marshall and Mr. B. W. Leigh. The compromises pro- 
 ceeded on the basis of Federal numbers, giving a three-fifths repre- 
 sentation to slaves in the lower House, while the complexion of 
 the Senate was left to be determined by white population. The 
 question was finally settled on this basis. The Council was re- 
 duced from eight to three, the suffrage extended, and greater 
 powers given to the governor. New Kent and Charles City were 
 deprived of their four representatives and given only one together. 
 
 Mr. Tyler took an infiuential but not noisy part in the proceed- 
 ings of the convention. His health at this time was exceedingly 
 delicate, and rendered any vehement exertion impracticable. No 
 other could he make, since his feelings were warm and his style 
 in speaking ardent and impassioned. Indeed, he never fully re- 
 covered from the shock which his indiscretion, in 1820, inflicted 
 upon him. Pepeatedly throughout his career, the paroxysms of 
 his disease threatened his life, and it was entirely due to his un- 
 usual self-control and judgment that enabled him to preserve a 
 frame, apparently destined early to the grave, through the snows of 
 
 eight against ; Williamsburg, four for, sixty against ; York, one for, one hundred 
 and three against ; New Kent, twenty-three for, two hundred and thirty-eight 
 against. 
 ' Debates of the Convention of 1829, pp. 72-79, et sparsim. 
 
400 LETTERS AOTD TIMES OE THE TYLERS. 
 
 a good old age. Mr. Tyler voted for the amended constitution, 
 and, as a member of the legislative committee, approved its report 
 recommending an exclusive white basis for the House. He even 
 aided the western men in visiting the smaller counties with dis- 
 franchisement, though believing, independently of all other con- 
 siderations, that " a wise statesman would consult the feelings^ and 
 even the prejudices, of those for whom he was providing a govern- 
 m-ent, and would seek to hind the people together hy one indissoluble 
 cord." ^ 
 
 Notwithstanding his indisposition, Mr. Tyler attended con- 
 stantly on the convention, and even drew up a plan of representa- 
 tion, which, of all those prepared, seemed to consult most the 
 suggestions of good sense. It provided a real, though propor- 
 tionate, representation for each county, and made the Senate, as 
 it ought to have been, a check upon the House. His not present- 
 ing it was due to a laudable desire to further the interests of com- 
 promise. His remarks in the convention in relation to it are so 
 peculiarly tender and characteristic of the man that I shall present 
 them here to the reader's eye: 
 
 Mr. Tyler said that he was in no situation to address an argument to the 
 committee. His state of health rendered that impracticable. He had risen 
 merely because of the frequent references made by the gentleman from Ches- 
 terfield^ to himself, in common with those who represented the Richmond dis- 
 trict. The gentleman had done him the favor of submitting to his inspection 
 his scheme of representation some days before he submitted his proposition to 
 the House. When he first saw it, the gentleman from Chesterfield had pro- 
 posed to make the whole district from the New Kent line below, a tabula 
 rasa — to obliterate the county lines, and to form one county out of James 
 City, Williamsburg, York, Warwick and Elizabeth City. Charles City and 
 New Kent were to have a delegate each. To this he had objected, and this 
 gentleman from Chesterfield had readily acquiesced in the objection. 
 
 [Mr. Leigh said that it was on the suggestion of Mr. Tyler that New Kent, 
 Charles City and James City were united as an election district, and that his 
 plan had been changed, in this : that he had then intended to compose the 
 House of Delegates of one hundred and twenty-nine members ; whereas, the 
 present proposition reduced that number to one hundred and twenty-six.] 
 
 Mr. Tyler resumed, that he did make the suggestion mentioned by the gen- 
 tleman, and he was ready to avow his reasons for it everywhere. The county 
 of Charles City was the county of his birth and residence ; but yet he could 
 not consent to take for it a delegate, while one was denied to Elizabeth City, 
 which, in his view, presented much stronger claims to a separate representa- 
 
 1 Debates, p. 842. = B. W. Leigh. 
 
SPEECH IN THE CONVENTION OF 1829. 401 
 
 tion. The population of Elizabeth city was greater than that of Charles City, 
 and she had also a separate and distinct interest to uphold — the pilot interest 
 — one of great importance, and which he felt himself incapable of properly 
 representing. In truth, the General Assembly had uniformly delivered a 
 carte blanche into the hands of her delegates on that subject. 
 
 He would frankly say, that he approved of a plan of county representation 
 throughout the State, based upon the principles which had entered into the 
 plan of his friend from Northampton.' He had, in fact, come to the House this 
 morning with such a plan; but that his colleagues had advised him not to 
 present it ; and he had, for the present, abandoned the idea of doing so. He was 
 very unwilling to disfranchise any one of the counties of his district — but he 
 had stricken off the influences of local attachment, and was resolved to sacri- 
 fice much upon the altar of harmony and conciliation. Parga, then, said he, 
 must be surrendered to the Albanians. Be it so, sir, if the surrender can operate 
 -as a cemeat to our union in sentiment. He came here prepared to bind up, 
 in one common bond, all the people of Virginia — to preserve the integrity of 
 the State; and he should rejoice if the plan of the gentleman succeeded, 
 although it visited the comities of his district with extensive disfranchise- 
 ment. His district paid an amount of revenue equal, within a very small 
 fraction, to the amount paid by all the trans- Alleghany country. The county 
 of his birth and residence, at the hands of whose inhabitants he had never re- 
 ceived anything but acts of unmeasured kindness and confidence, was to part 
 with its political power ; but all this, nay more, he would part with, sooner 
 than be instrumental in destroying those sentiments of brotherly feeling which 
 had heretofore bound the State together. He was Virginian throughout. He 
 acknowledged no discrimination between those of the new blood or the old 
 ■blood. In all his public course, he had acted in reference to all Virginia, and 
 he should continue to do so ; but he would ask if he could make the sacrifices 
 he had indicated, what could prevent others from harmonizing ? 
 
 Before he took his seat he would say that he knew of no very sound objec- 
 tion to preserving, if practicable, the county system. It had worked well in 
 his own opinion. Was there any cancer which required to be cut out? 
 Warwick had been the theme of much rhetorical display, and if disfranchized, 
 we should destroy the most fruitful source of popular eloquence ; but he sub- 
 mitted it in all candor to gentlemen to say what evils Warwick had ever 
 •done ? From the dawn of the Revolution she had always been the fond ad- 
 vocate of free principles, and had contributed by her voice and from her 
 purse to maintain the cause of liberty. True, she occupied a small space 
 ^ipon the map, but surely no one would base representation upon a, territorial 
 principle without reference to other considerations — she contained six hun- 
 dred and eighty white persons, and yet paid nearly one-third the tax paid by 
 fourteen thousand in the populous country of Monongalia. He meant no invi- 
 dious discriminations, but merely to do justice to those who had sent him there. 
 
 He concluded by expressing the sincere wish that the proposition then be- 
 fore the House would prove to be the harbinger of an harmonious result. 
 
 ' A. P. Upshur. 
 26 
 
402 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 Twenty-one years afterwards, when the third State convention 
 gathered together, Mr. Tyler wrote the following letter to a mem- 
 ber of the same, which will serve in farther explanation of his 
 
 views : 
 
 [To Col. Robert McGandltsh.] 
 
 Shbkwood Forest, Charles City County, Feb. 22, 1851. 
 
 My Dear Colonel : Your letter of the 19th reached me yesterday. At th& 
 moment I have no deposit in bank, but on selling my corn, which I shall do 
 as soon as I can procure a vessel, Mr. Powell's account will be paid. 
 
 You ask my views on the basis question and my understanding of the term, 
 "the people." As to the first, my opinion is the same now as it was in 
 1829. It was then expressed to Chief-Justice Marshall and Judge Upshur, 
 although not publicly uttered, because of the uselessness of doing so against 
 the current of opinion then prevailing. I thought then, and think now, that 
 the House of Delegates should be the fair exponent of the popular sentiment 
 of the State, or in other words that the ivhite electors should be represented in 
 that branch of the Legislature, while the Senate should be so constituted as 
 to furnish a check to guard the State against unwholesome laws. 
 
 In 1829, the compound basis composed of persons and property would have 
 given the check. Whether it would do so now I am not prepared to say. With 
 the statistics before you, you can have no difficulty in deciding. By the " com- 
 pound basis" I mean Federal numbers. In framing the present government 
 we (I say we, because I was carried along by the current) literally reversed 
 the polls, by making the Senate the representative of numbers and the House 
 of Delegates the representative of persons and property, — thus making the 
 people's House (the Senate) the ostensible check over the waste of the public 
 treasure and hurtful legislation, by the House of the property holders (the 
 House of Delegates) which was an anachronism in its very terms. 
 
 One word more. The opinion is deeply seated with me that no government 
 can last for any length of time, in consonance with public liberty, without 
 checks and balances. Without them we rush into anarchy, or seek repose in 
 the arms of monarchy. We can neither trust King Numbers or King One 
 with unlimited power. Both play the despot. By the first, the minority is 
 made the victim ; by the last, the whole people. 
 
 And now I arrive at your second question, " Who are the people?" The 
 term "the people" is altogether relative. When used by one out of the State, 
 beyond its limits, " the people " may mean all the inhabitants of such State. 
 " The people" of Eussia, for example, when spoken of by you and me, em- 
 braces the serf and the nobleman, the men and women, the children and the 
 adults. So " the people " of Maryland is a term equally comprehensive when 
 uttered by a citizen of any other State. But when you have entered the con- 
 fines of Russia, or of Maryland, or of Virginia, or of any other State, the term 
 ceases to be so comprehensive. It becomes indicative, not of an entire popu- 
 lation, but of a restricted number. The serf degenerates into a mere article 
 of property, and women and children are not heard of in the vocabularv of 
 
VIEWS ON THE BASIS QUESTION. 403 
 
 the Czar: all, in fact, are his subjects, and the term " the people" has no dis- 
 tinctive meaning. In Maryland or Virginia, or any other free State, although 
 the term " the people " has a broader meaning than in any despotic govern- 
 ment, yet in all and within all it is subject to restrictions. Within the State 
 " the people " are spoken of as those that bear rule in the elections, etc., — the 
 sovereign people, — who, in fact, exercise the rights of sovereignty in the elec- 
 tion of agents to carry out their will and bear up their interests, and to whom 
 those agents are responsible. The slave, like the serf, sinks into property, and 
 women and children are mere inhabitants, as also all others who are excluded 
 from participation in public affairs. Their character becomes changed, as by 
 an enlargement of the basis of suffrage additions, are made to the numbers of 
 the rulers, or, in other words, to the voters ; and in the above views may be 
 found a potent reason for the extension of the right of sufTrage. 
 
 In originating a frame of government for the first time, it was necessary 
 that some principle be adopted to enable " the people," then embracing every 
 inhabitant, to progress in the work, and the majority, having the greater 
 strength, adopted as a rule that the majority of voices shall prevail. That 
 majority declares women and children incapable of either conferring or hold- 
 ing office, and then proceeds to exclude from communion with itself, in the 
 regulation of governmental affairs, a minority which sided with it in excluding 
 females and children, and aided in constituting the majority in the first in- 
 stance. 
 
 In this supposed primitive condition slaves have no existence, as property, 
 in persons or anything else, is the creature of law, and law of previously 
 formed government. In your convention " the people " is a term of definite 
 meaning. Those who voted, or bad right to votes, in the elections which sent 
 you where you are, are with you "the people." That people invests you 
 with full power to do many things for them and in their name. They autho- 
 rize you, if you deem it wise, to add to their numbers others of the inhabit- 
 ants of the State and to make them a portion of the " political people." The 
 majority principle may lead to the establishment of a branch of the Legisla- 
 ture in which the full voice of the "political people" may be heard, while at 
 the same time those having the deepest stake in the community (the property 
 holders), — and who necessarily would constitute the majority but for the ex- 
 istence of slavery as an element of property over the surface of a large portion 
 of the State, which produces a severance of interest among the property- 
 holders themselves, — may very well insist upon being protected by some 
 wholesome check over the action of the mere numerical majority. 
 
 Thus have I, my dear sir, hastily given you a reply to your two enquiries. 
 If what I have written suggests any idea of the least value to your mind, I 
 shall be highly gratified. Be that as it may, be assured of my constant and 
 sincere regard and friendship. Yours truly, John Tyler. 
 
 The first sitting of the Virginia convention occurred on the 5th 
 of October, 1829, and its adjournment took place on the 15th of 
 January, 1830. On the 2d of February succeeding, Mr. Tyler 
 
404 LETrEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 took his seat in the Senate of the first Congress under Jackson, 
 beating Mr. Tazewell two days, who, like him, had been kept 
 waiting upon the convention in Virginia several months after the 
 opening of the national legislature. 
 
 When Mr. Tyler arrived in Washington the curtain of the future 
 had not yet lifted high enough to let him know what the exact 
 policy of Jackson would be on the various questions of principle 
 most interesting to the minds of men. The message at the be- 
 ginning of the session had been expressed with studied vagueness, 
 and it was impossible to ascertain the President's position on either 
 the question of internal improvements or the more important one 
 • of the tariff. On one subject only was there no ambiguity, and 
 on this the opposition of the State-rights senators seemed prophetic 
 of the future of the State-rights party. 
 
 Jackson came into office smarting under the cruel assaults of 
 the Adams party upon his domestic relations. It was no difficult 
 thing for him to believe that an administration which had given 
 countenance to them was hopelessly corrupt.' To the wishes of 
 the office-seekers he, therefore, turned a willing ear. Upwards 
 of two thousand removals had already been made by the Presi- 
 dent, and more were pending. 
 
 Yet, as Mr. Sumner remarks, it is a very "crude notion" that 
 
 ' Tobias Watkins, who held the responsible position of fourth auditor under 
 Adams, was found short in his accounts, and sentenced to the penitentiary. The 
 Enquirer found many other delinquents and defaulters, e. g. . 
 
 1. Myndert M. Cos, collector at Buffalo, guilty of procuring false receipts for 
 money never paid, and getting credit at the Treasury Department. 
 
 2. William Pinckney, collector at Key West, for clandestinely permitting an 
 unlawful trade between Havana and Florida. 
 
 3. John B. Swanton, collector at Bath, Me., for applying to his own use $56,315 
 of the public money. 
 
 4. Timothy Upham, collector at Portsmouth, N. H. , for engaging in smuggling- 
 
 5. D. L. White, collector at St. Marks, for plundering live-oak from the public 
 lands. 
 
 6. J. Robertson, collector at Petersburg, for applying to his own use $24,857 
 of the pubUc money, falsely reporting many bonds which had been collected. 
 
 7. K. Arnold, collector at Perth Amboy, for making false returns, and putting 
 in his pocket about $88,000. He ran off to Canada to escape punishment. 
 
 8. Asa Kogerson, collector at Elizabeth City, N. C, for converting to his own use 
 $32,791 of the public money. Ran off to Canada. {Enquirer, Oct. 16, 1882.) 
 
 Secretary Woodbury, in defending Van Buren's administration, set off defaults 
 in multitude against Adams' administration. 
 
OEIGIN OF THE " SPOILS SYSTEM." 405 
 
 Andrew Jackson corrupted the civil service.' Mr. Sumner traces 
 it to the " Albany regency" and New York politics, where, under 
 such skillful manipulators as Martin Yan Buren, the spoils system 
 had been long brought to a highly perfected state. In the same 
 way this notion of Mr. Sumner is a very " crude " one. To my 
 mind, it was the legitimate outgrowth of JSTorthern society, made 
 national by Adams' road and tariff policy, which directly converted 
 the government into a great spoils machine for the advantage of 
 the jobbers and speculators. 
 
 Northern society had been essentially aristocratic. The scorn 
 of John Adams ("the son of a tinker") and the Federalists for 
 the poor and the ill-born had excited the amazement of William 
 Grayson;^ and Kandolph records how his brother, while in New 
 York, at the first inauguration, was "spurned by the coachman of 
 the then vice-president, John Adams, for coming too near the 
 arms emblazoned on the escutcheon of the vice-regal carriage." 
 
 As in all aristocratic communities, a wide chasm separated the 
 ruling class from the poor. Power became confined to a few fam- 
 ilies, and castes threatened to arise as distinct as those that pre- 
 vail in England, which was taken as the model. 
 
 To those in the lower walks of life, one agent alone was felt in 
 any way adequate to break through this monopoly. This was money. 
 A mighty passion to accumulate wealth took possession of all ranks. 
 But as riches are merely relative, those in power took the best 
 possible means, by marriage and otherwise, to preserve their influ- 
 ence in society. The speculations to which the slave trade and the 
 assumption of the State debts gave rise, were continued in the 
 turn given to the national government in its domestic and foreign 
 policy. The enslavement of three thousand of their citizens in 
 English prisons caused the Eastern people not half the concern 
 that the embargo did for a single year. 
 
 At this time. Northern society was divided into the very rich 
 and the very poor — each class devoured with a passion for money. 
 The accumulation of the population into towns, the growth of 
 manufactures, begetting a class of people wholly dependent upon 
 employment, furnished the richest soil for the germination of the 
 spoils system, whose soul was money and place. Only in great 
 
 ' Sumner's Andrew Jackson, p. 147. ' See page 169. 
 
406 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 towns, where tlie drill required could go promptly on; in great 
 factories; among dependent operatives and still more wretched 
 fishermen ; ^ among capitalists who could act promptly in the man- 
 ipulation of their money; and where all things were kept in a 
 fever of fictitious values by speculators, who controlled the market 
 and ruled even the capitalists — only there was it possible to origi- 
 nate such a curse as tlie spoils system.^ 
 
 Southern society might receive it, and even become an adept 
 at it, but never could it take its rise as such where the people 
 led a rural life, and every white man was "good as another," 
 and where there was no aristocracy except that of merit, and 
 where the principles of the democratic Jefferson were most re- 
 vered.' 
 
 The character of the Adamses seemed typical of this New Eng- 
 land spirit of aristocracy, based on plutocracy and mobocracy. The 
 Constitution contained no principle with them ; for they had been 
 taught to measure all things by the standard of expediencj'. The 
 hard, stern and repulsive nature of the younger Adams repre- 
 sg'ii-ted the cold, rigid and insulting spirit of the moneyed man in 
 his treatment of his inferiors, while the vanity of the elder Adams 
 represented the parade and show which self-made millionaires, 
 
 ' John Adams said, in 177B, that "the condition of the laboring poor in most 
 ffieuntries, that of the fishermen, particularly in the Northern States, is as abject 
 8s,|h^t of slaves." (Jefferson's Works (Randolph), i., p. 23.) 
 
 ? Shays' rebellion, in 1786, and Dorr's rebellion, in 1843, had their origin in 
 tiie "spoils system." The struggle between the moneyed and moneyless classes 
 ■was especially made manifest in the scourge of parties formed upon the basis 
 alone of paper money. Mr. Gerry, of Massachusetts, alluded, in the Federal 
 Convention of 1788, to the characters that often got into the Legislature in this 
 way: "In Massachusetts, the worst men get into the Legislature. Several mem- 
 bers of that body had been lately convicted of infamous crimes. Men of indigence, 
 ignorance and baseness spare no pains, however dirty, to carry their points against 
 men who are superior to the artifices practised." (Madison Papers, p. 801.) 
 
 The same spirit has had full sway since the war, and has borne fruit in enor- 
 mous expenditures and innumerable public swindles — credit mobillier, star route, 
 etc., etc. In our day a Republican President (Arthur) has considered himself 
 actually called upon to veto a "River and Harbor bill ! " 
 
 ^ Nothing surprises a Southerner so much as to go North and hear respectable 
 ■white men ordered about by their first names — Jack, Jim, etc. Here in the 
 South the poorest white man has the Mr. before his name. This is no wonder, 
 considering the independence of Southern life, and the devotion prevailing for 
 the principles of Jefferson, 
 
MB. TYLEE AGAINST THE SPOILS SYSTEM. 407 
 
 who count their pennies, often display in the expenditure of their 
 dollars/ 
 
 But be this as it may, there was a serious mistake made by the 
 "barking of newspapers and the brawling of demagogues," in 
 taking it for granted that Mr. Tyler would vote for aU the 
 ■"spoils" nominations of Jackson, merely because it was expedient 
 for him to do so as a supporter of the President : 
 
 [To Doctor Curtis.] 
 
 Washington, February 22, 1830. 
 
 Dear Doctor: In compliance with your letter, I now forward, under cover 
 •of this, a letter to Mr. McLane for Mr. Govan. I hope it may prove of ser- 
 vice to him. I will, in the course of the day, address the Secretary of State, 
 and will inform you of the result. 
 
 Webster's speech is forwarded to you by this mail. In his views relating 
 to the public lands I fully concur. Benton has long been seeking to produce an 
 impression on the public mind favorable to their surrender. To this I stand 
 opposed — 1st, Because no reason exists for it, since the government has adopted 
 the very best system which ever did exist in any country for their disposal ; 
 and 2dly, That, if surrendered, apart from other considerations, we should have 
 re-enacted Yazoo schemes, and every other speculation that ever existed in the 
 world. To Ohio I might be disposed to sell at a fair price ; there exists 
 vrithin her borders but a mere fraction, and she is old enough to be wise 
 enough to manage the matter as well as ourselves ; but what could be more 
 lidiculous, mischievous or absurd, than to make a similar surrender or sale to 
 Illinois, to the interest of whose people it might be deemed conducive to 
 introduce an agrarian law, whereby each and every of her inhabitants 
 would at once be converted into a landed nabob. A reduction of minimum 
 price to one dollar per acre may sooner or later be found beneficial. In read- 
 ing Webster's speech I underscored and noted certain objectionable senti- 
 ments. Corruption wins by scattering abroad apparent benefits and favors. 
 If vice was always dressed in frowns, who would be vicious ? Mr. Web- 
 ster's remarks on the road-making power are obnoxious to this commentary. 
 
 The Senate sits often with closed doors ; thus I am in prison, and cannot 
 ■speak so as to be heard beyond its walls. Prom the signs of the times I 
 argue a stormy session yet. Have you seen P.'s attack on me ? He speaks 
 of my having made promises to those who elected me, and speaks most falsely. 
 I am under no promise, no commitment. I have said uniformly that I urged 
 no personal objection, carried on no personal warfare against Messrs. Adams 
 and Clay. If their measures had been right, they should have received my 
 
 ' To such a prodigious length has this spirit of avarice gone in these days, that 
 no one except a millionaire, or the client of one, has any chance for a presidential 
 nomination. See the candidates presented by both parties since the war. It is 
 ■Carlyle who says, that "Money-bag Mammon is the worst and basest of all ban- 
 ners and symbols of dominion among men." 
 
408 LETTEE8 AKD TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 support. Nay, I have no personal ill-feelings to either, as you well know. 
 He chooses to make what he takes for granted T will do, viz., vote for all 
 nominations, the groundwork of this tirade. Now, I presume that he objects 
 to Kendall's receiving his reward, when he himself pocketed $1,950 for ser- 
 vices never rendered. The objection ma_ be good, but P. is the last man 
 who should urge it. The barking of newspapers and the brawling of dema- 
 gogues can never drive nae from my course. If I am to go into retirement, I 
 will at least take care to do so with a pure and unsullied conscience. 
 
 Give my love to all, and be always assured of my regard and friendship. 
 Truly yours, John Tyleb. 
 
 Get the Enquirer containing Cambreling's Eeport on Commerce, etc. It is- 
 able, if not conclusive. 
 
 Jackson nominated a batch of editors to office, — Major Henry- 
 Lee, James B. Gardner, Moses Dawson, M. M. Noah, Amos Ken- 
 dall, Isaac Hill, etc. About the same time several bills for inter- 
 nal improvement were moved in Congress. The most famous of 
 these was the Maysville and Lexington Turnpike road-bill, which 
 was the first to pass, and was considered as a test case. Mr. Tyler,, 
 without regard to the place of their origin, opposed both the nomi- 
 nation of the editors and the bills for internal improvements. 
 
 [To Robert W. Christian.] 
 
 Mat 13, 1830. 
 On Monday we took the printers in hand. Kendall was saved by the cast- 
 ing vote of the Vice-President, the vote being twenty-four to twenty-four. 
 Hendricks, who was supported by the last administration, was induced to vote 
 for him, and by that means he was saved. Three others were thrown over- 
 board. Out of those presented to the Senate, but two have squeezed through, 
 and that by the whole power of the government here having been thrown in 
 the scale. 
 
 [Me. Tyler to Mr. Tazewell. J 
 
 Senate Chamber, May 22, 1830. 
 Dear Sib: The President has this morning re-nominated Noah. This is- 
 but the prelude to Hill's re-nomination. Your presence, I apprehend, would 
 be immaterial, as the result of any vote upon these subjects would not be 
 varied. Monday is fixed on for the consideration of Noah's case. 
 
 "We anticipate with some confidence the veto to be exercised on the Mays- 
 ville bill. Whether the President will place his objection on the broad ground 
 of the want of constitutional power, or some other, is a matter of great doubt. 
 If he is wise, he will take the broad ground. Any other will give particular 
 offence to Kentucky, being a discrimination to her injury. 
 
 The administration looks with confidence to important arrivals from Eng- 
 land in a few days, and the talk is that Congress will be kept in session for 
 some days beyond the 31st inst. I write you at my desk, and in haste. 
 
 Very truly, yours, John Tyler. 
 
ME. TTLEK VOTES AGAINST THE EDITOES. 409' 
 
 The editors nominated by Jackson, for partisan services, and 
 rejected by the Senate, were either afterwards renominated for 
 the same offices and confirmed, or they generally secured better 
 places at Jackson's hands, whose sympathies became all the more 
 enlisted on account of their martyrdom. Thus M. M. Noah, who 
 had been nominated as surveyor and inspector, and rejected, on 
 the 10th of May, 1830, by a vote of twenty-five to twenty- three, 
 was renominated on May 22nd, and confirmed by the casting vote 
 of the Vice-President, Calhoun, on the 28th of the month. Two 
 of the more remarkable cases were those of Henry Lee and Isaac 
 Hill. Lee was rejected unanimously, and nothing could be done 
 for him; but Hill, who had libeled Mrs. Adams, had the supreme 
 pleasure of being returned to the Senate as a member of the same 
 only a few months after his rejection by that body. 
 
 The following two letters of Mr. Tyler are interesting in this 
 connection : 
 
 [To Richard T. Brown.] 
 
 Gloucester Place, May 5, 1833. 
 
 Dear Sir : Tour letter of the 27th April, covering a letter from Major Lee, 
 dated Paris, February 13, 1833, reached me two days ago. While I must 
 abstain from entering into an explanation of the reasons of my vote on the 
 nomination of Major Lee as consul general to Algiers, in 1830, it is but proper 
 that I should relieve yourself and him from the impression under which 
 you both seem to labor, and which was made upon Major Lee, as you state, 
 by a distinguished correspondent in this country, that his rejection was prin- 
 cipally produced by my course in relation to him. 
 
 Who that distinguished correspondent may be, who claims to possess an 
 intimate knowledge of my conduct in the conclave of the Senate, you have 
 not seen cause to inform me. Whosoever he is, his ascription is altogether 
 unfsunded. Nothing gave me more pain than the obligation under which I 
 felt myself to the public to vote against the nomination. This you will 
 readily conclude to have been the fact when you come to be informed that, 
 although he is by some years my elder, we were fellow collegiates, and after- 
 wards, if my memory deceives me not, members of the General Assembly 
 together. I, moreover, regarded him as a man of considerable intellectual 
 attainments and of a high order of talent. 
 
 I sought, therefore, to influence the opinion of no other senator, nor did I 
 express any opinion to the Senate, except, indeed, of his innocence of certain^ 
 more aggravated additions to the charge under which he labored. I never 
 read the correspondence adverted to by you between Major Lee and Dr. Mayo, 
 but I had what I esteemed to be sufficient information to induce the opinion 
 that he was not the victim of an avaricious spirit in any part of the procedure,. 
 
410 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 or actuated by the base desire of acquiring the property of another without 
 compensation. So much is due to candor, and I willingly render it, 
 
 I have thus far departed from a rule which I have never in any other in- 
 stance permitted myself to disregard. 1 cannot recognize the right of any 
 individual on whose case I may have acted in my public capacity as a senator 
 to question me concerning my course of conduct. Your polite letter, and the 
 motives of friendship which you manifest for Major Lee, added to my respect 
 for yourself, have led to this. departure from a necessary and proper rule. 
 
 I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your most obedient servant, 
 
 J. Ttlek. 
 
 [To Conway Whittle.] 
 
 Sherwood Foeest, May 22, 1853. 
 
 Mt Deae Sir : As no persuasions will induce Mary to postpone her return 
 to Norfolk, I place this letter under her care, for you, in acknowledgment of 
 your letter informing me of the course of things in Washington in relation to 
 yourself. . Since its date, Mr. Sawyer has been officially announced in the 
 newspapers as appointed to the collectorship. Thus you have been thrown 
 overboard, while Loyal and Gait have been more successful. 
 
 Tour competitor happened to belong to the class composing "the third 
 estate" in our system, and therefore his success. The press and its editors 
 are in fact irresistible with the politicians, and we have nothing to do but cry 
 out, "great is Diana of the Bphesians" and submit with composure. 
 Their power and influence at Washington were tested as long ago as General 
 Jackson's time, who nominated a batch of editors to the Senate. 
 
 Tazewell and myself voted against them and rejected them ; but means 
 were found to move reconsiderations through some of the Senators who had 
 voted with us, and thus the editors got their places. We acted upon the 
 principle that the press, the great instrument of enlightenment to the people, 
 should not be subjected, through its conductors, to rewards or punishments; 
 and that the Sedition law was not more obnoxious than a system of rewards 
 to be doled out from the public Treasury by means of the public offices. We 
 were probably too Utopian ; at all events the course of things since would 
 seem to have settled it. To one conclusion I have certainly been brought by 
 the decision in the case of the collectorship, and that is, not to trouble the 
 men in power by letters of recommendation in future wheu it is possible to 
 -avoid it. 
 
 I regretted your absence from Norfolk on my late visit, and quite as much 
 that I should have been prevented by indisposition from seeing your family. 
 I was really a sick man during my whole trip, except while speaking, and then 
 I suppose the mental excitement overcame and quieted my local ailments. I 
 am now very much better, under the medical treatment of Doctor Semple, of 
 Hampton, and have a bright ray of hope that I shall be again restored to 
 health. Mary leaves us just as the neighborhood is becoming gay. Last 
 night she attended a party at Dr. Selden's, an account of which she will her- 
 self give you ; others will follow in rapid successson. The country is really 
 beautiful , the crops of wheat were never more promising, and Flora has 
 
ME. TTLEe's speech ON THE MAYSVILLE EOAD BILL. 411 
 
 emptied all her flowers from her lap. How can you bear to he crihhed and 
 confined to a city? but every one to his own taste, and whether you be in 
 town or country, take my best wishes for your happiness. 
 
 Truly yours, John Tyler. 
 
 In the meantime, Jackson had defined his position on the ques- 
 tion of internal improvements. The bill for subscribing to the 
 stock of the Maysville, Lexington, and Turnpike road-bill had passed 
 Congress with the aid of the votes of the National Eepublicans, 
 and such Federal Democrats as Benton, and against the opposition 
 of the State-rights senators, like Tyler, Hayne, Troup, Bibb, 
 Tazewell, EUis, etc., who stood in a phalanx of about fifteen in 
 the Senate on all questions of elementary principle. Mr. Tyler 
 made an able speech against the system. He pointed out the 
 enormous lengths to which it had ah-eady been carried, and em- 
 ployed a fable from ^sop to describe his feelings when the 
 power of making roads and canals, and improving harbors and 
 rivers, was first claimed by Congress, in 1816: 
 
 In my youth I remember to have read in that wisest of all wise books, if 
 the moral be well observed — I mean JEiop — the fable of the cock and the fox ; 
 and as it serves to illustrate my views and feelings on this particular subject, 
 I beg leave to repeat it as well as my memory enables me. A fox in search 
 of prey, passed by the door of a henroost, and finding it locked, resolved to 
 try his skill iu obtaining admission. He resorted to an expedient which so 
 often proves successful in the affairs of the world, that of flattery and hy- 
 pocrisy united. His salutation was extremely friendly and courteous. He 
 expressed his great concern at having heard that the cook had been indisposed. 
 The cock assured him that his health was perfectly good, and much the better 
 from the fact that his foxship was outside the door, and the door locked. The 
 fox, however, pretended not to credit this, and desired permission to see him, 
 so that he might bear testimony to the fact from ocular demonstration ; and 
 such was his great anxiety to look in upou him, that he urged the very humble 
 request of being permitted only to get his nose in at the door. The cock 
 wisely refused, declaring that if he was permitted to get his nose in, his whole 
 body would soon follow. Such were my feelings when this road-making 
 power was first claimed for this government. But it was in vain that Vir- 
 ginia protested against it ; vain that she urged upou others the moral of the 
 fable. The good and true State, North Carolina, reasoned as did Virginia; 
 but all in vain. This harmless and beneficent power was yielded ; and what 
 has followed let the whole South testify. She can bear witness throughout 
 all her borders. Measure after measure has followed, until powers as supreme 
 and universal are claimed for this government as if the parchment upon your 
 
 table had never been executed 
 
 Under the first Adams, Virginia was declared rebellious and factious ; and 
 
412 LETTERS AlTD TIMES OF THE TYLEK8. 
 
 it was said that her republicans should be trampled into dust and ashes.. 
 She, nevertheless, with Kentucky, raised her voice against the infractions of 
 the Constitution. She does so now. And what were the infractions against 
 which she then protested compared with those in deprecation of which she 
 now raises her voice ? Bad enough they were, it is true ; but the art of con- 
 struing the Constitution, and the effort to make it a nose of wax, were then 
 but barely commenced. The Sedition law was passed, and thereby the prin- 
 ciple offeree was resorted to. Now a more insidious and a more dangerous 
 principle is brought into action. Money is now relied upon ; cupidity, 
 avarice, are the infernal agents nnw invoked. These are the fatal sisters who 
 weave the web of our destiny ; and if we do not destroy that web before we 
 are fully entangled — if we permit first an arm, and then a leg to be tied up, 
 there will soon be left to us no means of escape. Let us now begin the effort, 
 and by drawing back the government to its legitimate orbit, save our institu- 
 tions from destruction. My untiring efforts shall not be wanting in so holy 
 a cause. But if we surrender ourselves into the hands of ingenious politicians 
 ■ — those aspirants for high office who seek evermore to enlist in their support 
 the strongest passions of human nature with a view to their individual ag- 
 grandizement, — the ark of the covenant will be destroyed, and the temple rent 
 in twain. Let us expel the money-changers from that temple, and introduce 
 the only true worship. In this way onl}', I am fullj' satisfied, can we pre- 
 serve the Union of these States, and secure their unceasing happiness. 
 
 On the 27th of May, 1830, President Jackson returned the 
 Maysville bill to the Senate with a veto message. " This action 
 of the President," says Mr. Tyler, " was hailed with unhounded de- 
 light by the strict constructionists, and the two Houses of Con- 
 gress resounded with his praise." On the next day Mr. Tyler 
 wrote as follows to Senator Tazewell, who was at the time absent 
 from his usual place : 
 
 [Mb. Tyler to Mk. Tazewell. J 
 
 Washinqton, May 28th, 1830. 
 
 My Dear Sib : I enclose you the President's message, rejecting the Mays- 
 ville road-bill. This is good as a first step, and greatly raises my hopes and 
 confidence. The banner of Mr. Clay and of the corruptionists will now be 
 unfurled, and parties will be more distinctly marked. Many of the Ken- 
 tuckians, although all along loud in their menaces, will now rally, and a re- 
 sult similar to that which you aided in achieving in 1798-'99 may flow from 
 this first step. That this may be the case is my most sincere prayer. 
 
 Health and happiness, and assurances of my respect and esteem, 
 
 Very truly yours, John Tyler. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, however, had soon occasion to abate some of his con- 
 fidence in Jackson in this particular. Jackson did, indeed, put an 
 
VIBGINIA BOUNTY-LAJ>fDS. 413 
 
 end to the extension of the speculation in roads and canals, but 
 the "Kiver and Harbor bill" became under him an even greater 
 swindle than the improvement system had been under Adams. 
 
 One other incident among the events of this memorable session 
 must receive a few words of notice ere I pass on to the next. On 
 the 5th of March, 1830, Mr. Tyler moved that the committee on 
 Public Lands be instructed to inquire into the justice and ex- 
 pediency of authorizing those persons, their heirs, or devisees, 
 whose claims to military bounty-lands, under the acts of the Vir- 
 ginia Legislature, remained unsatisfied, to enter their claims on the 
 public lands lying within the States of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. 
 The origin of this motion was as follows : The State of Virginia, 
 loj sundry legislative resolves, commencing at an early period of 
 the Kevolution, had held out inducements in land-bounties for 
 military service. In 1778, the Legislature appropriated for this 
 ^purpose all the lands lying between Green river, the Cumberland 
 mountains, the North Carolina line and the Tennessee and Ohio 
 rivers. To this was added, in 1781, the land lying between the 
 North Carolina line and the Tennessee, Ohio and Mississippi rivers. 
 A further reservation was made in January, 1782, by the act 
 ceding the Northwest, of the tract between the Sciota and the Lit- 
 tle Miami rivers. 
 
 Nevertheless, as apparently bountiful as the provision was 
 thought, circumstances so developed as to render Virginia unable 
 to fulfil the pledges made to her soldiers of the State line. In 
 1789, the district of Kentucky was erected into an independent 
 State ; and, by the terms of the act of her organization, all un- 
 located lands within the district, which stood appropriated by 
 Virginia for military or other services, were to be exempt from 
 Kentucky's disposition until the year 1792, — after which the re- 
 sidue of all lands remaining undisposed of within her limits was 
 to be subject to her exclusive disposition. A serious impediment, 
 however, had crept in the way of the locating of the Virginia 
 land warrants. The Indians in Kentucky threatened war, and the 
 surveys had been postponed at the instance of the district, for fear 
 of exciting them to hostilities. Then, in 1786, the United States 
 made a treaty at Hopewell with the Indians, by which their lands 
 ^ere permanently guaranteed to them. 
 
 It was not until 1818 that the obstacles described above were 
 
414 LETTERS AND TIMES OE THE TTLEES. 
 
 removed. In that year the Indian title was finally extinguished. 
 Accordingly, Mr. B. W. Leigh was sent by Virginia to ask Ken- 
 tucky for permission to survey the land ; but Kentucky pointed 
 to the article in her compact giving her the right to the ex- 
 clusive disposition of the lands undisposed of within her limits 
 after 1792. In vain Virginia insisted that the issuing of the 
 warrant was a disposition of the lands. The most that Kentucky 
 would consent to was to submit the question in dispute to Mr. 
 Clay and Mr. Leigh as a board of arbitrators, reserving the power 
 of ratifying or rejecting. The convention subsequently agreed 
 upon by the commissioners was so fettered with conditions, etc., 
 as to be practically worthless to Virginia, and she rejected it. 
 
 Thus affairs continued until the year 1826. In that year, Kobert 
 Triplett, who was Virginia's agent in Kentucky for bounty-lands, 
 brought the subject to the attention of Mr. Tyler, who was then 
 governor. Mr. Tyler promptly acted upon the hint, and in a 
 message to the General Assembly urged the claims of the soldiers 
 on the liberality of Congress as a matter of right. 
 
 To this claim there would have been in law no defense on the 
 part of the United States, if the act of Assembly of October 23, 
 1783, which authorized the Virginia delegates in Congress to exe- 
 cute the deed of cession of the Northwest Territory, in citing the 
 words of the original grant of January 2, 1782, had not accidentally 
 omitted the words and "upon her own State establishment," 
 thereby confining the benefit of the lands reserved between the 
 Sciota and the Little Miami to the Virginia Continental line. " It 
 might be confidently asserted," said Governor Tyler, in his mes- 
 sage, " that in making that cession this Commonwealth never in- 
 tended that any part of her hardy veterans should in any manner 
 have remained unprovided for. Those of the State line, who 
 were entitled to land-bounty, enlisted for a period not less than 
 three years, and were found fighting by the side of the Continental 
 troops from one extremity of the Confederacy to the other. Their 
 services in the achievement of our independence equally entitle 
 them to the nation's gratitude." ^ 
 
 As it was, the monopoly accidentally granted the Virginia Con- 
 tinental troops had exhausted all the lands of any value in the 
 Northwest reservation, while the amount remaining had been seri- 
 
 1 January 19, 1826, Journal House Delegates, 1825-6, p. 120. 
 
ME. TTLEE MOVES TO GLOUCESTEE COUNTY. 415 
 
 ously diminished by a mistake made in running the boundary line, 
 whereby the United States had sold to settlers a large portion 
 which did not belong to them.^ 
 
 After Mr. Tyler became senator, the Legislature began to act 
 in earnest upon the subject. On the 23d of February, 18'29, they 
 passed a resolution requesting Messrs. Tyler and Tazewell to sound 
 Congress upon the claim. But Mr. Tyler had abeady gone ahead. 
 The motion, hitherto mentioned as submitted by him at this ses- 
 sion, had been made at the last, soon after Congress opened; but 
 the shortness of the session doubtless prevented a report upon it 
 from the Committee on Public Lands.'' A better fortune now at- 
 tended Mr. Tyler''s efforts. On the 17th of March, Mr. Barton, from 
 the committee mentioned, reported a suitable bill, appropriating 
 two hundred and sixty thousand acres, in Illinois, Indiana, and 
 Ohio, in satisfaction of the claims of the Virginia State line. 
 
 The handsome vote given on the engrossment of the bill— thirty- 
 nine to four' — was as graceful an act on the part of Congress as it 
 was indicative of the address of Mr. Tyler, who soothed away every 
 jealousy by his happy manners and personal popularity with mem- 
 bers of both parties in the Senate.^ 
 
 During the recess of Congress Mr. Tyler prepared once more to 
 change residences. A debt due to him from a friend was secured 
 upon property in Gloucester county, situated on the north side of 
 York river. Unable to retain both places, Mr. Tyler disposed of 
 Greenway, for which he had received a favorable offer, and took up 
 his residence at Gloucester Place, in Gloucester county. It was a 
 sad thing to have to leave the old homestead. Out of the love of 
 home springs the love of country, and the Virginians hold both 
 dear and sacred. In removing to Gloucester he did not, however, 
 go into a land of strangers. There were men of sterling worth 
 in Gloucester, — Taliaf erros, Tabbs, Smiths, Joneses, Bryans, and his 
 kinsmen, the SeaweUs, — and they warmly, even enthusiastically, 
 welcomed Mr. Tyler into their midst, and extended him their sup- 
 
 ' See documents accompanying GoTernor"s message. 
 
 ' Senator Tyler's letter to Governor Giles, attending the latter's message, Journal 
 House of Delegates, Session 1829-'30. 
 
 ^ Senate Journal, first session Twentieth Congress, p. 290. 
 
 * See Mr. Tyler's speech, Congr. Debates, first session Twentieth Congress, 
 pp. 421 -'24. 
 
416 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 3)ort. Mr. Tyler continued his law practice there, and his services 
 were eagerly sought after throughout the State, especially in crim- 
 inal cases, for which his tact and eloquence were particularly 
 adapted. Mr. Tyler remained six years in Gloucester, removing 
 thence to Williamsburg, where he was at the time of his election 
 to the vice-presidency. In each place he sojourned he left the 
 proudest monuments behind him in the idolizing feelings of his 
 friends and neighbors, who loved to think of him and speak of 
 him as the type of all that was noble and generous, — in a word, as 
 " Honest John Tyler." 
 
 The second session of the Twenty-first Congress began Decem- 
 ber 6, 1830. It was memorable for many important proceedings. 
 The President, in his message, took notice of the fact that up- 
 ' wards of one hundred and one millions of dollars had been spent 
 for surveys and internal improvements. At the preceding session 
 Forsyth of Georgia had complained that "not a dollar" in the 
 way of improvements had come to his State. ^ Mr. Tyler in his 
 speech at that time alluded to the ten thousand dollars given 
 in aid of the Dismal Swamp Canal as all that Virginia had re- 
 ceived. He now moved that this part of the President's mes- 
 sage be referred to the Committee on Internal Improvement, of 
 which he was a member. In this committee, Mr. Tyler offered a 
 report upon which he had devoted considerable time. The exten- 
 sion which executive patronage, so much complained of, would 
 receive from this source was noticed by him ; ^ but being overruled 
 by the majority of the committee, the report was not presented to 
 Congress, and indeed the committee failed to make any report 
 at all. 
 
 The opposition which Mr. Tyler had shown to the abuse of the 
 civil service by Jackson indicated that the material of which he 
 was made was not the pliant stuff of a partisan. The course of 
 Benton, Blair, Kendall, and others showed him how to act if he 
 wished to go as minister abroad, or receive a fat ofBce at home. 
 These men had been devoted adherents of Henry Clay in 1821. 
 Benton at one time had been engaged in a disgraceful personal 
 rencounter with Jackson, while the other two had known no limit 
 to their coarse and shameful abuse of the nation's pet, not even 
 sparing the reputation of the sacred partner of his bosom. Now 
 
 » Cong. Debates, \i., p. 434. « Cong. Debates, vii., p. 214. 
 
THE TURKISH MISSION. 417 
 
 these men were forgiven all the past, and in return for present 
 services taken warmly to the presidential breast. Benton was his 
 •chief engineer in the Senate, and the distributer of endless patron- 
 age, while Blair and Kendall were snugly set up at "Washington, 
 the one as editor of the new administration paper called the Globe, 
 and the other as fourth auditor. Mr. Tyler preferred a more 
 honorable course. Whatever judgment the world may pass upon 
 the State-rights principles he professed, no man pretending the 
 least regard for truth or justice can deny that he followed his line 
 of duty as closely as it admitted. But a new circumstance, which 
 happened at this session, sets the independence of Mr. Tyler in an 
 «ven more striking light than his opposition to the " editors." 
 
 In September, 1829, in the recess of the Senate, Jackson ap- 
 pointed three commissioners to negotiate a treaty of commerce ' 
 w^ith Turkey. By the Constitution, the president has power only 
 to fill vacancies that may happen between two sessions, by grant- 
 ing commissions, which shall expire at the end of the next ses- 
 sion. The case of the Turkish mission was an original appoint- 
 ment, and Jackson's action, in principle, divested the Senate of its 
 constitutional authority to pass upon the propriety of instituting 
 it. But this was not the worst of the affair. Instead of informing 
 the Senate, at the next succeeding session, of the appointment of 
 the commissioners, as he was required to do, even in the case of 
 an actual vacancy, Jackson allowed a whole session to pass without 
 doing so ; and it was not until the commencement of the session of 
 1830-31 that he condescended to communicate the fact, through 
 the medium of his second annual message. Such a gross infraction 
 of the Constitution and the rights of the Senate demanded the 
 severest reprobation ; and yet such was the servility of party that 
 Mr. Tazewell and Mr. Tyler, who opposed the procedure, did so 
 only at great risk to their political fortunes. The red-hot Jackson 
 men were prepared to justify anything, and clearly showed that 
 their federalism, which was bred in the bone, must come out at 
 the flesh. 
 
 The subject came up before the Senate, in connection with the 
 general appropriation bill for the year. This bill, on its way 
 through the House of Eepresentatives, had excited unusual inter- 
 est, through the attempt made by the opposition to strike out the 
 proposition for the salary of Mr. Bandolph as minister to Eussia. 
 27 
 
418 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 After his appointment as minister to that empire, at the preceding 
 session/ Mr. Randolph had set out for St. Petersburg, where he 
 arrived in due time, and was introduced at court. But the rig- 
 orous climate of Russia was trying upon his health, evermore deli- 
 cate, and after a few days' sojourn, finding that nothing then could 
 be done as to the special subject of his mission, he retired to Eng- 
 land, leaving tlie routine duties of his office to be discharged by 
 his secretary. Mr. Randolph had advanced, from his own personal 
 exchequer, the costs of the necessary outfit, and cases were cited 
 in the House of many other ministers who had drawn money under 
 similar circumstances of absence. The Adams men had reason to 
 remember Randolph, and though they had not said a word when 
 he was sent off, they now exhausted the English language in shame 
 less abuse of him in his absence. But tlie shot rebounded with 
 terrible momentum when it was shown that, during the late admin- 
 istration, the secret service fund was used to pay for services essen- 
 tially diplomatic ; that a practice had grown up in each of the de- 
 partments, under Adams, of liquidating accounts without law and 
 disbursing money without appropriation; and that John Quincy 
 Adams himself had not hesitated to draw salary as minister to 
 Russia, while he was hard at work at Ghent, bringing about the 
 Treaty of Peace in 1814.' 
 
 ' Mr. Benton, writing to Randolph on the 30th of May, 1830, thus announced hia 
 nomination: "Your nomination came up this morning, and was acted on with 
 great promptness. Tyler called it, but before it was called it was understood that 
 the opposition would support it unanimously. This they did, with some degree of 
 empressement. Several voices from their side called the question as soon as Tyler 
 sat down; among them Louisiana Johnston and Webster were most audible. 
 There were no yeas and nays, and nothing^said by any person but Tyler, and only 
 a few words by him, and those, of course, complimentary ; the opposition evi- 
 dently wishing to be observed as supporting it. Everybody is asking me whether 
 you will accept." 
 
 1 See Cambreleng's Speech, Congressional Debates, vii. p. 623 ; Carson's, Ibid., p. 
 639. Mr. W. C. Kives and P. P. Barbour, in Congress, arraigned the government 
 of Adams on the score of extravagance. In a letter to the Enquirer of May 6, 
 1828, Mr. Kives said : " Indeed, is it not the fact, which is not and cannot be con- 
 troverted, that the toliole current expenditures of the government, under the pres- 
 ent administration, exceed the aggregate amount of similar expenditures during 
 an equal period of the last administration by nearly seven millions of doUars at 
 the lowest calculation ? According to the estimate in my speech, the excess is 
 .'!!G,703,833. Mr. Barbour, in his speech, makes it is,C8r,,307, in consequence of 
 excluding the item of military pensions, which I did not exclude ; and the reluct- 
 ant admission of the President, in his message to Congress at the commencement 
 
THE TURKISH MISSION. 419 
 
 It was under these circumstances, agitating to the whole oppo- 
 sition, that the Senate took up the general appropriation bill, as 
 passed by the House on February 9th, 1831, and modified by the 
 Senate Committee on Finance. The attack now proceeded, not 
 from a factious minority, urged on by mean personal resentment, 
 but from the friends of Jackson, — Tazewell and Tyler, — who saw 
 in the sixth amendment, providing compensation to the commis- 
 sioners employed in negotiating the treaty with Turkey, an ad- 
 mission, on the part of the Senate, of a power in the President to 
 appoint to a new mission. The senior representative from Vir- 
 ginia, therefore, moved to strike out such part of it as contained 
 this admission. The motion being resisted by Messrs. Smith and 
 others, Mr. Tazewell defended his amendment in a speech of 
 surpassing power and eloquence. To this speech Mr. Livingston 
 rejoined, on the next day, in his usual able manner, beginning his 
 speech with a commentary upon the severity of Mr. Tazewell in 
 denouncing the whole transaction, and referred to the treaties 
 entered into with the Barbary States under Washington, Adams, 
 Jefferson and Madison, as well as those negotiated through the 
 various Secretaries of State, as convincing proofs of the legality of 
 the President's late action. 
 
 Mr. Tyler took up the cudgel dropped by Mr. Tazewell and re- 
 plied to Mr. Livingston. He remarked upon the excitement of 
 feeling which the language of Mr. Tazewell had raised in the 
 mind of the honorable senator. His colleague required no aid 
 from him or any other individual, but he would say "that if either 
 his colleague or himself used expressions not familiar to the ears 
 
 of the session, that the expenditures of the last year exceeded its receipts by the 
 sum of nine hundred thousand dollars, which he calls a small excess. Are not 
 these facts sufEcient, in themselves, to stamp with reprobation and discredit all 
 the vain pretenses of economy on the part of the friends of the present adminis- 
 tration ?" 
 
 "You will see," said Mr. Kives, "from Mr. Barbour's speech, a copy of 
 which I sent you, that the amount of secret service expenditures, during two 
 years and nine months of Mr. Adams' administration, had been #10,624.68, while 
 the whole amount expended for secret service, from the beginning to the end of 
 Monroe's eight years, was only $.5,630, and that in the short interval of thirteen 
 days, indeed, to-wit, from the 8th to the 21st of November last, Mr. Adams ex- 
 pended 88,958 for secret service, being 13,328 more than Mr. Monroe expended 
 during the whole period of his administration. Having seen and examined the 
 official vouchers on which Mr. Barbour's statement is founded, I know it to be en- 
 tirely correct." 
 
420 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEKS. 
 
 of coiu-tiers, he must excuse their rusticity, and ascribe their fault 
 to their course of education and the land they came from." Mr. 
 Livingston had iutimated that it would have been better to carry 
 on this discussion in secret session. Mr. Tyler said he differed 
 with him in this as in much else. Every senator could testify 
 that Mr. Tazewell, in a day or two after taking his seat, had an- 
 nounced his opposition to the com-se pursued in regard to the late 
 mission at Constantinople. The Secretary of State knew of their 
 opposition at an early day, and yet, instead of providing by private 
 biU for compensation recognized by the Senate as due them by 
 the ratification of the treaty, a provision had been thrust pub- 
 licly into the general appropriation bill, not only providing 
 for their compensation, but carrying with it a justification of the 
 usurpation of the President. It was, therefore, altogether proper 
 that the debate should occur in this place. "Here, before the 
 world," cried Mr. Tyler, "the attack should be made. In the 
 face of the world our reasons should be given for our course of 
 conduct." 
 
 Mr. Tyler said he was aware of the hue and cry that would be 
 raised at their heels. A similar fate would befall them as had 
 been the case at the last session in the matter of the editors. 
 Hard names were bestowed upon Mr. Tazewell and himself; 
 abuse copiously poured out upon their heads ; their motives were 
 assailed and misrepresented; theii- designs explained as dark and 
 evil. This had continued now for twelve months. His colleague, 
 who had been an actor in the spirit-stirring times of 1798-'9, was 
 denounced as an old Federalist. It was a consolation to know that 
 these attacks had not come from Virginia, but, in all their violence, 
 from one particular State. "Sir," said Mr. Tyler, "parties may 
 succeed, and will succeed, each other ; stars that shine with brilli- 
 ancy to-day may be struck from their spheres to-morrow ; convul- 
 sion may follow convulsion ; the battlements may rock about us, 
 and the storm rage in its wildest fury ; but while the Constitution 
 is preserved inviolate, the liberties of the country will be secure ! 
 When we are asked to lay down the Constitution upon the shrine 
 of party, our answer is that the price demanded is too great." 
 
 Mr. Tyler refuted the arguments of Mr. Livingston seriatim. 
 The cases cited by him were either those occwivmg flagrante hello 
 ■with the power treated with, or cases of compacts entered into 
 
THE TURKISH MISSION. 421 
 
 with pii-atical hordes, the dependents of some other sovereignty. 
 The treaties made by the Secretary of State were those made by 
 an oflBcer charged with the diplomatic relations of the country, 
 and to make the cases parallel, the Secretary of State would have 
 to be commissioned to a foreign country or appointed Secretary of 
 State without the sanction or authority of the Senate. But the 
 thrust was annihilating when Mr. Tyler referred to the record of 
 the Democratic party on the Panama question. Adams' claim to 
 appoint agents to the South American Congress had been met by 
 a resolution denying the same, which was supported by four mem- 
 bers of Jackson's cabinet. Branch, the Secretary of the Navy, 
 had moved the resolution, and Van Buren had supported it, while 
 Berrien and Eaton had recorded their names against the proposi- 
 tion to lay the same on the table, which, according to Mr. Tazewell, 
 had passed by a bare majority, the'members regarding the question 
 as an abstract one, since the President, while asserting the power, 
 had expressly waived its exercise, and had submitted his nomina- 
 tions to the Senate. 
 
 In concluding, Mr. Tyler offered an amendment, intended to 
 meet his objections. The negotiators of the treaty with Turkey 
 were to be remunerated for their services as work performed and 
 ratified, but a proviso was added, " that nothing in this act contained 
 shall be construed as sanctioning, or in any way approving, the ap- 
 pointment of these persons by the President alone, during the re- 
 cess of the Senate, and without their advice and consent, as commis- 
 sioners to negotiate a treaty with the Ottoman Porte." Messrs. 
 Brown, Tazewell, Livingston, Forsyth and Smith followed Mr. 
 Tyler, and on February 25, the amendment of Mr. Tyler was 
 adopted by a vote of twenty-five ayes to eighteen noes. Several 
 other administration members, as Hayne and Poindexter, voted 
 with Tazewell and Tyler. 
 
 Mr. Ritchie, of the Enquirer, in his issue of March 10th, 
 thus commented upon the character of Mr. Tyler's speech: "He 
 liked the principle which it laid down, but would have been bet- 
 ter pleased if, instead of confining his protest to this single case, 
 he had extended it to all other precedents since the year '95, and 
 been more friendly towards the administration." "Mr. Tyler's 
 manner" said Mr. Eitchie, " is unfortunate, and not so friendly as 
 it might have been, and the more so because it has given some 
 
422 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 handle to the opposition papers to mispresent himself as well as 
 Yirginia. At this moment, when we have so much division in 
 our ranks, what do these papers say ? They refer to the speeches 
 of Messrs. Tazewell and Tyler as tlie signs of further distraction." 
 Virginia, during this period, was too much wedded to constitu- 
 tional principle to see anything to censure in the course of her 
 two senators; and the public dinner given at this time to them 
 evinces the virtuous approval of their constituents: 
 
 [To Littleton Wallek Tazewell.] 
 
 Gloucester, May 8, 1831. 
 
 My Deah Sir : Your letter of the 29th April, accompanied by your speech 
 on the Turkish embassy, reached me on yesterday. The time which passed 
 between its date and reception will give you a knowledge of my situation in 
 regard to correspondents. The northern mail brings me a letter in a direct 
 line from Fredericksburg, and intelligence from Washington is received in a 
 shorter time than from Richmond, the mail from the former being tri-weekly, 
 and from the last weekly. Your letter took the circuit by Richmond, and 
 hence its delay. In future address me at York, from which I am distant but 
 five miles, and I will have measures taken to ensure me the early delivery of 
 your letters. 
 
 In all Virginia, so far as my knowledge extends, our course on the Turkish 
 mission meets with decided approval. Your speech came out in the very nick 
 of time, for Ritchie, afraid to make war upon us openly, had attempted to 
 strike us a blow covertly and disguisedly. Our principles were right, but our 
 manner was offensive. He had hoped by this declaration to rally against us 
 all the red-hot Jackson men, those who regard name and not substance, and 
 he was silly enough to believe that a majority in this State was of this charac- 
 ter; but your speech drove him from this partial lodgement, and his approval 
 became cordial (I mean apparently) and unqualified. I desired much to have 
 seen you before responding to the invitation to the public dinner, proposed to 
 have been given in Richmond, as I esteemed it highly important that we 
 should act in unison, but the illness of Mrs. Tyler, which occurred the very 
 day after I reached my new residence, and from which she is but now slowly 
 recovering, prevented it. She was so very ill upon my receiving the invita- 
 tion that I was left but one course to pursue, and that was to decline its ac- 
 ceptance. I chose, therefore, to rest upon that alone, being altogether suf- 
 ficient in itself, although I had urged upon some of our joint friends on my 
 way down somewhat similar objections to those contained in your letter to 
 the committee. So much for occurrences affecting us individuallj' and jointly. 
 
 The resignation of Van Buren and Eaton came upon me, I confess, unex- 
 pectedly. I was prepared to expect movements against the friends of Cal- 
 houn in the cabinet, but had not expected that matters would have taken 
 the course they have. It is a bold cast on the part of the Secretary for the 
 support of the Jackson party, while he seeks to secure to himself, through his 
 
QUAEKEL BETWEEN JACKSON AND CALHOUN. 423 
 
 friends, who are doubtless to be raised to the high ofSces, the whole executive 
 influence of the government. The Enquirer loses no time sounding his 
 praise for magnanimity and disinterestedness; but after having seen the 
 Secretary with instructions in his pocket, liable to be construed after any 
 manner he might please, sheltering himself behind them for his tariff vote of 
 1828, I can but regard his motives as the result of anything else than 
 magnanimity, etc. His resignation relieves him from all embarrassment pro- 
 ceeding from the President's course in future, gets rid of " the Secretary's suc- 
 cession," and displaces from the cabinet three political opponents. What 
 deeper game could any man have played ? Whether success shall attend it or 
 not, time only can determine. 
 
 A private letter from Washington intimates the intention to be, to run him 
 for vice-president ; but will this be ventured on by the friends of the Presi- 
 dent ? This is also your conjecture, and I remember you expressed it to me 
 twelve months ago ; but in the present state of parties, might not the Presi- 
 dent be utterly demolished by the association? — if he does not demolish 
 himself without it, which I consider extremely probable. My own impres- 
 sion is, that he will prefer to go abroad, and thus get rid of that appellation 
 which is universally assigned him at home. The " great magician " will ever- 
 more be looked upon with an eye of jealousy and suspicion by the public 
 here, and the name must be utterly sunk before he can hope to overcome its 
 malign influence. Your conjectures may, however, be more nearly founded 
 in truth, and he may content himself with playing for the stakes in New 
 York ; and securing them, may ultimately be inclined to act in concert with 
 men of other parties. 
 
 Judge White is spoken of confidentially for the War Department, with a 
 view to the successful management of the Indians. This is the reason assigned 
 by the press as proceeding from the President; and then he will be regarded 
 merely as the Secretary of War, having no influence over general politics. 
 Livingston is to be the man to rule the roost, forsooth ; and if his counsel pre- 
 vails, the Constitution may be construed as he attempted in the oases of Ful- 
 ton's heirs and the Turkish commission — to mean anything and everything. 
 McLane will manage the finances ; but how can he ever be, as a politician, 
 acceptable to the South, with his notions of tariff and internal improvement? 
 I do not believe that Barbour will accept the attorney-generalship. If Hayne 
 had been called to the Navy Department, then, indeed, would I have become 
 somewhat confident that the President drew no discriminations ; but I fatigue 
 you with my speculations, which may not be worth the trouble of your peru- 
 sal; and with the request that you will write to me freely and unreservedly, 
 whenever your convenience will permit or occasion require, 
 
 I am, dear sir, very truly yotir friend and servant, John Ttlee. 
 
 The affair of the Turkish mission was cotemporaneous with 
 a public rupture between the President and Vice-President — 
 Jackson and Calhoun. Van Buren, the Secretary of State, is be- 
 lieved to have been at the bottom of it. Information was conveyed 
 
424 LETTEES AND TIMES OP THE TYLEES. 
 
 to Jackson, through a roundabout process, that Adams alone, in 
 the cabinet of Monroe, had defended his conduct in the Seminole 
 war. This was contrary to Jackson's previous understanding. He 
 had been grateful to Calhoun, because of the impression that the 
 Vice-President had been his champion on that occasion. Jackson 
 now accused Calhoun of deception, and gave him plainly to under- 
 stand that friendly relations between them were over forever. 
 
 Calhoun made a labored reply, proved that no deception had ever 
 been practised by him ; but in justifying himself, set the bad ex- 
 ample of revealing cabinet secrets. However, the result would 
 have been the same, whatever he had done. In February, 1831, 
 Calhoun published his "book," as it was sneeringly called — -a pam- 
 phlet of fifty pages octavo, containing his late correspondence 
 with the President, and a mass of letters, statements and cer- 
 tificates illustrative thereof. " The President's retort," says Par- 
 ton, "was prompt, adroit, audacious and overwhelming. By a 
 series of skillful movements, he shelved the three members of his 
 cabinet — Messrs. Ingham, Branch and Berrien — who were Mr. 
 Calhoun's friends and political allies. This was done about a 
 month after the adjournment of Congress, long enough after the 
 publication of Mr. Calhoun's pamphlet for it to have been well 
 ridiculed in the administration papers, and nine months before 
 there could be any trouble with the Senate respecting confirma- 
 tions. The obnoxious members were to take a hint from the res- 
 ignation of Mr. Van Buren and Mr. Eaton, General Jackson's 
 friends." The latter were, of course, to be provided for elsewhere. 
 Eaton resigned April Y, 1831, and Mr. Van Buren four days after. 
 But the friends of Calhoun understood the design, and waited to 
 be dismissed. A pretext was furnished the President to gratify 
 them in this, in the wives of the recalcitrant members refusing to 
 visit Mrs. Eaton — an especial protege of Jackson. Parton devotes 
 eighty-five pages octavo to developing the intrigue through air its 
 windings. The judgment of the unprejudiced reader must be, that 
 the men around Jackson were a hard set ! 
 
 Jackson re-organized his cabinet, and made Edward Livingston 
 secretary of state, Louis McLane secretary of the treasury, Lewis 
 Cass secretary of war, and Levi Woodbury secretary of the navy. 
 The State-rights men were thus left entirely out in the cold, and 
 the government placed under the full control of the simon-pure 
 
VAN bueen's rejection. 425- 
 
 democrats and politicians of the Five Points, — worse than any 
 Federalists of the Adams stripe, whose rules of narrow expediency 
 proceeded at least from the top downward, while theirs only did 
 fi'om the mire and the mud upward. 
 
 The scandal about Mrs. Eaton, the schism in the cabinet, and 
 the quarrel between Calhoun and Jackson formed the general to- 
 pics of discussion during the whole summer. The opposition was 
 inspired with new hopes, and the State-rights men proportionally 
 cast down. All the promises of the late victory, to which they 
 had contributed so materially, seemed to be threatened with dis- 
 appointment. 
 
 The Twenty-second Congress, as may be imagined, met amid the 
 greatest excitement. Mr. Tyler had predicted, on the first news 
 of Van Buren's resignation, that Van Buren would seek to sink 
 the jealousies raised against him by going abroad. Early in the 
 next session, Jackson nominated him as minister to England. A 
 great political battle over his confirmation immediately arose. 
 The opposition showed as little sagacity and common-sense in 
 attacking the nomination as they did the previous year in object- 
 ing to remunerating Randolph for his services. It thereby 
 enabled Van Buren to sink the odium of his name without the 
 trouble of a long stay abroad. All of Jackson's nature was put in a 
 blaze in defense of his friend, and the flames were never subdued 
 until he had made Van Buren both vice-president and president. 
 Those of the opposition who took the lead in opposing the nomi- 
 nation alleged as a reason for not confirming his appointment the 
 character of the instructions sent out by Van Buren, as secretary 
 of state, to Mr. McLane, in 1829, on the subject of re-opening the 
 negotiations concerning the West India trade. By the convention 
 of 1815, a reciprocity of intercourse was established between us 
 and Great Britain, by which the ships of both countries were al- 
 lowed to pass to and from each other, respectively, with the same 
 cargoes and subject to the same duties. But this arrangement 
 did not extend to the British West Indies. Various discriminat- 
 ing and retaliatory acts were passed by the United States to force 
 the opening of the West Indies. The effect was manifested in an 
 act of the British parliament, in 1825, which offered to permit 
 our vessels to clear from thence like British vessels, and proceed 
 to any part of the world except Great Britain and her dependen- 
 
4:26 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 cies. The offer was to remain open one year. Mr. Adams' ad- 
 ministration did not accept the offer, and, after the year was out, 
 England issued a proclamation closing the ports of the West In- 
 dies to American vessels. 
 
 The Jackson party reprobated the policy of Adams, stigmatized 
 it as a gross neglect of vital interests, and Van Buren, in his in- 
 structions to McLane, sent minister to England in 1829, made the 
 change of politics in America the basis of a reopening of negotia- 
 tions. Holmes, Clay, Webster, and others of the National Repub- 
 licans in the Senate objected to this, on the ground that it would 
 cause foreign nations to look to our internal party contests as cri- 
 teria of our foreign policy. Poindexter and others of the State- 
 rights members joined in these objections, and together made them 
 a sufficient reason for the non-confirmation of Yan Buren. Yet it 
 was replied with crushing reason, that however objectionable the 
 instructions sent by Yan Buren, the Secretary of State acted only 
 under the President's authority, and could in no wise be held re- 
 sponsible for the acts of the chief magistrate. On the question 
 Yan Buren was rejected by the casting vote of Calhoun. Mr. 
 Tyler voted for him, "not that he liked the man overmuch," but 
 first, because there was no safe principle to proceed upon that could 
 distinguish his case from the notoriously factious opposition of the 
 National Eepublicans, who opposed everything favored by the ad- 
 ministration ; and secondly, because he was certain that Yan Bu- 
 ren's rejection could only enure to his further advancement, — a re- 
 sult which, equally with Clay's, he did not desire to see. 
 
 [To Egbert Tyler. J 
 
 Washington, February 2, 1832. 
 Mt Son : Your last letter gives me further evidence of your application to 
 your studies, and therefore affords me much pleasure. To witness your ad- 
 vance in knowledge, and that of your sisters and brothers, will constitute the 
 charm of my future life, and so far I have much reason to be satisfied. Your 
 admiration of the style of Hume is every way just, for undoubtedly few 
 writers have ever equalled him ; but what then ?— are all others to be thrown 
 aside because they cannot rival him in beauty and richness ? This will not 
 do, for then your reading would become too circumscribed. Smollett is very 
 inferior in both these respects, but he nevertheless gives you a true narrative 
 of facts ; and you are now in pursuit o{ facts. You want a knowledge of the 
 history of England, and you can only obtain that knowledge by reading the 
 books containing it. Do not halt, therefore, because the writer may be some- 
 what dull or prolix, but encounter him with resolution, resolving to get from 
 
VAN BUEEN ELECTED VICE-PEESIDENT. 427 
 
 him, for the labor he imposes, all he can give you. I would have you form 
 your own style upon the chaste and pure model of Swift, Addison and Hume ; 
 but these are rarx aves in terra, — all admire, while few attain their excel- 
 lence. 
 
 The newspapers are full of the rejection by the Senate of Mr. Van Buren 
 as minister to England. Mr. Tazewell and myself voted for him, and now 
 the papers that have all along abused us come out in our praise. Mr. Ritchie 
 cannot, however, praise us equally. He extols Mr. Tazewell most without 
 knowing anything of the part which I have borne. The truth is, that from the 
 first of the session I have exerted myself to procure his confirmation. While 
 I admitted that much of suspicion attached to him ou account of recent oc- 
 currences, yet I did not think it wise or proper to rest on mere suspicion in 
 rejecting him. He was qualified for the place, and I therefore voted for him. 
 
 The Globe, a paper published here, and established by Van Buren, after 
 having greatly abused us heretofore, comes out now and extols, and talks of 
 the moral influence of the Virginia senators. Now, my son, I venture the 
 prediction, that at the end of twenty years, if not sooner, the correctness of 
 our course here will be fully and entirely acknowledged, — our vote against 
 appointing printers to office by the President, and the effort we have made 
 to restrain the power of the President in appointing to office without the 
 advice and consent of the Senate. Take care of this letter, so that you may 
 see how the thing works with time, when you may the more fully understand 
 my meauing. 
 
 I have very little more to say. The weather has again softened, and we 
 have a clear sky, although the snow and ice still remain. Tell Gregory' to 
 bestir himself — to make everything move — to haul manure — maul rails — 
 attend to the stock — give the most particular attention to the steers — and to 
 take especial care of the corn. The horses ought now to be in good order. 
 If " Jim" has the swelling on the shoulder still, and no prospect of its being 
 cured soon, he had better sell him for what he can get for him. Tell Mr. 
 Seawell to pass judgment on him. The mischievous sow ought to be put in 
 a pen by the kitchen with her pigs ; they might be raised to be fine hogs with 
 attention. Let me know how they come on shucking corn. 
 
 Your father, John Ttleb. 
 
 Mr. Tyler was a good prophet. Plis predictions to Tazewell 
 were fulfilled to the letter. The " Kitchen Cabinet " around Jack- 
 son sounded the cry that the vindication of the President demanded 
 his own renomination as president and the nomination of Yan Buren 
 as vice-president. Accordingly, at the convention which met at 
 Baltimore, May 21, 1832, following speedily the action of the 
 Senate, the Democratic ticket was so made up. At the election 
 which ensued, Jackson got two hundred and nineteen votes out of 
 
 ' The overseer at Gloucester Place. 
 
428 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYXEES. 
 
 a total of two hundred and eighty-six, and Van Buren one hundred 
 and eighty-nine. 
 
 I close this chapter with two interesting letters of Mr. Tyler to- 
 his eldest daughter: 
 
 [To Mart Ttlm.J 
 
 Washington, Dec. 28, 1831. 
 
 Mt Deak Daughter : Tour letter was duly received, and I am pleased 
 that you have set in with the resolution of writing with regularity. Nothing- 
 contributes more to the attainment of excellence in anything than practice. 
 Your determination to read Malte Brun is well formed ; for profound know- 
 ledge of our planet, no book can well be superior ; but to profit by the study 
 of it, you must, while engaged in it, abstract yourself from everything else, 
 and after reading it, your mind should dwell upon what you have read, and 
 every effort be used to impress it firmly on the memory. He is a most at- 
 tractive writer, and is full of information. Sidney's treatise on government 
 is written in a style which a child may understand. It will develop to you 
 the elements of society, — the principles and motives which impelled men to 
 enter into government, — and thence enable you to deduce the rights of man. 
 Tou will remember that for the writing of that book he was brought to the 
 scaffold, in the reign, I believe, of the second Charles. I abstain, however, from 
 any further remarks at this time, waiting until you fairly get into the work 
 for your remarks upon it. 
 
 I saw to-day a full set, consisting of fifty odd volumes, of Voltaire's works,, 
 in French, and was strongly tempted to buy them for you, but believed that 
 the translation of them might impose upon you too severe a task. If I should 
 meet with them in English, and be able to get them cheap, I think I shall 
 buy them. I hope you have received the " Bravo," both volumes of which I 
 have forwarded heretofore by mail, although your mother writes me that they 
 had not reached you on the 23d inst. Say to her that her last letter has been 
 received, which proves that it is better to send by the way of Gloucester 
 Court House. 
 
 What sort of a Christmas have you all had? Were you invited to Major 
 Cleverius' or not ? If you were, what sort of a party was it ? — in short, tell me 
 all about it. I passed a dull, heavy time of it, having been in my room all 
 day. In truth, up to this time, I have been out but once, and that to dine 
 with Judge Mangum, from North Carolina, a, member of the Senate. I never 
 saw Washington more dull. Mr. Livingston was to have had a large soiree, 
 but was prevented by the sudden illness of a young lady of his household. 
 The President's drawing-room was thrown open on Monday, the day after 
 Christmas, but I learn that very few persons attended. Mrs. Donelson has 
 been at the Senate chamber once. She is about the size of your mother, and of 
 a delicate appearance. She adds to her height by wearing in her bonnet three 
 waving ostrich feathers. Very few ladies have as yet attended the Senate, al- 
 though our galleries have been continually filled with men. 
 
 Mr. Clay carries his head very loftily. Age has bleached it very much, but 
 
LETTERS TO MAEY TTLEE. 429 
 
 iiis voice is as musical as ever, and his manners asiattractive. He stands no 
 ■chance to beat " Old Hickory," and I incline to believe that he has no ex- 
 pectation of doing so. On Tuesday night General Green gives a party, to 
 which I am invited ; but whether I shall go or not depends upon my feelings 
 at the time. Poor Duff is nearly flat here, although I think it quite probable 
 that he will sooner or later float to the surface again. 
 
 I have thus run through all the rigmarole of Washington, and have, in con- 
 ■clusion, merely to recommend to you, my dear daughter, to observe the old 
 maxim, " to make hay while the sun shines." Seek assiduously to improve 
 jour mind. The next twelve months are an important period to you, and you 
 should devote yourself almost exclusively to the acquisition of knowledge. 
 Should it be your fate in an after day to enter on the theatre of the world in 
 an elevated rank of society, you will be able to adorn it as it should be ; or 
 should you be destined to live in a more retired sphere, you will have resources 
 within yourself which will enliven all around you and contribute to your own 
 happiness. Morality is true wisdom and the foundation of all happiness, and 
 its fountain flows from the Creator himself, and is manifested on earth by the 
 practice of all the virtues. 
 
 Adieu, my dear child, and write to me regularly. 
 
 Your affectionate father, J. Tyler. 
 
 Misses Letty and Lizzie : If you do not learn your books and be obedient 
 and good girls, I shall not love you. You, Miss Letty, do what is right, and 
 Lizzie will follow your example; but if she is a bad girl, don't do. Miss 
 Lizzie, as she does, but do what is right and becoming. Father thinks mighty 
 -often of little Alice, and hopes that she does not cry much now. 
 
 [To Mart Tyleb.] 
 
 Washington, April 20, 1832. 
 
 Mt Dear Daughter : I received your letter the day before yesterday, and 
 was gratified to learn that you had been so cordially received by the in- 
 habitants of the old city. The season for gaiety has doubtless passed by 
 there as it has done here, but you will possess enough of enjoyment in the 
 family circle of our valued and excellent relatives. I could not desire that 
 better models of all that is proper and becoming in life should be set be- 
 fore you. I regretted to learn the destruction of the old capitol by fire. With 
 it were associated so many proud recollections of history, that I looked always 
 upon it as upon a monument of past fame. Its ruins will nevertheless serve 
 to designate to the way-farer the spot where once stood that building in which 
 Patrick Henry first raised his voice against British misrule ; and for one I 
 shall never cease to regard it as a sacred spot. I regretted much to hear of 
 Judge Brown's indisposition, and hope that he is again restored to health. 
 
 You say that enquiries are often made of you as to my opinions on various 
 political subjects. If you knew them, upon many it might be improper to 
 ■divulge them. There are enough persons who would be inclined to turn your 
 declarations to bad account in reference to myself. Speak of me always as a 
 Jackson man whenever you are questioned, and say that in regard to Van 
 
430 LETTBES AKD TIMES OE THE TTLEES. 
 
 BureD, Calhoun, etc., etc., they are matters with which I do not deal ; that 
 you have reason to believe that I am directed exclusively hy reference to the 
 public interests, and not by men. In this way those who make enquiries 
 will be readily satisfied, and be no wiser than they were before questioning 
 you. In truth, you can give no other answer without falling into error. Our 
 session promises to be almost interminable. Neither House is doing any 
 good, and the House of Eepresentatives are engaged in trying Grovernor 
 Houston of Tennessee, for assaulting a Mr. Stanberry in the streets , and 
 from the manner in which they get along, I should not be surprised if they 
 were thus engaged for a month. The ladies are admitted on the floor of the 
 -House, and the crowd which flocks there daily is very great, while, at the 
 same time, the galleries are filled to overflowing. There is a strong mani- 
 festation of a disposition on the part of the majority to punish him, but many 
 nice questions will arise before they are done with it. Stevenson is spoken 
 of as minister to England, but the appointment will not take place until next 
 winter. This is all the political news. 
 
 I have seen Maria but once since she has been here. Yesterday evening I 
 rode to Germantown to see her, but she had gone the evening before to Alex- 
 andria, to witness Miss Clara Fisher's performance at the theatre, and yester- 
 day to Mt. Vernon. She seems to be resolved to see everything that is to be 
 seen while here. I hope that my dear daughter will pass a pleasant time in 
 Williamsburg, and have every reason to be gratified with her trip. Write to 
 me often. Your father, John Tyler. 
 
 Alice was much better when I heard from home. 
 
CHAPTEE XIV. 
 
 1832—1833. 
 
 "Mr. Tyler was re-elected by the Legislature of Virginia to the Senate of the United 
 States, to serve from the 4th of March, 1833. He had sustained General Jackson in vetoing 
 the United States Bank charter, and he had, in his speech on the Force bill, suggested the 
 mode of compromising the conflict of nullification with the tariff for protection, and, of 
 course, sustained Mr. Clay in his great measure of paciflcatlon, the Compromise Bill of 
 1833."— Hkbry a. Wise, Seven Decades, p. 135. 
 
 "Mr. Tyler alone had the honor of voting against the Force bill, while Mr. Clay, who 
 raised the demon, got the credit of exorcising him. He would have pressed protection to a 
 conflict of arms, but that he knew that Jackson, his worst enemy, would win all the popu- 
 larity of preserving peace."— Hknky A. Wise, Se\>en Decades, p. 120. 
 
 Ketiew of the Taklff Question — The Taeitp in 1789, in 1 816, in 1820, in 1824, 
 IN 1828. — The Tahitf of 1832. — Speech of Clay. — Eeply of Me. Tylee. — 
 Commendations of Maeshall and Madison. — Discontent of the. South. — 
 Nullification. — JResignation of Tazewell. — Me. Tylee's Lettee to Taze- 
 well. — Okdinance of Nullification. — Rites Elected in Tazewell's Place. — 
 The Peoolamation. — Veeplanck's Bill. — Tylee to Tazewell. --Agitation 
 IN Vieginia. — Effoets to Defeat Me. Tylee's Ee-Election. — Eepoet of the 
 Committee on Federal Relations. — John H. Pleasants to Me. Tylee. — 
 Floyd's Message. — B. W. Leigh Commissionee to South Caeolina. — Me. 
 Tylee's Election Postponed. — His Speech Against the Foeoe Bill. — James 
 McDowell. — Re-Election of Me. Tyleb. — Me. Tylee beings about the Gom- 
 PEOMiSE. — Vote upon the Fokce Bill. — The Compeomise Adopted. — Rejoic- 
 ings op the South. — Dinnee to Me. Tylee at Gloccestee Couet-house. —Me. 
 Tylee's Eulogy on Clay, in 1860. 
 
 BY the convention at Annapolis, in 1786, the Virginia Legis- 
 lature had intended to confer upon Congress a power to 
 levy duties on imports, for the purposes of revenue and the coun- 
 tervailing of foreign restrictions. The first tariff, in 1789, im- 
 posed an average duty of five per cent. — the same as that which 
 Congress had, for several years previous, importuned the States 
 to grant to it, to replenish the empty exchequer. Eates va- 
 ried from this time until 1816, when duties on cotton and woolen 
 goods imported averaged twenty per cent. In the preamble to 
 the Act of 1789, one of the objects alleged for the imposition of 
 
432 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 duties was the encouragement of manufactures.^ But this had 
 been always understood to mean such protection as incidentally 
 arose from a wise selection among aU the articles of import. 
 
 In 1820, the issue of protection was for the first time directly 
 raised. Mr. Tyler was then a member of Congress, and has the 
 distinction of having opened the debate against the proposed in- 
 crease in favor of Northern manufactures. He told the friends 
 of the move that they were grossly mistaken, if they believed that 
 this was all which would be required at the hands of the Legisla- 
 ture. It was the incipient measure of a system. After a few 
 years they would be assailed again. An increase of duties would 
 tempt new investitures of capital in manufactures, and in the 
 course of a very short time the profits of capital would settle 
 down to their old level. Then the manufacturers would speak to 
 Congress, not in the tone of prayer, but dictation. They would 
 demand, as of right, the protection of the millions which they had 
 invested under the countenance and favor of Congress. 
 
 So long as justice and good sense could hold a place in Congress, 
 and the latter be uninfluenced by political considerations, the coun- 
 try was safe. The uncontested election of Monroe was unfavorable 
 to the manufacturers, and Mr. Tyler had the satisfaction, in 1820, 
 of seeing these ravenous birds of the air fly to their homes, cheated 
 of their prey. The political scramble in 1824 presented a diiferent 
 condition of affairs. The manufacturers came again; neither the 
 , supporters of Adams, Jackson, Clay, or Calhoun dared to displease 
 them, and the rates on cotton and woolen goods was raised to thirty- 
 three and one-third per cent. By this act, said Mr. Tyler, Virginia 
 was drained each year of more than $2,000,000. Next followed the 
 burden of the tariff of 1828, which laid on cotton and woolen cloth 
 a duty of between forty-five and fifty per cent. The Southerners 
 voted with Pennsylvania and Ohio in favor of high taxes on raw 
 materials, being chiefly concerned about finished goods, and hop- 
 ing to so weigh down the bill as to drive many of the Eastern 
 men to voting with them against the bill as a whole. In these 
 hopes, as already seen, they were disappointed. The bill passed 
 into law; but they succeeded at least in depriving the administra- 
 tion of all political capital hoped to be gained by the measure. 
 
 ' Laws of the United States, i., p. 2, (Bioren & Duaue, Ed. 1815.) 
 
EEVIEW OF THE TARIFF LAWS. 433 
 
 The tariff bill, as amended, was a poor incentive to electioneering, 
 since it was accepted by tlie representatives from New Englan'd 
 solely on the ground that the good barely exceeded the evil of its 
 provisions. 
 
 The dissatisfaction of the North, however, did not help the 
 South any. It did, indeed, show to the most biased minds the 
 odiousness of the protective system; but provided the manufac- 
 turers were, on the whole, willing to support the bill, that 
 amounted to nothing. The passage of a bill b}- a Northern ma- 
 jority, for the sake of a doubtful difference between the good and 
 the evil to their own local interests, and despite the clamors and 
 complaints of an entire section of the country on which it imposed 
 enormous contributions, proved conclusively that there was little 
 justice to be obtained from either the government of their fore- 
 fathers or their confederates in union. The South more and more 
 felt the weight of Grayson's language in the convention of 1788, 
 that the new government would operate " as a faction of seven 
 States to oppress the rest of the Union," and that the nominal 
 representation allowed the South in Congress would " serve only 
 as a pretence to injure and destroy."' 
 
 But when these general clamors from the South were reinforced 
 by the solemn protests of the General Assemblies, and a deaf 
 ear was turned to them also, many of the more ardent citizens be- 
 gan to think of more decisive measures. Virginia had consistently 
 denounced the tariff since 1820. In 1825, the South CaroKna 
 Legislature followed suit. During the session of lS27-'8, while 
 the " tariff of abominations " was before Congress, South Carolina, 
 Georgia and Virginia expressed their solemn objections to the 
 constitutionality of laws made in the interest of protection. At 
 the session of 1828-'9, Virginia passed resolutions affirming the 
 iioctrines of 1798-9, that the Union was a compact between 
 sovereign States, and that, as such, each State had a right to con- 
 strue the compact for itself. She declared her unalterable attach- 
 ment to the Union, but insisted that the tariff ought to be repealed. 
 In 1830, a bill was passed by Congress, making the custom- 
 house appraisal more rigorous and effective. The efforts made by 
 McDuffie at this session, to reduce all duties on woolens and cot- 
 tons to about the rates of the tariff of 1820, proved entirely abor- 
 
 'EUiot, iii., p., 282. 
 28 
 
434 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 tive. The patience of South Carolina commenced to wear out; 
 and the eloquent Hayne was her chosen instrument, in 1830, to 
 advance her remedy of nullification, which he did in his celebrated 
 debate with Webster. This, together with the approaching presi- 
 dential election, rendered the succeeding session of 1831-'32 one 
 of absorbing interest on the question of the tariff. 
 
 Not long after Congress came together, the National Republi- 
 cans met at Baltimore, and nominated Henry Clay on a strong 
 bank and tariff platform. At a conference of his supporters, he 
 proposed to reduce the revenue taxes on tea, coffee, and wine, and 
 such other articles as did not come into competition with articles 
 produced in this country. His object was to take away from 
 Jackson the credit of paying off the national debt, — at least until 
 the election went by. On January 10, 1832, he proposed a resolu- 
 tion in the Senate to this effect. Mr. Tyler moved to refer it to 
 the Committee of Finance, of which he was a member, urging that 
 the discussion of the resolution was superfluous, since, whenever a 
 regular bill was introduced, the whole battle would remain to 
 be fought over again, in arranging the details of the tariff.^ 
 The debates proceeded nevertheless. Mr. Clay led off in one of 
 his best efforts, and was followed by a number of distinguished 
 senators. 
 
 On the 9th of February Mr. Tyler entered into the debate, and 
 his speech,^ which was continued for three days, not only exhibited 
 a thorough and minute knowledge of the subject, but was charac- 
 terized by a warmth, earnestness and depth of eloquence that gave 
 abundant evidence of his deep convictions of the injustice of the 
 tariff system. 
 
 Mr. Tyler said that the proposition of the Kentucky Senator 
 yielded nothing to the complaints of the South. The taxes which 
 he proposed to repeal had existed from the foundation of the gov- 
 ernment, and had never been complained of. Mr. Tyler dwelt on the 
 ruinous state of the foreign trade to the Southern States ; showed 
 that the question was one simply, whether the whole country 
 must be impoverished that a few men might grow rich ; examined 
 in detail, the duties imposed on sugar, molasses, cotton fabrics, 
 and woolens, and pronounced the tariff a " deadly upas, withering 
 
 'Congressional Debates, viii., p. 105. 
 2 Cong. Deb., viii., pp. 335-367. 
 
ME. TYLEe's speech ON THE TAEIFF OF 1832. 435 
 
 and blighting everything that came within its influence." The 
 increase of our shipping from 1804 to 181Y, under light du- 
 ties, had been fifty-five per cent.; while from 1817 to 1829 
 it had been only three-and-a-half per cent. A sweet specimen of 
 the reasoning of Mr. Clay and the protectionists was given by Mr. 
 Tyler. It consisted in the proposition that the tariff, which was 
 intended to raise prices, reduced them, and its repeal, which they 
 had declared would load the country with cheap goods, would 
 make all articles costly and high. 
 
 So far as the South was concerned, the story was told in a sin- 
 gle sentence: "We sell cheap," said Mr. Tyler, "and are made to 
 buy dear." He gave a striking instance of the selfishness of this 
 policy, which struck at the comfort of the slaves of the South, but 
 was supported especially by those who were eternally shedding 
 tears over their sad and unhappy condition, and in whose ears the 
 clanking of chains and the screams of the heart-broken were contin- 
 ually ringing : 
 
 I cannot take leave of this subject without giving to the Senate an occur- 
 rence which took place in the Committee on Finance. When we came to the 
 article of negro clothing, the venerable chairman (Mr. Smith) proposed a re- 
 duction of the duty to twenty-five per cent, ad valorem. I inquired whether 
 any negro clothing was manufactured in the United States, and was an- 
 swered that nothing specifically such was made. I urged, then, a total aboli- 
 tion of the duty : represented that it would be kindly taken by the South, 
 and would go far to produce harmony. I was answered by the senator from 
 New York (Mr. Marcy), that there was a manufacturer in the city of New 
 York, with whom he had coaversed on that subject, and from him he had 
 learned that he was about to manufacture something out of coarse cotton to 
 answer the purpose, and that he had samples of the intended manufacture 
 with him. I desired that they might be shown to me, and they were accord- 
 ingly produced the next morning ; and here they are, sir. [Mr. T. here ex- 
 hibited two samples resembling corduroy, the one ribbed, and the other plain, 
 which were handed about the Senate.] I desire senators to examine it for 
 themselves, and to say whether this mere holiday stuff, not fit even to be 
 worn on a holiday in the month of November, would be accepted by them as 
 a substitute for the close, thick, warm article which was formerly imported, 
 and in which the laborers of the South were formerly clothed ; I say formerly, 
 for the importation has ceased, because of the high-duty system. The land- 
 holder of the South is subjected to the necessity of procuring anything he can 
 pick up, in order to clothe his slaves; and now we are to be put off with this 
 miserable substitute at some distant day when this about-to-be-manufactured 
 article shall come to be manufactured. Sir, I am not choleric or rash ; but 1 
 confess that I experience none of the most quiet and peaceable sensations 
 
436 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 when I am told that we are to be denied the abolition of a duty on a neces- 
 sary article, because some man in New York may have taken it into his head 
 to speculate upon our necessities. 
 
 The conclusion of this able speech of Mr. Tyler was truly elo- 
 quent: 
 
 In the name^ of the great actors of former times, under the roof of that very 
 edifice, I invoke honorable senators to pause, long to pause, ere they decide 
 that this grinding system shall receive no abatement Its oppression, if that 
 were the only circumstance, would be as nothing in comparison with the 
 alienation of feeling which it has produced. What can compensate for the 
 loss of that affection on the part of even a single State in this Union ? Platter 
 not yourselves that this is exclusively a South Carolina question. No, sir ; it 
 is a Southern question. Every State on the other side of the Potomac feels 
 alike interested in it; nor labor under the morbid apprehension that to grant 
 relief can produce the slightest tendency to disunion. Do you seek to give 
 perpetuity to the Union, practise not injustice; for, as certain as fate itself, 
 they who sow injustice will reap iniquity. I have been reared in a reverential 
 affection for the Union. My imagination has led me to look into the distant 
 future, and there to contemplate the greatness of free America. I have be- 
 held her walking on the waves of the mighty deep, carrying along with her 
 tidings of great joy to distant nations. I have seen her overturning the 
 strong places of despotism, and restoring to man his long-lost rights. Woe, 
 woe betide that man who shall now sow the seeds of disunion among us ! Bet- 
 ter for him had he never been born. If he call upon the mountains to hide 
 him — nay, if he bury himself in the very centre of the earth, the indignation 
 of mankind will find him out, and blast him with its lightnings. 
 
 Again I call upon gentlemen deeply to pause. For one, I am ready to 
 meet them on liberal terms; and, in my poor judgment, it is to the interest of 
 the manufacturers themselves that this question should now be settled. Let 
 them remember the books of the sibyl, and profit by the recollection. The 
 South seeks to lay no rude or violent hand on existing establishments, but it 
 has a right to expect an amelioration of its burdens. The proposition of the 
 senator from Kentucky yields nothing to her complaints. The taxes which 
 he proposes to repeal have never been complained of, and have existed from 
 the foundation of the government. I hope most sincerely, Mr. President, that 
 this question will be adjusted, and, through that adjustment, peace and har- 
 mony be restored to the Union. 
 
 Subsequently Mr. Tyler wrote to Mr. SeaweU: 
 
 [To John B. Seawell.] 
 
 Washington, June 15, 1832. 
 On politics I have but one word. If anything is done with the tariff it will 
 prove to be of little or no value ; a reduction in name may be an increase in 
 fact. Cash Payments would equal ten per cent., and the change of the pound 
 
COMMENDATIONS OF MAESHALL AND MADISON. 437 
 
 Sterling from $4.44 to $4.80 would be an addition of between nine and ten per 
 cent. These are insisted on, in connection with bounties in some instances 
 and appraisement in tliis country equal to forty or fifty per cent. I anticipate 
 no good from the session, and yet it will not end earlier than July. Tazewell 
 has submitted a most liberal proposition, but they turn up their noses at it. 
 The great meeting in New York is followed up by a still greater one, and we 
 are threatened with the loss even of the city of New York, which has always 
 been anti-tariff. If we talk of dissolution, they to the North talk as strongly 
 in the same way. I know not what will come of it. This I know, and feel 
 that it is no time for truckling and succumbing. I am against the one and 
 all until justice be done. " Faint heart never won fair lady ;" and I am sure 
 that submission never won political success. 
 
 Now about the farm. I shall have a pair of horses by the first of July. 
 Will it not be too late to fallow the broom straw ? I propose a fallow of the 
 wheat land, fifty-five acres; and I wish you to have the shocks so placed in 
 rows as that we can plow the intermediate rows. The process should begin 
 so soon as the wheat is cut. I have had Norfolk searched over along with 
 this place and Georgetown, and can get no scythe blade to suit me. I will 
 continue to look out, and if I can procure even one, will send it by the steam 
 boat. 
 
 I trust that all will go on smoothly in harvest. My plan is to encourage 
 my hands, and they work better under it than from /ear. The harvest is the 
 black man's jubilee. I need say no more to you, as I am certain that all will 
 be done which lies in your power. 
 
 Mr. Clay's resohition was finally referred to the Committee on 
 Manufactures, who, a few days after, reported a measure in ac- 
 cordance with its provisions. This, however, was soon laid on the 
 table, and a bill from the House of Kepresentatives, reported by 
 Mr. Adams, chairman of the Committee on Manufactures, finally 
 passed both Houses July 14, 1832. Many of the revenue taxes 
 were reduced or abolished, thus exempting the manufacturing 
 portion of the community from almost all the burdens of taxa- 
 tion. The duties remained at high protective rates on the pro- 
 tected articles, and the revision left the tariff a greater curse than 
 it was before. 
 
 The gleam of light which lit up the gloom of long years of 
 constant and unremitting effort to procure relief, and which shone 
 brightly from the message of President Jackson at the beginning 
 of the session, — wherein he recommended, in view of the speedy 
 extinction of the public debt, a reduction of the revenue, and, 
 proportionally, the duties, — proved only a will-o'-the-wisp to the 
 suffering South. Even the President's own especial friends were 
 
438 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 in league against the reduction. "When Tyler and Tazewell, at 
 the last Congress, voted against the nominations of the President, 
 or condemned his action on the Turkish mission, the welkin was 
 made to ring with reproaches of deserting their party. " Where," 
 asked Mr. Tyler, "are these public sentinels now, sir? What has 
 become of their sleepless vigilance ? Where now their high re- 
 gard for the good of the country ? Will they not arouse them- 
 selves on a question big with the fate of the Republic ? " Alas ! 
 all the members but two on the north side of the Potomac were 
 arrayed under the outspread banner of the senator from Kentucky, 
 Mr. Cla,j. Congress adjourned, and a deeper gloom than ever 
 hung over the country. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's speech on the tariff, which literally pulverized the 
 eloquent periods of Mr. Clay, received unstinted applause in the 
 South. Chief-Justice Marshall and Mr. Madison, who heartily 
 concurred with him in desiring a reduction of the tariff, wrote to 
 Mr. Tyler in most flattering langiiage respecting it, heartily en- 
 dorsing the temperate and convincing arguments advanced by 
 him. 
 
 [To Doctor Henry Curtis. J 
 
 Washington, April 13, 1832. 
 
 My Dear Doctor : On my return to the city yesterday from a visit to 
 Grloiicester, I found Mr. Govan here, and received from his hands your letter. 
 I regret that any circumstance, and much mure Christiana's ill-health, should 
 have prevented you from visiting Washington, — a trip which I am persuaded 
 would have afforded you great satisfaction. The season for animated debate 
 is rapidly passing by, our politicians possessing a more fervid and glowing heat 
 in the winter than in the summer. This would lead one to conclude that the 
 fire which blazed within them was not from heaven. The fact is, that we 
 shall soon be relaxed in mind and body by the warmth of the sun, and then 
 Congress hall becomes a mere place for lounging. The measure which in- 
 terests you will come up in its regular order at some period of the session, 
 and I have every reason to believe that it will pass without much opposition. 
 AVhen it does I shall with joy and promptitude advise you of it. 
 
 Your expectation of receiving from me a second letter, full of political 
 disquisitions, should not have been disappointed but for the fact of my time 
 being so entirely occupied as to shut out from me the opportunity of penning 
 the shortest letters. The consequence is that I am much in arrear with my 
 correspondents, who, since my tariff speech, have multiplied upon me ex- 
 ceedingly. Some of them are enthusiastic in their encomiums ; but I value 
 more highly the approval of those who stand towards me in the relation that 
 you do, because by you and them I never expect to be flattered. I might 
 
BELCHLNG HECLAS. 439 
 
 add that the commendations of such men as Judge Marshall and Mr. Madi- 
 son, which have been bestowed upon me, have gratified me highly. You 
 may rest confidently on the facts which I state, for I have drawn the most 
 material of them from the manufacturers themselves, and have exhibited re- 
 sults at an under value ; for example, I estimated the charge on a ship of four 
 hundred and sixteen tons at $2,000, whereas I was informed yesterday on 
 my trip here, by a gentleman interested in a ship just built and fitted out at 
 Norfolk, that the duties levied upon the various articles employed in her 
 structure exceeded $6,000, the ship being of four hundred and twenty-three 
 tons. He promises to send me a minute and exact statement from his books. 
 
 I fear that this question will not be settled satisfactorily. If not, the purity 
 and morals of the country will be undermined through the surplus revenue. 
 Money is the great corrupter, and the difference between individual wealth 
 and public treasure is that the first may buy up a juror, etc., while the last 
 secures whole communities ; but I am running into speculations which can be 
 but hinted at in a letter, and, therefore, imperfectly set forth. 
 
 Of politics in general— Clay stands no chance ; Jackson is invincible ; Van 
 Buren is elevated by the silly thing of rejecting him ; Calhoun is greatly in- 
 jured ; Eichard M. Johnson is daily rising, and if all rivals are slain in the 
 contest for the vice-presidency, the Hero of the Thames may quietly walk into 
 the presidency ; for the day is rapidly approaching when an ounce of lead 
 will, in truth, be worth more than a pound of sense ; and after so learned and 
 consoling a prophecy, I take my leave. With love to all. 
 
 Yours truly, John Tyler. 
 
 The disgust of the Southerners at the unconscionable conduct 
 of the majority in Congress was deep. They were told in so many 
 words that their property and their lives, and ■ even the Union 
 itself, were nothing compared with the profits of the manufacturers, 
 They had fought the war of the Revolution against taxation, only 
 to subject themselves to a tyranny beside which British tyranny 
 was a mere nothing. Evermore the truth of Tyler's words, in the 
 the Convention of 1788, found a warmer home in Southern hearts.^ 
 
 In the scenes that ensued it would be difficult to say which side 
 was guilty of the most abusive language. There was some excuse 
 for the South, as they were the suffering party; but where we 
 should look more properly for coolness and magnanimity, we find 
 too often the taunt, the invective, and the cruel insult, without the 
 
 ' "X have never heard any manner of calling to account .... the democratic 
 branch of the government. We may turn out our ten members, but what can we 
 do with the other fifty -five ? The wisdom of Great Britain gave each State its own 
 legislative assembly and judiciary, and a right to tax themselves. When they at- 
 tempted to infringe that right, we declared war. This system violates that right. " 
 (John Tyler, Elliott, iii., p., 641.) 
 
440 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 courage to defend it on a personal responsibility. The dishonest 
 trickery that ascribed to slavery in the South all the evils of bad 
 government was forcibly apparent in the assumption, generally 
 displayed by the Northern speakers, in the midst of the fieriest ha- 
 rangues, of " perfect coolness," as contrasted with the natural heat 
 of the South. They forgot that, however wrong slavery was, the 
 chief material injury connected with the negro was his being here 
 at all, free or slave ; that under the same government wretched 
 Ireland lies alongside of happy England ; and that an icy exterior 
 is no proof that a Hecla does not rage within. Every JSTorthern 
 argument was a dishonest anti-slavery one, and every Northern 
 orator a belching Hecla, crowned with smoke and hissing lava. 
 
 A crisis had arisen, but the tariff was not the cause on which it 
 was possible to unite the South. Men in the South were divided 
 on the constitutional question, and even differed as to its economical 
 aspects. But the difficulty in producing union was much increased 
 by the course taken by South Carolina. Relieve the doctrine of 
 all the misconstruction usually attached to it, and still nullifi- 
 cation was incompatible with either theory of the Union, whether 
 regarded as a league or as a co7isolidation } Nulhfication pro- 
 posed to suspend the laws of the Union, while the nullifying State 
 still remained a member of the same. It is true that this sus- 
 pension was to exist only iintil Congress might call a convention, and 
 have the matter in dispute decided by a vote adequate to adopt an 
 amendment to the Constitution. Only the most aggravated injury 
 would ever induce a State to resort to such a remedy, and even 
 then one-fourth of the States operated merely as a check or veto,, 
 and could force no new law upon the majority. Had such a pro- 
 vision been one of the articles of compact, it might have been a 
 valuable compromise principle in favor of the minority, but its 
 existence could never be taken as implied, in the absence of an 
 express provision. 
 
 Mr. Tyler regarded the course of Calhoun and South Carolina as 
 an egregious blunder. In his opinion, the question of the tariff 
 never admitted of a united fight. The Missouri question, when 
 one universal sympathy consolidated the South, had been allowed 
 
 ' The reader will observe that I use the term "nation " in this book to designate 
 the peoples of the Union in their relations to one another under the Federal gov- 
 ernment. I mean it to denote singleness in act, not in person. 
 
NULLIFICATION. 441 
 
 to pass, and resistance at this day in tlie form of nullification' 
 must involve bloodshed. " South Carolina," said Mr. Tyler, in 
 1839, while a member of the Yirginia Assembly, " resorted to 
 what she claimed to be a peaceable remedy. I differed from her 
 as to the character of the remedy. / went into no abstraction. 
 I saw only that the nullified laws, according to the declaration of 
 Mr. Dicker son, made on thefiaor of the Senate, annually transferred 
 from the South to the Xorth $12,000,000, and felt convinced that 
 any State who should singly oppose herself to that course of things 
 would be struck at." 
 
 The doctrine of nullification set South Carolina apart to herself. 
 The good sense of the other Southern States revolted at the idea, 
 and refused to go along with her.^ The tariff men gladly hid the 
 true nature of the controversy under the seemingly patriotic de- 
 mand that the laws should be maintained. It may have been the 
 long companionship of South Carolina with the East that led her 
 into these ill-advised measures of resistance, without the co-opera- 
 tion of her sister States of the South. South Carolina and New 
 England had been hand in glove, from the formation of the Con- 
 stitution until a short time before 1827. If New England had 
 not set forth nullification as a political theory, she had put it often 
 into practice. Her threats and schemes of secession in the Mis- 
 sissippi controversy, in the Funding times, on the purchase of 
 Louisiana, in the Hartford convention, are commoa matters of 
 history. South Carolina, until 1825, had been federal — approved 
 tariffs, internal improvements, and banks. So with Calhoun, who 
 had been educated at Yale College, had been the favorite of New 
 England in 1824, and had favored for many years all the measures 
 of the American System. Not until the latter part of 1827 was it 
 publicly known that any change had occurred in Calhoun's views. 
 In that year he acceded to the tenets of the State-rights school 
 with all the zeal of a new convert, but with so little true sagacity 
 that in five years he not only destroyed his own political influence, 
 but almost ruined the State-rights party by loading it with the 
 odious name of "nullification." This was worse to the real in- 
 terests of the South than if he had continued, as he had been, a 
 Federalist dyed-in-the-wool. 
 
 1 After the meeting of Congress, in December, 1832, aU the Southern Legisla- 
 ture, while denouncing the tariff, opposed nullification. 
 
442 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 The State-rights party had to contend with the doctrine of 
 ''nullification" from the first year of Jackson's administration. 
 The celebrated debatfe between Hayne and Webster, in 1830, 
 noised it abroad throughout the land. Jackson's Union toast, 
 "Our Federal Union — ^it must be preserved," and the general 
 inability of the country to reconcile nullification with either the- 
 ory of the Union, — whether as a league or a consolidation pure and 
 simple, — had marked it as a rock to be avoided long before South 
 Carolina attempted to strand State-rights upon it. Until the ad- 
 journment of Congress, in 1832, the nullifiers had been in a 
 minority in the South Carolina Legislature. On the 22d of No- 
 vember, 1830, a bill for a State convention failed to secure the 
 necessary two-thirds vote. After the passage of the tariff of 1832 
 the nullifiers got control of the State. The Governor issued his 
 proclamation, convening the Legislature for the 22d October, 
 1832, — a month in advance of the regular meeting. The Legis- 
 lature assembled, and, on October 25th, ordered a convention for 
 the 19th of November. Pursuant to this, the convention met, 
 and adopted an ordinance that the acts of Congress, commonly 
 known as the tariff laws, should be null and void within the State 
 after the 1st of February, 1833. The Legislature of South Caro- 
 lina met directly after the adjournment of the convention, on the 
 2Yth of November, 1832, and passed laws providing for the pros- 
 pective enforcement of the ordinance within the State. It is a 
 mistake to say that South Carolina, in 1832, nullified the laws of 
 the United States. This, as a matter of fact, she never did ; she 
 merely threatened to do so. 
 
 In the midst of the profound agitation resulting from the pro- 
 ceedings of the last Congress and the threatening action of South 
 Carolina the presidential election took place. The candidate of 
 the National Republicans was Llenry Clay ; that of the Democrats, 
 Andrew Jackson ; that of the anti-Masons, William Wirt ; and that 
 of the nullifiers, John Floyd, governor of Virginia. Mr. Tyler 
 selected from the number the least exceptionable. This was Pre- 
 sident Jackson, who, in most of the cases that had risen, had de- 
 cidedly favored State-rights. Jackson was overwhelmingly elected, 
 as we have seen. South Carolina voted for John Floyd, who, 
 however, was not a nullifier himself. Soon after the election, 
 which occurred in Virginia on November 5th, Mr. Tyler was 
 
W. C. EIVES ELECTED SENATOE. 443 
 
 called to "Washington on business of the District committee, of 
 which he was a member, the business being the preparation of a 
 code to take the place of the ill-digested and antiquated laws 
 which prevailed at the seat of the capital. Here he learned, to 
 his deep regret, of the resignation of his colleague, Mr. Tazewell, 
 which was induced by the calls of private business and sickness 
 in his family. 
 
 [To Littleton W. Tazewell.] 
 
 AVashington, Nov. 16, 1832. 
 
 Mt Dear Sir: On last Sunday I received through the newspapers the 
 unwelcome intelligence of your resignation of your seat in the Senate, and 
 made up my mind to express to you the deep regret which I felt at the step you 
 have thus taken. I have long known your wish to retire from the hustle of pub- 
 lic life, hut had flattered myself that you had finally brought yourself to sacri- 
 fice your wishes to thuse of your friends, among whom I beg leave to class 
 myself as one of the most sincere. Considering the perfect harmony in action 
 which has existed between us for the last six years, it was but natural that I 
 should have desired your continuance here, at least until the expiration of the 
 limited period for which I have still to serve. Important questions affecting 
 the existence of the Union itself seem about to arise, and the representatives 
 of Virginia here may have to perform a most important part. With you with 
 me, I should have felt the consciousness that our exertions would have been 
 directed exclusively to the preservation of the principles of our government 
 and the restoration of peace and tranquillity throughout our borders. Party 
 considerations would not have withdrawn either of us from our duty to the 
 country. 
 
 As it is, my future colleague is unknown to me, and of course I know no- 
 thing of the motives and policy which may actuate him. I fear, however, that 
 all is to be made to bend in order to elevate an individual to the presidency 
 four years hence. These are the causes of my regret, and they are chiefly selfish 
 in their character, or arise from the apprehension, which will inevitably be 
 realized, of loss to the country. So far as you are individually concerned, I 
 can feel no regret. Your course in the Senate must long be remembered by 
 your country, and your example of perfect disinterestedness will, I trust, 
 animate many who are to come after you. That example is even now pro- 
 ducing its effect in the deep regret which I have heard expressed from va- 
 rious quarters at your resignation. The world is busy in conjecturing the 
 causes of your retirement, and, as is usual, have fallen upon all but the true 
 ones. 
 
 May I not hope, my dear sir, that I shall have your advice upon subjects 
 of interest to the country. This would compensate me in no small degree for 
 your withdrawal from my side, and would, under all circumstances, be highly 
 acceptable to me. I shall with pleasure communicate whatsoever will be 
 likely to interest you in the course of the coming session. I would most 
 willingly follow your example in withdrawing from this pestilential atmos- 
 
444 LETTERS ANT) TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 pliere, if I could do so with due regard to my situation ; but I have formidable 
 adversaries, who give me no leave to pursue the suggestions of my feelings- 
 The hazards of the approaching session of the Legislature I must encounter' 
 let them result as they may. Be assured, however, that for the remainder of 
 my journey I shall neither look to the right nor the left, but march straight 
 onward, approving the right and condemning the wrong, and leaving conse- 
 quences to take care of themselves I am fully prepared for any result. 
 
 I am thus early here on the business of the District Committee. Our work 
 
 is in fair progress, and I trust will be satisfactorily accomplished. D 
 
 is on one of his frolics, and although a good worker when otherwise con- 
 ditioned, is now unfit for duty. 
 
 With assurances of the highest respect and esteem, I am, dear sir, yours- 
 truly, John Tyler. 
 
 !N"ext followed the South Carolina Convention; and then the 
 meeting of Congress, on December 3, 1S32. Hon. Hugh L. 
 White was narrowly elected president pro tern, of the Senate over 
 Mr. Tyler, on the iifth ballot, by seventeen to fourteen. On the 
 same day the Virginia Legislature assembled, John Floyd sent in his 
 message, and preparations began to elect a successor to Mr. Taze- 
 well. It was apparent long before this how unpopular nullification 
 was to the Southern mind. On the 22d December, Mr. Eitchie 
 observed that there were not over one, or two nullifiers in the Vir- 
 ginia Legislature. Mr. Gilmer was one of the leading members,, 
 and on the 10th nominated William C. Hives as senator. In his 
 speech proposing the name of Mr. Rives, he cited a letter received 
 from Mr. Hives, in which that gentleman declared himself " anti- 
 bank, anti-tariff, and anti-nullification." Mr. Gilmer had headed 
 a schism in the party in June of that year against Van Buren and 
 in favor of Judge P. P. Barbour for vice-president. He, how- 
 ever, supported Jackson in the canvass, as Mr. Tyler did. 
 
 Simultaneously with Rives' election appeared Jackson's pro- 
 clamation of the 1 0th December, denouncing nullification and seces- 
 sion, and pronouncing the people of the United States a people in 
 the aggregate, — in other words, a consolidation ! The paper was 
 written by Edward Livingston, a Democrat of the most Federal 
 proclivities, an advocate uf the tariff of 18'3S, and the defender of 
 Jackson for his outrage on the Constitution in the affair of the 
 Turkish mission two years before. Put forth with all the ability of 
 the accomplished Livingston, and under the prestige of Jackson's 
 name, the proclamation was a more tremendous engine of Federal- 
 
JACKSON S NULLIFICATION MESSAGE. 44.5 
 
 ism than any that had ever yet been devised since the estab- 
 lishment of the Constitution. 
 
 The manufacturei's and National Republicans, from having 
 abused Jackson without limit, now extolled him as the savior of 
 his country. But it cannot be doubted that the effect of the pro- 
 clamation was more benoiicial to the cause of South Carolina than 
 otherwise. As an experiment in the line of terrorizing, it was 
 •confessedly a failure. Jackson had at this time to deal with men 
 of a far different calibre from tlie Indians in Florida. But why 
 was it necessary to go out of his way to denounce secession also ? 
 as well as to antagonize the idea that under the Confederation the 
 States formed, not a league, as the Articles themselves declared 
 they did, but a consolidation ? The whole State-rights party were 
 on the instant hurled off from the administration, and forced into 
 present sympathy with South Carolina. 
 
 A wise statesman would have avoided this. Better Henry Clay 
 and the American System than a formal submission to the con- 
 solidation of Jackson ; for even Clay said that he could not 
 ""stomach" all the doctrines of that remarkable paper.' Had 
 Jackson confined his proclamation to nullification simply, he would 
 have isolated South Carolina, and prevented for some time longer 
 the unity of feeling which now began to spread through the 
 South. As it was, a blow struck in South Carolina would have 
 harmonized in great measure the distractions and doubts that pre- 
 vailed in the other Southern States, and precipitated the conilict of 
 sections. " "Would Southern bayonets ever be plunged in Southern 
 hearts?" Had John Floyd of Virginia been asked to contribute 
 to the subjugation of South Carolina, he would have retu)-ned such 
 an answer as might have rallied the whole South to arms. A 
 result like this was seen in the North in 1861, after the firing on 
 Fort Sumter, when the large party of Southern sympathizers 
 ■seemed all at once to vanish from the earth. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, the resistance of the South, proceeding 
 from the unconstitutional basis of nullification, would have been 
 
 ' Clay wrote, December 12, 1832: "As to the proclamation, although there are 
 good things in it, especially what relates to the judiciary, there are some entirely 
 too ultra for me, and which I cannot stomach. A proclamation ought to have 
 teen issued weeks ago, but I think it should have been a very different paper 
 from the present, which, I apprehend, will irritate instead of allaying any excited 
 ieeling," (Clay's Corresp., p. 345.) 
 
446 LETTEES A2^T> TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 under great disadvantages, and the issue precarious from the dif- 
 ferences inevitable on this account. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, from his seat in Congress, viewed with alarm the 
 aspect of aifairs. Everything looked bad, — bad for the Union he 
 loved, bad for the South, and bad for State-rights. To his mind, 
 a government that had to resort to force was not free from fault 
 itself. The simple policy of justice would avert trouble, by im- 
 mediately modifying the obnoxious laws, i^evertheless, here were 
 the representatives of the Northern States doggedly refusing to 
 reduce a cent of the tariff rates in the very face of civil war ! 
 
 The crying shame of the protective duties had aroused Jack- 
 son to exert himself in the way of reforming the tariff. In his 
 message, in December, 1S32, he alluded to the speedy extinction 
 of the public debt, and that after the next year a surplus would 
 remain of some six or seven millions, which sound policy required 
 should be destroyed by a proper reduction of the duties. Accord- 
 ingly, Mr. Yerplanck, of New York, chairman of the Committee 
 on Ways and Means, reported a bill December 27, 1832, prepared 
 according to the views of Mr. McLane, the Secretary of the Trea- 
 sury, and proposing a reduction on cotton goods to an average rate 
 of twenty per cent. This bill, however, the manufacturers op- 
 posed with their whole phalanx, and it lingered without effect day 
 after day in the House. On January 16, 1832, Jackson sent his 
 nullification message to Congress, asking for power to use the 
 military in holding by force custom goods, and also for legislation 
 authorizing the removal of revenue cases from State courts to 
 Federal tribunals, and granting them exclusive jurisdiction in 
 such cases. " Calhoun, in reply to this message," says Mr. Sumner, 
 " made one unanswerable point against Jackson's position. Jack*- 
 son had referred to the Supreme Court as the proper authority 
 to decide the constitutionality of the tariff. The nuUifiers had 
 always wished to get the tariff before the Supreme Court, hut 
 there was no way to do so. The first tariff of 1789 was preceded 
 by a preamble, in which the protection of domestic manufactures 
 was specified as one of the purposes of the act, but this form had 
 not been continued. The anti-tariff men tried to have such a pre- 
 amble prefixed to the tariff act of 1828, but the tariff majority 
 voted it down. Congress had unquestioned power to lay taxes. 
 How could it be ascertained what the purpose of the majority in 
 
447 
 
 Congress was, when tbey voted for a certain tax law? How could 
 the constitutionality of a la-w be tried when it turned on the ques- 
 tion of this purpose, which, in the nature of the case, was mixed 
 and unavowed? It was not, therefore, fair to represent the nulli- 
 fiers as neglecting an obvious and adequate legal remedy." ' 
 
 On the 21st of January, a bill giving the increased powers de- 
 manded by Jackson, was reported to the Senate. This was the 
 famous " Force bill," so-called. To Mr. Tyler it was every way 
 objectionable. " He was not the apologist of South Carolina ;" ^ 
 but a State veto was preferable any day to a despotism, which re- 
 pelled the complaints of a large minority of the people and a 
 whole section of the country by threats of arms rather than a re- 
 moval of the cause of injury. "Let government be just," said 
 Mr. Tyler, "and nullification has no food on which to exist. In- 
 justice alone begets resistance, and that is not all. In order to 
 arouse a whole community to resistance the sense of oppression 
 must be great under which they labor." The Force bill became 
 the subject of a long and exciting debate. Mr. Tyler's colleague, 
 Mr. Eives, differed with him on the question, and thus the voice 
 of Virginia was inharmonious in Congress. Mr. Tyler wrote the 
 following letter to his friend, Mr. Tazewell, in February : 
 
 [To L. W. Tazewell.] 
 
 Washington, Feh. 2, 1833. 
 My Deab Sir: Your esteemed favor of the 28th January reached me this 
 morning, and for your reflections on the enforcing bill now before the Senate, 
 you have my sincere thanks. Should I take part in the debate which now 
 engages us, I shall use freely your views, adopting them as my own. I have 
 from the first regarded the proposed measure, with abhorrence, its features 
 being every way objectionable to me ; and yet, such is the abject servility of 
 party, that more than one of the Southern Senators will vote for it. It is my 
 fate to differ with Rives concerning it. He will probably raise objections to 
 certain of its features; but I incline strongly to fear that he will ultimately 
 reconcile himself to its leading provisions. Thus shall we afford a new and 
 unexpected triumph to the Northern men, and contribute to the political dis- 
 tractions which at this time prevail in Virginia. 
 
 ' Sumner's Jackson, 285-'H. On page 220 Mr. Sumner says, "An attempt was 
 then made to test the constitutionality of the tariff in the courts by refusing to 
 pay duty bonds, and pleading ' no consideration ' for the taxes levied ; but the 
 United States District Court, in 1881, refused to hear evidence of ' no considera- 
 tion,' drawn from the character of the tariff of 1828." 
 
 2 Speech at Gloucester C. H., Va., 1883, Niles' Register, xliv., p. 122. 
 
-448 LETTEKS AlfD TIMES OF THE TTLEE8. 
 
 I need not say how much I deplore your absence from the Senate on this 
 important occasion. In your strength I should feel myself strong, and re- 
 gard the moral influence of our State as destined to receive no abatement. 
 But the misrule of my master Eitchie sacrifices everything that has heretofore 
 been considered valuable by us. Were ever men so deceived as we have been — 
 I mean those of the old Democratic school — in Jackson ? His proclamation 
 lias swept away all the barriers of the Constitution, and given us, in place of 
 ithe Federal government, under which we fondly believed we were living, a 
 consolidated military despotism. To this it must inevitably come, if his doc- 
 trines be correct; and yet there seems to be no possible chance of resisting 
 them. The North is united almost to a man, while the people of the South 
 shout hozannas with lusty lungs. In this state of things, I tremble for South 
 Carolina. The war-cry is up, rely upon it, and the manufacturers will fight 
 sooner than resign their profits. The boast is that the President, by stamp- 
 ing like another Pompey on the earth, can raise an hundred thousand men. 
 
 No prospect exists of any material modification of the tariff. That matter 
 -has, in my opinion, long since been settled. Ton are well aware of the de- 
 ceptive state of public affairs, which are made to wear one face for the world 
 .and another for Congress. Believe me, that I am heartily sick of the double- 
 dealers, and wish myself most sincerely in retirement. This feeling, I think, 
 -there is every prospect of my being able to gratify, by the good pleasure of 
 the Legislature, who have given me, by their late postponement ef my elec- 
 -tion, a decided indication either of their want of confidence in me, or of a fixed 
 design to terminate my career on the 4th of March next. The first I feel to 
 the undeserved ; and as to the last, I am every way indifferent. 
 
 I have had the satisfaction of reading your numbers over the signature of 
 "A Virginian," as far as the tenth. A friend in Norfolk kept me regularly sup- 
 plied, up to that number, but has since neglected me. Can you, without in- 
 -convenience to yourself, cause me to be placed in possession of those of which 
 ,1 am deficient ? I see that Ritchie will not publish them. With him and his 
 press I have lost all patience. Gordon, Patton and myself can do nothing but 
 ifret and scold, and wish you back in the Senate, if but for a week. Tou are, 
 /however, much happier where you are, and no one more sincerely wishes you 
 a long continuance of health and happiness than myself. 
 -Most truly and sincerely your friend, John Tyler. 
 
 The letter displays the characteristic independence of Mr. Tyler, 
 and shows that the vow he had made on taking his seat in the 
 Senate, six years before, that " on the floor of the Senate he would 
 never be a partisan," was destined to be sacredly observed ; but the 
 courage of Mr. Tyler in opposing Jackson is seen in a stronger 
 light if we go home, and see what was transpiring in the mean- 
 time there, affecting him personally. 
 
 Until the issue of the proclamation had directly arisen, Mr. 
 "Tyler was decidedly the most popular Democrat in the State. He 
 
INTEIGUES AGAINST ME. TYLEE. 449 
 
 had supported Jackson in all cases where he was right, and where 
 he had not been neglectful of the Constitution. Though exposed 
 to much abuse outside the State, in the exceptional cases of the 
 nomination of the editors and the Turkish mission, Mr. Tyler had 
 heen fortunate enough to receive uninterruptedly the support of 
 the Democrats in Virginia, — a fact which is highly indicative of 
 that veneration paid by Virginians to principle at this period, 
 however repugnant to the dictates of party interest, or local ex- 
 pediency. In January of the year 1832, Mr. Tyler had written 
 from Washington as follows : 
 
 [To John B. Seawell.] 
 
 January 25, 1832. 
 In regard to myself, I have every reason to believe that I stand well at 
 home, and that no man can shake me. Randolph is down even in his own 
 county. His course has been so violent, l^since his return, as to shake off 
 from him many of his most devoted friends. Miller from Powhatan declines, 
 and a warm friend of mine comes in his place. I care very little for it, and 
 am almost resolved to abandon public life. My numerous family makes call 
 upon me that I can hardly resist. 
 
 The unity in the Democratic ranks in Virginia prevailed until 
 after the ordinance of nullification and the election of Mr. Eives. 
 Then news of the proclamation arrived. Immediately, as if by a 
 thunderbolt, the Democratic party in the Legislature was cleft in 
 twain. The Clay party was also disrupted, and calculations formed 
 upon old party bases fell at once to the ground. • Men were 
 arrayed on the fundamental question of the nature of the general 
 government. The red-hot Jackson men, who knew the value of the 
 Eastern maxim, " if the prince declare to you at midday ' it is night,' 
 say you behold the moon and stars," were prepared to justify any- 
 thing. State-rights with them, never having meant anything but 
 what was expedient, could readily don the Federal coat of many 
 colors. These men felt instinctively that Mr. Tyler's views, 
 which were grounded on honest principle, would be averse to 
 theirs, and they, therefore, resorted now to every device to defeat 
 his election. 
 
 Even before the election of Mr. Rives had this spirit of jealousy 
 manifested itself, in anticipation of some violent action of the 
 Federal executive. The Enquirer of December 4th, comment- 
 ing on Jackson's victory in Virginia of 25,000, urged the neces- 
 29 
 
450 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 sity of sending men to the Senate who would give " an unequivocal 
 support of the good measures of the administration — men who 
 would not higgle at every step." In the same issue a writer sign- 
 ing himself " One of the People," not only undertook to fill Mr. 
 Tazewell's place, but raked Mr. Tyler over the coals, and sug- 
 gested Mr. Randolph as a fit successor on the expiration of his 
 term on the 4th of March, 1833. This severe critic, however, 
 passed, without knowing it, an exquisite eulogy on Mr. Tyler 
 when he added to his strictures : " As a man I respect Mr. Tyler, 
 but as a politician I cannot." It was inferrible from this that 
 Jackson did not wish men at Washington. 
 
 A friend of Mr. Tyler, styling himself "A Jackson man," un- 
 dertook to answer "One of the People." He went through the 
 transgressions for which Mr. Tyler had been arraigned. It is true, 
 he said, that Mr. Tyler, about eight years ago, had written a letter 
 to Mr. Clay, but that awful act was condoned by the fact that Mr. 
 Tyler had served five years in Congress with Mr. Clay, at a time, 
 too, when Mr. Clay had resisted the monstrous effort to dictate a 
 constitution to Missouri, — and by the additional fact that Mr. 
 Tyler was not so unreasonable as to condemn a man with whom 
 he had been intimate upon newspaper declarations, such as old 
 Sim.j)S07i's paper in Philadelphia, of having been guilty of the 
 gross offence of bribing Adams to make him Secretary of State. 
 Mr. Tyler had opposed the appointment of editors to ofiice; but 
 his opposition was predicated upon the freedom of the press. He 
 had opposed the appointment of ministers without the sanction of 
 the Senate; but here he was defending the privileges of the body 
 to which he belonged. "History will attest that our senators re- 
 ceived the thanks of the State, and were invited to a public din- 
 ner, to be given by the members of the Legislature, as a token of 
 their approbation." Mr. Tyler did not assail Mr. Clay and Mr. 
 CaUioun last winter for voting to reject Mr. Van Buren as minis- 
 ter to England; but this was because "he is not prone to charge 
 corruption, and bark like a cur at the heels of every man who 
 differs with him in opinion." Mr. Randolph's claims were pressed 
 by several other writers in the Enquirer besides "One of the 
 People." 
 
 The Legislature began promptly to take into consideration the 
 question of Federal relations. In his message of December 13th, 
 
LETTER FROM PLEASANTS. 451 
 
 Governor Floyd laid before the Legislature a copy of the ordi- 
 nance of nullification transmitted by South Carolina. He con- 
 demned any appeal to the sword, but recommended a national 
 convention as the proper remedy in a case like this, where a large 
 miuority of the people solemnly protested. The House forthwith 
 appointed a select committee, — consisting of Messrs. Brodnax, 
 Dade, Gholson, Wallace, Randolph, Gilmer, Faulkner, Moore, 
 Miller, Charlton, Brown of Petersburg, Goode, and McCoy, — to 
 pass upon the ordinance of South Carolina, the proclamation of 
 Andrew Jackson, and the Governor's communication. On the 
 20th of December, General Brodnax reported a preamble and 
 resolutions denouncing both the proclamation and nullification, 
 appealing to the President to withstay the arm of force, to Con- 
 gress to repeal the obnoxious tariff law, and to South Carolina not 
 to enforce her ordinance. Two commissioners to South Carolina 
 were recommended to present the remonstrances of Virginia, and 
 the President was to be requested, in case a reduction of the tariff 
 was not effected at this session, to call a convention of the States. 
 The resolutions of Gen. Brodnax, which represented the view of 
 the State-rights party of Virginia, distinctly affirmed the right of 
 secession as the constitutional remedy for oppression. 
 
 Many substitutes were offered for the report of the committee, 
 and the subject was debated in the Committee of the Whole for 
 many days. On the 1st January, 1833, John Hampden Pleasants, 
 editor of the W/iig, a friend of Mr. Clay, but opposed to the pro- 
 clamation, thus wrote to Mr. Tyler : 
 
 [Fkom John Hampden Pleasants.] 
 
 Richmond, January 1, 1833. 
 
 Deak Sir : A happy new year to you and to our country ! 
 
 I got your favor some weeks back, and have been proposing every day to 
 answer it, but laziness has interfered. 
 
 I was happy that the views I took of the proclamation were such as you 
 approved. With the principles in which I was bred, I could take no other. 
 I am n. State-rights man from education and selection, and am naturally 
 jealous of power. True, I have been a State-rights man after my own fashion, 
 applying our principles as /thought they fitted, and not as it suited those to 
 apply them who had presidents to make, power to acquire, and places to 
 provide. I shall continue in that fashion. 
 
 I find myself all at once acting with the extreme Gauche of the Legislature— 
 thoiie to whom I have been most opposed for eight years. Agreeing always 
 
452 LETTEES JlND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 in fundamentals, circumstances have at length brought about a conformity in 
 other respects. 
 
 I believe I shall be deserted by the bulk of the late Clay party, — certainly 
 by the bulk of the western part of it. The original Federalists to a man go 
 for the proclamation; some Clay men use the opportunity to get into a ma- 
 jority ; others have verged into Federalism without being sensible of it ; a yet 
 larger division, in their hatred to nullification, are naturally gone into the 
 other extreme. This is also true of thousands of Jackson men. There will 
 certainly be a powerful reaction against the proclamation. 
 
 The debate on the resolutions continued to-day. McDowell made a glitter- 
 ing and imposing speech in favor of his substitute. Camm and Dickinson 
 spoke for Brodnax's resolutions. There are three parties, and some shades of 
 other parties, on this subject in the General Assembly. 1, The honest State- 
 rights men, who are determined to stand up for their principles, though Jack- 
 son stand at the door. These go for Brodnax's. 2, The honest Federalists 
 and latitudinarians, who are willing to intervene in the most efiBoient manner, 
 but are opposed to State-rights, and not opposed to the doctrines of the 
 proclamation. 3, The train-bands — the Swiss — the mean dogs who obey the 
 guidance of Ritchie & Co. — who are loud professors of the faith, but would 
 sacrifice all rather than incur the displeasure of the hero. I need not de- 
 scribe these or call names. You know the men. These wish to denounce 
 South Carolina, to assert Virginia principles in general terms, but to remain 
 silent as to the proclamation. You know the power of the Junto, and how 
 likely this squad is to be formidable. If the Clay men act with them, I fear 
 they may prove a majority; but I think the Clay men will unite with the true 
 friends of the cause to reject McDowell's as they rejected Roane's project, and 
 that Marshall's or Brodnax's will be the plan adopted. Gilmer tells me 
 Brodnax's will carry by thirteen ; but I am afraid he is too sanguine. The 
 debate will be spun out for a week probably. 
 
 Tour enemies in her Legislature are, with some exceptions, the class last 
 mentioned. The South-side men are desirous now to go for you, if they can ; 
 that is, if they can reconcile their people to it. They consider themselves to 
 have been bit in Rives. I knew they were at the time. I think your election 
 entirely safe against any probable competitor — perhaps against any com- 
 petitor whatever. I have written freely, and for your eye only. I much 
 want a correspondent who would drop me a line now and then without de- 
 ceiving me. 
 
 Your friend truly, J. H. Pleasants. 
 
 Just previous to this letter, South Carolina passed resolutions in 
 favor of a general convention of the States. A copy being transmit- 
 ted to the governor of Virginia, Floyd, in a message to the General 
 Assembly of Virginia, on the 25th of January, 1833, cordially 
 joined in recommending the project, severely arraigned the Presi- 
 dent for demanding the right to employ force against South Car- 
 olina before the overt act had been committed, and more than in- 
 
ME. TYLEE DEFEATS MCDOWELL FOE THE SENATE. 453 
 
 timated that the subjugation of South Carolina, in preference to 
 the peaceful alternative of a convention of the States, readily sum- 
 moned by a vote of two-thirds of the Congress, could only ensue 
 when Virginia lay prostrate and could not resist. On the 26th, 
 the report on Federal relations, variously amended, received the 
 assent of the Legislature, and Mr. B. W. Leigh was deputed as 
 commissioner to South Carolina. As adopted, the report con- 
 demned nullification and the principles of the proclamation ; was 
 silent as to secession ; but afiirmed Virginia's allegiance to the res- 
 olutions of lT9S-'9, "with which many of the principles assumed 
 by the President are in direct conflict." 
 
 Mr. Tyler's election was set for the 30th of January, 1833. By 
 a shrewd manoeuvre of his enemies, the election was postponed un- 
 til February 15th, under the pretence of giving Mr. Tyler an op- 
 portunity to speak on the enforcing bill, which was now pending 
 before Congress. Mr. Tyler did not decline the challenge. On 
 February 6th he entered into the debate, and in a speech which 
 aroused all the energies of his soul, he contended that the Union 
 was a league of free and independent States, and lashed Congress 
 well for their evident desire to precipitate a collision. His worst 
 enemies could not have wished for a more open avowal of senti- 
 ment. Mr. Rives soon after followed in a reply, maintaining the 
 justice of the Force bill and the unconstitutionality of any resist- 
 ance to the Federal agent. 
 
 Nine days after Mr. Tyler's speech, the election of senator oc- 
 curred. Once more the enemy attempted to procure a postpone- 
 ment — this time until the next session, trusting to the new elec- 
 tions to the G-eneral Assembly. Defeated in this, they rallied 
 upon James McDowell, who had made " a glittering and imposing 
 speech" in favor of the proclamation, and had thus leaped sud- 
 denly into fame. Mr. William H. Eoy, of Matthews county, 
 nominated Mr. Tyler, in a most appropriate tribute. He told the 
 Speaker that Mr. Tyler was no political aspirant of yesterday, need- 
 ing a formal introduction. As a member of the House of Dele- 
 gates, in times as dark and stormy as the present, he was found 
 voting supplies to carry on the war with Great Britain. And not 
 only in the character of a legislator was his devotion to his country 
 manifested, but as the commander of a gallant corps of riflemen, he 
 was prepared to defend this city [Richmond] against the threatened 
 
454 LETTERS AJSTD TIMES OF THE TiLERS. 
 
 attack of the invader. As representative in Congress, he was the 
 able and eflBcient advocate of the principles of Virginia. As gov- 
 ernor of this commonwealth, his views were noble and enlarged. 
 He was a distinguished member of the convention that formed 
 our present Constitution ; and for six years he had filled the high 
 and responsible position of a Senator of the United States. Mr. 
 Eoy could truly say that he never heard John Tyler charged 
 with giving a bad vote on any question of importance. As a Sen- 
 ator, he has heretofore given an honest and sufficient support to 
 Andrew Jackson. He has differed from him on some occasions, 
 and in this he was supported by the voice of Virginia. " John 
 Tyler will never play the partisan." "Mr. Speaker," said Mr. 
 Roy, " his able, temperate and independent course has greatly ele- 
 vated him in the distinguished body of which he is a member, and 
 given him a high moral weight. His political experience, his 
 long-tried public service, render him particularly fit for the pre- 
 sent emergency." 
 
 Mr. Roy was seconded by Mr. Eoane, of Charles City, who 
 knew of no man that stood more prominently before this House 
 than John Tyler. Mr. Tyler had gone to the Senate, six years 
 ago, determined to support the administration, so far as it acted 
 consistently with the Constitution. Upon a review of his course 
 there, all Virginia would exclaim : " Well done, good and faitlif ul 
 servant!" 
 
 On joint ballot, Tyler received eighty-one votes, McDowell sixty- 
 two, Leigh eight, H. St. George Tucker seven, John Randolph 
 one, and Peter V. Daniel one. Tyler, having received a majority 
 of two votes, was accordingly declared re-elected senator of the 
 United States from March 4, 1833, to March 4, 1839. 
 
 The independence of Mr. Tyler can be better appreciated by 
 giving the reader the following letter for perusal (suppressing 
 names :) 
 
 [To Senator Tyler.] 
 
 January 29, 1833. 
 Dear Sir: The election of a senator is to take place on to-morrow. As at 
 present advised, I think you will have no opposition. For two weeks I have 
 feared that McDowell would be put in nomination and the west be divided, 
 but the question is settled. On yesterday evening several of the leading 
 friends of you both met, and have determined to drop McDowell and unite on 
 you. 
 
ME, tylee's speech; on the foroe bill. 455 
 
 Mr. McDowell's speech oa Federal relations has given him a high reputation 
 among the members. Nothing .but the determined stand of a few of your 
 friends has brought about this result. I allude to W— , F— , M— , and M— , 
 who were at the meeting, and E — and Wm. W — who were not at the meet- 
 ing, bufwho have been decided under any circumstances. You have zealous 
 and talented friends to sustain you in the nomination. If old matters are 
 gone into, your friends are ready for the contest. I have felt anxious to write 
 jou, but felt at a loss what to say. On yesterday evening your first letter to 
 me, and. your letter to F — . were both received and commented on. We all 
 agreed that your views on the various subjects spoken of are correct. Your 
 last letter will be read by E — . F — , when he read your letter, said, " him and 
 € — and H — were in a kind of frolic when they wrote, and that they put 
 more questions than any man ought to answer, and was pleased that you 
 had not given yourself the trouble to answer them," On to-morrow evening 
 I will write you again. Yovi have nothing to fear. 
 
 Very respectfully, etc., 
 
 On the back of this letter was endorsed, in Mr. Tyler's hand, 
 ^'^ All these fellows afterwards turned tail, and voted for Mc- 
 Dovjell-" and sure enough, on examination of the record, I found 
 they did, — writer and all ! Thus it is seen that Mr. Tyler's speech 
 not only raised up a rival to him in McDowell, whose friends had, 
 in private conclave but two weeks before, agreed not to run him, 
 but it lost Mr. Tyler also the votes of the eight delegates whose 
 names are indicated in the blanks above, and who had assured him 
 ■"there was nothing to fear." 
 
 Three days before Mr. Tyler's election, a movement was made 
 in the Senate which was hailed with a burst of joy all through the 
 Union, especially in the South. South Carolina, observing the 
 patriotic action of Virginia towards mediation, had suspended by 
 the general consent of her citizens the enforcement, until after the 
 adjournment of Congress, of the nullification ordinance, whose 
 operation had been set for the 1st of February. Mr. Leigh's ar- 
 rival in Columbia, on February 3rd, had still further confirmed the 
 people in this pacific policy. Now, on the 12th of the month, 
 Mr. Clay stepped forward in the Senate with his compromise tariff. 
 The history of this bill is interesting, not only for itself, but for 
 the part which Mr. Tyler took in bringing it about. 
 
 How to save the South and State-rights from the excesses of Cal- 
 houn had early engaged the attention of Mr. Tyler on his arrival 
 in Washington. At first the prospect seemed blank indeed. A 
 whole gulf seemed to separate Clay, the leader of the protective 
 
456 LETTEES AND TTMBS OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 interests, from Calhoun, the arch-nulltfler. At the preceding ses- 
 sion, no man could possibly have shown himseK more dictatorial 
 and unyielding as to the tariff than Henry Clay. He it was that 
 had raised the storm which was now thundering around the ears 
 of Congress. Mr. Tyler witnessed plan after plan laid fruitlessly 
 upon the table of the Senate, and his heart sank within him at 
 what appeared the certain prospect of civil war. As late as the 
 2d of February, in his letter to TazeweU of that date, he saw 
 no hope of any material modification of the tariff. Four days- 
 later he made his speech in the Senate on the Force bill, in which he 
 suggested a mode of settlement, — that afterwards actually adopted. 
 The suggestion is found in the peroration of Mr. Tyler's speech, 
 which, for its pathos and eloquence, is worth insertion here: 
 
 His mode of preserving the Union was by restoring mutual confidence and 
 affection among tlie members, by doing justice and obeying the dictates of 
 policy. Tbe President has pointed out the mode in his opening message. We 
 had been informed that there was an excess of $6,000,000 in the treasury. I 
 would destroy that excess ; yet I would not rashly and rudely lay hands on 
 the manufacturer, if I had the power to do so. "While giving peace to one 
 section, I would not produce discord in another. It would be to accomplish 
 nothing, to appease discord in one section and produce it in another. The 
 manufacturers desire time ; give them time, ample time. If they will come 
 down to the revenue standard and- abandon the protective policy, I would allow 
 them full time, /present these suggestions, for lam anxious to see this vexed 
 question adjusted. 
 
 It had been said that it would not do to offer terms while South Carolina 
 maintained a menacing attitude. I consider this view altogether erroneous. 
 Shall not justice be done to the other Southern States ? They, too, complain 
 loudly, deeply, of the oppressive burdens under which they labor in common 
 with South Carolina. But, regard it as exclusively a South Carolina question ; 
 what prevents you from yielding to her wishes ? Pride alone stands in the 
 way — false pride. It is the worst, the most pernicious of counselors. Against 
 its influence Lord Chatham and Edmund Burke raised their voices in the 
 British parliament ; but the reply was that it would not do to make terms 
 with revolted colonies ; and a besotted miaistry lost to the English crown its 
 brightest jewel It is idle to talk of degrading government by yielding terms. 
 This government is strong — South Carolina weak. The strong man may 
 grant terms to the weak, and, by so doing, give the highest evidence of mag- 
 nanimity. All history teems with instances of the evils springing from false 
 pride in governments. Bruised thrones, dismembered empires, crushed re- 
 publics — these are its bitter fruits. Let us throw it from us, and try the effi- 
 cacy of that engine which tyrants never use ; that great engine which would 
 save Poland to Russia, Ireland to England, and South Carolina, not as a pro- 
 vince with her palmetto trailing in the dust, but as a free, sovereign, and 
 
ME. TYLER SUGGESTS THE COMPEOMISE TO CLAY. 45T 
 
 independent state, to this Confederacy — the engine of redress. This is ray 
 advice. 
 
 But my advice is disregarded ; you rush on to the contest ; you subdue 
 South Carolina ; you drive her citizens into the morasses, where Marion and 
 Sumter found refuge ; you level her towns and cities in the dust ; you clothe- 
 her daughters in mourning, and make helpless orphans of her rising sons ; — 
 vfhere, then, is your glory ' Glory comes not from the blood of slaughtered 
 brethren. Gracious God ! is it necessary to urge such considerations on an 
 American Senate ? Whither has the genius of America fled ? We have had 
 darker days than the present, and that genius has saved us. Are we to sat- 
 isfy the discontents of the people by force — by shooting some and bayoneting 
 others ? Force may convert freemen into slaves ; but after you have made- 
 them slaves, will they look -with complacency on their chains ? When you 
 have subdued South Carolina, lowered her proud flag, and trampled her 
 freedom in the dust, will she love you for the kindness you have shown her ? 
 No ; she will despise and hate you. Poland will hate Eussia until she is 
 again free ; and so it would be with South Carolina. I would that I had but 
 moral influence enough to save my country in this hour of peril. If I know 
 myself, I would peril all, everything that I hold most dear, if I could be the 
 means of stilling the agitated billows. I have no such power ; I stand here- 
 manacled in a minority, whose efforts can avail but little. You, who are th& 
 majority, have the destinies of the country in your hands. If war shall grow 
 out of this measure, you are alone responsible. I will wash my hands of the 
 business. Rather than give my aid, I would surrender my station here, for 
 I aspire not to imitate the rash boy who set fire to the Ephesian dome. No, 
 sir, I will lend no aid to the passage of this bill. I had almost said that " T 
 had rather be a dog and bay the moon than such a Roman." I will not yet 
 despair; Borne had her Gurtius, Sparta her Leonidas, and Athens her hand 
 of devoted patriots ; and shall it be said that the American Senate contains not 
 one man who will step forward to rescue his country in this her moment of 
 peril? Although that man may never wear an earthly crown or sway an 
 earthly sceptre, eternal fame shall wreathe an evergreen around his brow, and: 
 his name shall rank with those of the proudest patriots of the proudest 
 climes. 
 
 This idea of a gradual reduction of the tariff, through a term 
 of years until the revenue point was attained, had been thrown 
 out by Mr. Tyler in his speech on the tariff at the previous session. 
 His language, in closing his remarks at that time, was as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 Again I call upon gentlemen deeply to pause. For one, I am ready to meet 
 them on liberal terms ; and in my poor judgment, it is the interest of the- 
 manufacturers themselves that this question should now be settled. Let 
 them remember the books of the sibyl, and profit by the recollection. The 
 South seeks to lay no violent hands on existing establishments, but it has a 
 right to expect an amelioration of its burdens. The proposition of the- 
 
458 LETTERS AND TLMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 senator from Kentucky yields nothing to her complaints. The taxes which 
 he proposes to repeal have never heen complained of, and have existed from 
 the foundation of the government. I hope most sincerely, Mr. President, 
 that the question will be adjusted, and through the adjustment peace and 
 harmony he restored to the Union. 
 
 The closing sentences of Mr. Tyler's speech on the Force bill 
 render it tolerably certain that the interview which he naentions 
 as holding with Clay in his address at the " Maryland Institute for 
 the Promotion of the Mechanic Arts" in 1855, as also in that at the 
 unveiling of the Clay statue, in 1860, occurred in the interval 
 between his letter to Tazewell and the delivery of his speech on 
 February 6th. In that interview, he urged upon Clay the terms 
 of a satisfactory compromise. Clay hesitated. The wrath of the 
 manufacturers appalled him.' It was just the moment for a dis- 
 play of that wonderful tact which Mr. Tyler employed with so 
 much advantage upon Lord Ashburton, when he was proposing in 
 1842 to abandon as fruitless the negotiation respecting the Xorth- 
 eastern boundary. Mr. Tyler remonstrated with Clay, pressed in 
 eloquent terms upon him the state of the country, and appeal- 
 ing to his patriotism and pride, had the satisfaction at length of 
 seeing Clay yield to his entreaties. 
 
 The next thing to do was to bring about a meeting between 
 Clay and Calhoun, who were not on speaking terms. This was 
 done through the instrumentality of Mr. Tyler, who, standing in- 
 termediate in his political opinions, was on terms of intimacy with 
 both. Calhoun, December 28, 1832, had resigned the vice-presi- 
 dency, which he had held for eight years, and been returned to 
 the present Senate. The extremes met and agreed upon the de- 
 tails of the bill. As reported by Clay to the Senate on the 12th 
 of February, 1833, it provided for biennial reductions of one- 
 tenth on all duties over twenty per cent., until the 31st Decem- 
 ber, 1841, when one-half of the residue was to be deducted, and 
 after the 30th of June, 1842, the duties on all goods were to be 
 reduced to twenty per cent., to be paid in cash at the home valua- 
 
 ' Mr. Tyler says, in his lecture at the Maryland Institute (185.5), "For a moment 
 Mr. Clay paused in his course ; he adverted to the feeling manifested in the House, 
 and expressed his preference to permit others to lead in the matter, but yielded to 
 an earnest remonstrance against inertness on his part." . . . . For further evi- 
 dence of Clay's reluctance, see Clay's letters to Francis Brooke in his published 
 correspondence. 
 
CLAY AS A STATE-KIGHTS MAN. 459 
 
 tion, and levied with a view to " an economical administration of the 
 government." This mediation of Mr. Tyler, acting under the ex- 
 press authority of the report adopted by the Virginia Legislature 
 January 26, which in one of its sections instructed its senators in 
 Congress to try every means to produce harmony, — and his rela- 
 tions, personal and political, to Calhoun, gave rise to the distorted 
 story of Benton, Jiickson's partisan,' and of Crittenden, Clay's 
 partisan,'' that Calhoun sought the interposition of Clay in con- 
 •cocting the tariff bill in order to escape from the wrath of Jack- 
 son. The fact is, that Mr. Tyler acted on his own responsibility ; ' 
 and as to fear, John C. Calhoun was as little sensible to such a 
 feeling as Andrew Jackson. 
 
 If there was any seeking done by any of the parties, it was 
 ■done by Henry Clay, who had now taken a new tack in the line 
 of State-rights. The manufacturing interest had not been able 
 to save him from defeat in the late election, and to press protec- 
 tion to a conflict of arms would redound not to his, but to General 
 Jackson's glorification. The peculiar attitude of the State-rights 
 party, since the proclamation, raised new hopes in Clay. He saw 
 them irrecoverably shaken from the administration, and the inter- 
 «sting inquiry arose to his mind whether they might not be won 
 to his own support. Sach motives are easily read between the 
 lines of the following paragraph of a letter written by Clay to 
 Francis Brooke, on January 23, 1833:* 
 
 ' Benton's Thirty Tears, i., p. 342-'45. 
 
 2 Curtis' Webster, i., p. 443-'44. 
 
 ' The keen eyes of F. P. Blair detected Mr. Tyler's agency. The Washington 
 Globe, quoted in the Richmond Enquirer of April 12, 1833, remarked upon the 
 ^' Union of Antipathies" that had produced the compromise. It said: "We re- 
 marked yesterday upon the glorification which Southern gentlemen, more or less 
 attached to the nullifying interest, are disposed to award to Mr. Clay as the South- 
 ern deliverer or liberator. Mr. Mangum is not singular in chanting this Te Deum. 
 Mr. McDnffie paid his homage in the late nullifying convention to ' our great ally 
 ■of the Wesf And Mr. Tyler, of Virginia, no doubt being previously consulted 
 fmd informed by Mr. Clay of his intentions, took occasion in anticipation to weave 
 a chaplet for the brow of his hero to grace his entree as pacificator. A few days be- 
 fore, Mr. Clay brought forward the measure adjusted between himself and Mr. 
 Calhoun, Mr. Tyler said in the Senate : ' No matter who the man may be who 
 steps forward to rescue us from our perilous position, though he may never wear 
 the crown, eternal fame shaO wreathe an evergreen around his brow, and his 
 name shall rank with the proudest patriots of the proudest clime.' " 
 
 ■• Clay's Correspondence, p. 348. 
 
460 LETIEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 You ask me in your last letter if Tyler is not a nuUifier ? I understands 
 him opposed both to nullification and the proceedings of South Carolina. Will 
 he be re-elected ? We feel here some solicitude on that point, being convinced 
 that, under all circumstances, he would be far preferable to any person that 
 could be sent. I hope if you can say a proper word in his behalf you will 
 do so. 
 
 Clay, in another letter to Mr. Brooke, of February 14, 1833,, 
 claims that, though the details had been only " completed a few 
 days ago," the principle of the compromise tariff he had long since- 
 settled in his mind. This, in view of all the facts, can scarcely 
 be true. Clay did indeed have a project of compromise on hand,, 
 but it was no more like that reported by him than he to Hercules.. 
 It was shown to Mr. "Webster in December.^ It consisted of a 
 preamble and two sections. The preamble recited the agitation 
 prevailing in the country, and which it was desirable to prevent.. 
 The first section then proposed to enact that the existing tariff 
 laws should remain in force until March 3, 1840, and that then 
 all should be and " hereby are " repealed. The second section pro- 
 vided that, until March 3, 1840, no higher or other duties than those- 
 now existing shall be laid, " and from and after the aforesaid day all 
 duties collected upon any article whatever of foreign importation 
 shall be eqaal, according to the value thereof, and solely for the 
 purpose and with the intent of providing such revenue as may be^ 
 necessary to an economical expenditure of the government, without 
 regard to the protection or encouragement of any hranch of do- 
 mestic industry whateverP That is, Clay proposed to keep up 
 the present rates of the tariff until 1840, — seven years,— which 
 amounted, in fact, to nullifj-ing the rest of the scheme. 
 
 The Force bill and the compromise tariff, — the sword and the 
 olive branch, the dove and the vulture, — confronted one another 
 in the Senate until the 20th February, when the Force bill passed 
 by a vote of thirty-two to one. On the 25th, the compromise 
 tariif bill was offered in the House by Mr. Letcher, in the place of 
 Mr.Verplanck's tariff, which, with the amendments of the Committee 
 of the Whole, could pass in no shape whatever. It was joyfully re- 
 ceived by all except the " Swiss guard" and the rampant protection- 
 ists, like Mr. Adams. On the 26th, the bill passed the House by 
 a vote of one hundred and nineteen to eighty-five, and was sent to 
 
 ' Curtis' Webster, i., p. 434-'5. 
 
GEEAT DINNER TO MK. TYLEE. 461 
 
 the Senate. The Senate compromise, which was the same bill, 
 was then laid on the table, and the corresponding House measure 
 -adopted, March 1st, by twenty-nine to sixteen. On the same day 
 the House passed the Force bill, by one hundred and forty-nine 
 to forty-seven. 
 
 The compromise tariff carried in the House every vote south of. 
 Delaware except one (C. F. Mercer). The majority of the West- 
 ern votes was in its favor, and the majority of the votes from the 
 Middle States against it. Every vote from the New England 
 States, except six from Maine and four from New Hampshire, 
 was cast against the bill. 
 
 When the Force bill came up to be voted upon in the Senate, 
 February 20, 1833, all the opponents of the measure, except Mr. 
 Tyler, rose from their seats and passed out of the Senate chamber. 
 Surprised at this manoeuvre, Mr. Tyler moved that the Senate 
 should adjourn.^ Mr. Wilkins said that the gentlemen whose 
 Beats were vacant had only just withdrawn. The motion to ad- 
 journ was negatived, twenty-seven to five. The question was then 
 taken ,on the passage of the bill, and decided as follows : 
 
 Yeas — Bell, Chambers, Clayton, Dallas, Dickerson, Dudley, Ewing, Foot, 
 Forsytli, Frelinghuysen, Grundy, Hendricks, Hill, Holmes, Johnston, Kane, 
 Knight, Naudain, Prentiss, Rives, Bobbins, Robinson, Ruggles, Silsbee, 
 Sprague, Tipton, Tomlineon, Waggaman, Webster, White, Wilkins, Wright 
 —32. 
 
 Nat— John Tyler— 1. 
 
 The courage with which Mr. Tyler met this issue in main- 
 tenance of his convictions was of a nature with that which 
 marked his conduct in 1820, on the Missouri question, and in 1827, 
 "when the game was essayed to drive him over to Jackson. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's single vote against the Force bill excited universal 
 praise in Virginia. In view of Virginia's intended mediation, the 
 proposal of the Force bill was resented by most Virginians as ill-ad- 
 
 ' This action on the part of the majority of the opponents of the Force bill was 
 afterwards recognized as a mistake. " On the following day Mr. Calhoun observed 
 that he had been unavoidably absent from the Senate the evening previous, when 
 the vote was taken, with several of his friends, and requested leave for himself, 
 as well as for them, now to record their votes ; but a rule of the Senate prevented 
 leave being given. Mr. Tyler's was the only vote recorded against the bill." 
 (Niles, Ixiii., p. 430.) 
 
462 LETTBES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 vised. Many thought they saw under Jackson's zeal for the Union 
 the workings of private resentment against Calhoun. Benton had 
 voted for the tariffs of 1828 and 1832, and the hostility of him- 
 self and the other administration Democrats to the compromise 
 tariff was taken as evidence that secretly they were opposed to 
 .the Yerplanck bill. Even the Richmond Enquirer, devoted 
 as it was to' Jackson's interest, in its editorial upon the passage 
 of the Force bill, denounced it "as unnecessary and unseason- 
 able." 
 
 Congress adjourned on March 2nd; the convention of South 
 Carolina met again on March 11th; the ordinance of nuUiiication 
 was repealed; State-rights had been saved; the manufacturers 
 defeated ; revenue made the basis of the tariff ; justice had been ren- 
 dered the South; bloodshed had been avoided; the Union pre- 
 served; and Mr Tyler, to whom this glorious result was chiefly 
 due, returned to Virginia rejoicing at the good work accomplished, 
 and received everywhere with honor and enthusiasm. Only the 
 pet vultures of the administration were cast down, — Benton et id 
 omne genus. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's constituents gave him a big dinner at Gloucester 
 Court-house and invited guests from all quarters. At this hilarious 
 meeting, Mr. Tyler replied to a toast in honor of his single vote 
 on the Foi'ce bill. He reviewed his course in Congress. There 
 in his speech he had expressly declared that "he disclaimed the 
 policy adopted by South Carolina; all there knew that he did not 
 approve her course." Now he still maintained that "he was not 
 the apologist of South Carolina." But he said that that did not pre- 
 vent him from objecting to the policy of force, and the doctrines 
 established by Jackson's supreme pleasure. These objections he 
 set out at length, and concluding he proposed a sentiment, which, 
 like all the rest of his principles of action, whatever men's judg- 
 ment may be now upon them, it must be admitted he ever sin- 
 cerely upheld. 
 
 Virginia, the blessed mother of us all ; he who denies her his allegiance, 
 and shall refuse to rome to her rescue in her hour of peril and her danger, is 
 unworthy to be called her son. 
 
 The presence of some eight or nine nullifiers at the dinner, 
 who made nullification toasts, was seized upon by Mr. Ritchie tO' 
 
ME. TTLEE S ADDRESS AT THE CLAY BANQUET. 463 
 
 stigmatize the meeting as a nullification affair. This induced a 
 letter from the proposer of the dinner, denying that the occasion 
 had any political significance whatever; that John C. Calhoun 
 ranked as low in his political opinion as any man in the United 
 States ; that Mr. Tyler in Congress had expressly disclaimed being 
 a nuUifier; that the eight or nine Calhoun men at the dinner 
 were advocates only four years ago of John Q. Adams; that the 
 large majority of the toasts were in honor of Mr. Tyler, Mr. Clay, 
 John Kandolph, etc.; and that the dinner was induced by the 
 great satisfaction generally felt at Mr. Tyler's course on the 
 Force bill, "which measure we always thought wanton and un- 
 necessary." ^ 
 
 In the spring of 1 860, Mr. Tyler was invited by the Whig friends 
 of Clay to attend the unveiling of the Clay statue in Eichmond. 
 Notwithstanding the shameless treatment which he had experienced 
 at Clay's hands during his administration, Mr. Tyler courteously ac- 
 cepted the invitation and went. He there, at the banquet, delivered 
 the eulogy on Clay that follows. Mr. Tyler stood at the time 
 over the social volcano which was to sear the South with the lava 
 of destruction for four long years. He cast his eyes back to these 
 days, and his heart warmed to the man who assisted him in saving 
 his coimtry from the horrors of civil strife, where in punishing 
 one wrong the government commits ten others, and ruin and deso- 
 lation flow from its preference of the bloody weapons of force to 
 the mild dictates of justice. England lost her bi-ightest jewel by 
 a resort to it, and, wiser than our great Republic, has profited by 
 the lesson. The complaints of her colonies are tenderly regarded ; 
 they are given the power of levying their own taxes and duties; 
 and in the true sense are a free and independent people. Our 
 government is run mad on the policy of force; and the bayonet is 
 ever ready to take the place of the scales of justice and the gentle 
 hand of mercy. 
 
 ' Bichmond Enquirer, article signed "Subscriber," April 12, 1833. Wise, in 
 his "Seven Decades,'' says, that "taking sides with nullification was the leading 
 error of Mr. Tyler's life." Wise had just entered on his own career at this time 
 as a great Jackson man, though, like other Virginians, he was opposed to the 
 Force bilL Impressions made at this early day continued throughout his life. 
 Being intensely subjective in temperament, he was disposed to class aU who 
 differed with him in any degree as "huUifiers." 
 
464 lbttbes and times of the ttleeb. 
 
 Address of Mr. Tyler at the Clay Banquet, in April, 1860. 
 
 The President of the Banquet announced that the next regular toast was 
 ■" The Union," which would be offered by Mr. Wyndham Robertson. 
 
 Mr. Robertson followed with a short speech, and concluded by proposing 
 the following toast: 
 
 " The Constitutional Union of the States." — The Union of the States is the 
 •harmony of the spheres. While obedient to the laws of their creation, they 
 sing ever as they go " glad tidings of great joy" to all the world. Rebelling 
 against them, light and joy are swallowed up in darkness, and order falls 
 back into primordial chaos. (Applause.) 
 
 The President said: I have the pleasure to announce to you that ex-Presi- 
 •dent Tyler will respond to the toast of " The Union." (Applause.) 
 
 Loud calls were then made for the ex-President, whereupon he arose, amid 
 thunders of applause, and said : 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen : I frankly confess that I did not antici- 
 pate the call you have made upon me. I came prepared, if opportunity was 
 ^iven, to say a few words of the distinguished man whose memory you have, 
 as far as marble could do it, immortalized ; but, in speaking of him, I shall, 
 of necessity, speak of the Union. I came up to witness the proceedings of 
 to-day. . It is a great spectacle, — that of inaugurating the statue of such a 
 man as has passed away from earth. It is the eternizing his name as far as 
 ,marble can accomplish it. It is the rescuing from the tomb those features, 
 which were immovable in their day and generation. To do this on yonder 
 grounds, and in the shadow of the capitol, which is hallowed by great events 
 and great names, and this, too, in advance of similar tributes to the heroes 
 and statesmen of other days who drew their sustenance from Virginia's 
 maternal breast, and made their names illustrious, is no ordinary event. And 
 yet it is right. It is right to reclaim the resemblance, while it may be done, 
 ■of one of Virginia's sons, who in early life left the old homestead for a new 
 one in the West, under the nursing care of her eldest daughter. It may now 
 be said, after the manner of the inscription on the tomb of the Mantuan swain : 
 -" Virginia gave him birth, Kentucky gave him a grave, the United States 
 furnished him a theatre for his labors." I trust that the day is not distant 
 when the public grounds will exhibit to an admiring people the resurrected 
 features of a grand host of departed patriots, each after its own way to be a 
 silent but forcible monitor of that immortality of fame which succeeds a life 
 of high and honorable action. 
 
 It is known to all present, and therefore had as well be spoken, that there 
 was a period in my own life when the man whose memory you are this day 
 honoring, stood in formidable antagonism to me. His blows fell heavily and 
 -thick upon me, and doubtless some of the bruises and scars which they in- 
 flicted remain to the present day. He struck with a gauntleted hand, and 
 that hand was heavy. He required an impossibility — but let that pass. After 
 I, too, shall have bade the world good night, history, if it deems them worthy 
 of her record, will gather up the incidents of those times and represent them 
 truly. Be it so. I turn away from them -and go back to other times. 
 
MK. TTLEE S ADDRESS AT THE CLAY BANQUET. 465 
 
 I recall the image of Henry Clay upon my entering college. His clarion 
 voice had resounded through the land long before that. He had efficiently 
 sustained the administration of Mr. Jefferson, and marshalled the republican 
 hosts under Mr. Madison that battled in what has been not inaptly called 
 the second war of independence. He had won the prestige of an immense 
 popularity. In 1816, I entered the Congress as a representative of this metro- 
 politan district. Then I became personally acquainted with Mr. Clay. He 
 was the Speaker of the House, and embodied in his person all the essentials 
 for that high office. Bold, resolute, fearless; of commanding personal at- 
 tributes, with a voice that might be modulated to any note ; he preserved 
 perfect order in that body often under trials and circumstances which threat- 
 ened to break forth into tumult. The great triumvirate was there. Clay and 
 ■Calhoun had won laurels in debate. Webster was gradually raising his head 
 above the crowd. There he sat, for the most part, silent, wrapped in his own 
 •deep meditations. He culminated into full renown some few years after, and 
 having witnessed the spread of his name over the world, he went to his grave, 
 ^rand, noble, magnificent in his patriotism, amid the profound regrets of his 
 country. 
 
 Little did I then dream that a personal regard was to spring up between 
 the first of these great men and myself, to continue uninterrupted, despite 
 radical differences of opinion on essential questions of public policy, for 
 fourteen years of public service; and still less that at a greatly subsequent 
 period the other two were to spring to my side as my trusted friends and 
 •counselors in the arduous and difficult administration of public affairs. There 
 they are the marked men of an age. Indulge me in a single expression of 
 pride and gratification — it is that a more enduring monument than brass or 
 marble can give, has been built up for them by the Legislature of Virginia, 
 •on the map of the State. There they are the household words of the people 
 of the State, in their legislative halls and in their daily avocations. Looking at 
 that map, I find myself surrounded by many illustrious names of my cabinet. 
 Some were there of old times, — my own reflective of honor done my revered 
 father is there, and there, too, are found the names of Upshur and Gilmer.' 
 
 The times to which I allude were times of great men. Congress was indeed 
 the emblem of our free institutions. Perfect order prevailed in its delibera- 
 tions. With such a speaker it could not be otherwise. He acted fully up to 
 the duties of this high office. Thoroughly acquainted with the principles of 
 parliamentary law, he permitted no violation to pass without reproof. It 
 was in fact the most orderly body I ever saw. When Mr. Clay mingled in 
 the debates, it was with a power and force of eloquence which were rarely 
 ever surpassed. His gesture was impressive, and he had the faculty of throw- 
 ing the power of his voice into a single sentence, after such manner as to pro- 
 duce, sometimes, an electric effect. The late Philip P. Barbour often quoted 
 to me in illustration of this power of voice an expression used by Mr. Clay 
 in discussing the recognition of the Spanish American colonies. The Speaker 
 
 ' Keferring to the counties in West Virginia, of Tyler, Webster, Calhoun, Clay, 
 ■Upshur, and Gilmer. 
 30 
 
466 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 had drawn a desponding picture of the condition of Mexico in her struggle for 
 independence. Her hopes were reported to be blasted : Mina, her great leader, 
 either killed or captured — all gloom, all despair. At that moment a page put 
 in his hand a morning paper. His eyes fell on a paragraph, when his whole 
 manner became changed, and holding the paper up, he exclaimed, " Mina. 
 still lives !" Its effect was wonderful. Mr. Barbour said, " I sprang to my 
 feet, and some minutes elapsed before I recovered from my trancg." (Ap- 
 plause.) If I indulged in the garrulity of age, I might relate similar reminis- 
 cences to day ; but it is not for this that I am here to-day. 
 
 The details of Mr. Clay's life have been eloquently given by the accomplished 
 orator of the day. It is not because I admire him as a man, as a leader in 
 debate, as an orator of immense powers, that I am here. No, it is be- 
 cause in my heart I believe that he has a title to a monument for an act of 
 broad and unselfish patriotism in the course of his career which, standing by 
 itself, I have not hesitated at all times, and in all places when it was suitable 
 to say it, it entitled him not only to a monument of brass or marble, but to one in 
 the hearts of his countrymen. [Applause.] The brow of the Eomau citizen 
 who had saved the life of another in battle, was encircled by an oaken wreath. 
 What badge of distinction is proud enough for him who saves his country 
 from civil war? [Applause.] Ask the parent who enfolds his little children 
 and the companion of all his hopes and trials and triumphs in life, in his 
 arms, at the horrible spectre of civil broil which threatens with grim aspect 
 to enter his heretofore peaceful dwelling — ask the loue and widowed mother 
 as she flies to the rock and desert with her infant straiued to her breast and 
 concealed from view by the tresses of her streaming hair — ask brave and 
 stalwart men, as they take their position in opposing ranks, to shed each 
 other's blood — ask one, ask all, what monument he deserves who drives away 
 this horrible spectre of civil war, and restores his country to peace and confi- 
 dence. Nay, more — ask the lovers of freedom all over the world what is the 
 .measure of gratitude for the man who saves that glorious banner, without a 
 star shorn of its dazzling lustre — the herald, if so preserved, of ultimate free- 
 dom to mankind — from being torn and destroyed in the bloody arena of strife 
 and battle. [Loud applause.] It was because in my innermost heart I be- 
 lieved that Henry Clay did this, that I am here to-day. [Applause.] 
 
 Most of those who are here present remember the marked era of General 
 Jackson's proclamation, and what was called the "Force bill." The tariff 
 question was the absorbing one of the day. The South had unitedly declared 
 it oppressive, and in violation of the spirit of the Constitution. After long 
 years of protest, South Carolina declared it to be her purpose to nullify the 
 act. She had resorted to no act of nullification. She had threatened to do 
 so. She sought thereby peaceably to adjust the question. The proclamation 
 came with all its contradictory doctrines, which, carried into practice, threat- 
 ened revolution, annihilating in its course our Federal system, and setting up 
 in its stead a consolidated government, looking no longer to States as parties 
 to the social system, but to popular majortties unrestrained by anything other 
 than a blind will. To enforce those doctrines, the Force bill was passed, in- 
 vesting the President with dictatory power — army, navy, militia, treasury, were 
 
ME. Tyler's address at the clay banquet. 467 
 
 all placed at his sole will and disposal. South Carolina saw the storm, and 
 prepared for it. Her military were plaoed under an eflicient drill, and her 
 palmetto flag was ready to be unfurled, and thousands were up, on tip-toe to 
 watch the coming storm and take part in it. Under this state of things, I 
 waited on Mr. Clay. I had voted against him in the election just passed. I 
 had differed radically from him in his course of domestic policy. I belonged, 
 in short, to the old Jeffersonian party, from whose principles of constitutional 
 construction I have never, in one single instance, departed. He well knew 
 my personal admiration of him, and he received me cordially. We conversed 
 about the times. He saw the danger. I appealed to his patriotism. No 
 man ever did so in vain. [Applause. J 
 
 The difficulties in the way were immense. He responded as a patriot. I 
 referred him to another man as the only person necessary to consult, and that 
 man was John C. Calhoun. He had to reconcile his own party — he had to 
 satisfy an opposite party by large concessions. They met, consulted, agreed. 
 The compromise tariff bill was the result; and now that years have gone by 
 • — now that my head is covered with gray hairs, and old age is upon me, I 
 recall the enthusiasm 1 felt that day, when Mr. Clay rose in the Senate to an- 
 nounce the great measure of peace and reconciliation ; I occupied the extreme 
 seat on the left ; he a similar one on the right of the Senate chamber. We ad- 
 vanced to meet each other, and grasped each other's hands midway the chamber. 
 [Applause.] It is that grasp of hand which has brought me here to-day. 
 [Applause.] It is that noble act which immortalizes the name of Henry Clay. 
 [Applause.] I felt that he deserved a monument. I am here to witness its 
 inauguration ; after occurrences have not restrained me from coming. [Ap- 
 plause.] 
 
 I have but little to do with politics of the present day — little to do 
 with them except to wish them safely ended. I have fears, I have doubts, I 
 have settled opinions; but they are my own in the privacy of retirement. I 
 may well exclaim with our talented but unfortunate Edgar A. Poe, without 
 participating in the regret which the lines express: 
 
 "Alas! alas! forme! 
 Ambition all is o'er; 
 No more— no more— no more — 
 (Such lauRuage holds the solemn sea 
 To the sands upon the shore,) 
 Shall bloom the thunder-blasted tree, 
 Or stricken eagle soar." [Loud applause.] 
 
 Mr. Maofarland. — Though it is not strictly in order, I will now propose 
 what I anticipate will meet a hearty response from every one present. I am 
 sure there is not a gentleman present who does not admire the magnanimity, 
 generosity and kindly nature which have prompted the remarks of the dis- 
 tinguished gentleman on my right (ex-President Tyler). We are all glad 
 that he has made them. He is one of ourselves. We have known him as the 
 type of our own State, and we have desired to meet him in private and tender 
 him the glass of kindness and of friendship. [Applause.] I beg, therefore, 
 to propose the health, prosperity and happiness of John Tyler, ex-President 
 of the United States. [Drank with applause.] 
 
468 LE'rrEES and times of the ttlees. 
 
 Note. 
 The following extracts — the first from a letter written by Mr. Tyler before the 
 ceremonial, and the second from one written after it — are interesting in connec- 
 tion with the above address, and with the "Whigs by whom he was invited : 
 
 [To EOEEBT TyLEK.] 
 
 March 22, 1860. 
 I received an invitation, most politely worded, fo the inauguration of the Clay 
 statue on the 12th April. I have accepted it, and if my health permits will be 
 present. De mortuia nil nisi honum. I shall act up to the wisdom indicated by 
 that maxim, if I say anything. 
 
 [To KoBEBT Ttleb.] 
 
 April 16, 1860. 
 My reception in Kiohmond was everything I could desire. I carried Gardie 
 -and Alexander, and they were treated as favored guests. Young Clay was there, 
 and his manner very cordial. He spoke of you. John Mitchell was at the ban- 
 quet, and made some remarks. I left my seat to speak to him. He immediately 
 spoke of you. Brooks, of the Express, was also present, and was cordial. Bar- 
 bour delivered an eloquent speech in the morning. My own was the chief one of 
 the evening. It was highly applauded. I handed a copy to Kean, who said it 
 -should appear in the papers Saturday. I doubt whether I shall ever see it again. 
 A very comphmentary toast was given me. 
 
CHAPTEE XY. 
 
 1833—1834. 
 
 " Was there ever so reckless and headstrong a set in the administration of public af- 
 fairs ?"— John Tyler (1833.) 
 
 DlSKtlPTION OF THE Demockatic Paetx. — Usukpations OF ' Jackson. — The Ee- 
 
 MOVAL OF THE DEPOSITS. — SuMMAKY OP THE BanK QUESTION. — KeTIEW OF 
 
 Mk. Ttlek's Coubse as to the Bank. — Agitation over the Removal of the 
 Deposits.— Formation of the Whig Party. —Origin of the Term "Whig.''— 
 Session of 1883-'4.— Me. Tyler to Tazewell.— To Gilmer. —Debates in 
 Congress. — Resignation of Rives. -Letters to Tazewell. —Report of the 
 Committee on Finance. — Speech of Mr. Tylee. — Correspondence. 
 
 THE Democratic party, composed from the first of the most 
 heterogeneous elements, had never been able to fuse into an 
 harmonious whole. There had alwaj's been two pretty well de- 
 fined divisions, — Federal Democrats, or " loco focos,'' and State- 
 rights men, of whom the " nullifiers " were an ultra type. The de- 
 mocracy of the two classes was as distinct as nature could make it. 
 The Federal Democrats made the whims of the masses the guide 
 of their policy; the strict constructionists boasted of looking ex- 
 clusively to constitutional principle. They were popular because 
 the government was such in its origin, as distinguished from a 
 monarchy or aristocracy. But in real truth tliere was no dif- 
 ference whatever between the Federal Democrats and the old John 
 Adams' party. If there was any, it was to the advantage of the 
 latter. At any moment the rabble unifies into some demagoguic 
 favorite, whose severest tyranny is a pleasure to them. 
 
 Jackson represented in himself the popular principle, pure and 
 simple. He was, therefore, necessarily a despot. Until the pro- 
 clamation he had been held back by his wish to keep well with 
 the State-rights party. After his second election his character 
 was rendered even more imperious, since he regarded the result 
 as an endorsement not alone of his administration, but of every 
 act of his life. His course soon after this hurled oflF from him the 
 
470 LErrEEs and times of the tylees. 
 
 State-rights men who disapproved of millification, but who, at the 
 same time, disapproved of the proclamation. After this, having no 
 moderating influence operating upon him, he carried tlie power of 
 the executive and the patronage of the government to the limits 
 of every abuse. The National Kepublicans of the North soon ex- 
 perienced the terrors of the despot. When the tariflf bill of 1832 
 was before Congress, Webster had supported the proposition of 
 an amendment to the bill, as sent up from the House, to inci-ease 
 the duty on woolens from fifty per cent, to fifty-seven per cent. 
 When the Force bill was before the country, aud civil war stared 
 every man in the face, he and his fellows had tossed their hats high 
 in air, and cried with lusty lungs, " Hurrah for Jackson !" He was 
 Lord jSTorth over again. He voted for the Force bill and against 
 the measure of peace, — the compromise tariff. In six months time 
 he was bitterly arraigning Jackson and complaining of his mon- 
 strous usurpations. 
 
 Drunk with the doctrines of the proclamation, Jackson cast to 
 the winds those sacred theories of "non-intervention" which are 
 understood to be the pillars of true republicanism. He played 
 the part for the next four years of a most extreme Federalist. 
 He undertook to guide and direct all things according to his sove- 
 reign will and pleasure. He took charge of the Treasury, and 
 wielded the purse as recklessly as he had wielded the sword. He 
 assumed the powers of tlie Senate, and negotiated treaties through 
 ministers not authorized except by his mere appointment. He 
 came within an ace of embroiling the country in a war with 
 France on a mere point of etiquette. He electioneered in person 
 for Martin Yan Buren, and dictated his successor in so open and 
 zealous a manner that the exclamation of Mr. Tyler must ever be 
 that of the student of history, "Was there ever so reckless and 
 headstrong a set in the administration of public affairs ! " 
 
 Parties and fragments of parties, life-long antagonists and men 
 of diverse principles, old Clay men, old Jackson men, old Craw- 
 ford men, tariff men and anti-tariff men, bank men and anti-bank 
 men, distribution men and anti-distribution men, federalists, strict 
 constructionists, and nullifiers, — all formed a hotchpot of opposi- 
 tion against him. The National Republicans found out that the 
 diiference was great when their ox came to be gored; and even 
 the anti-Masons got a leaning to State-rights, and dealt in ap- 
 
THE BANK QUESTION. 471 
 
 plause for the arch-nuUifier, John C. Calhoun. It is a trite but 
 true saying that "politics make strange bed-fellows." 
 
 The removal of the deposits fi-om the Bank of the United States 
 operated as a cement to bring into a precarious solidarity these 
 varying and repugnant elements. Jackson's wrath had been ex- 
 cited against this institution by his confidants, Hill, Kendall, and 
 Elair, who each had his personal grievance to complain of. In 
 his very first message Jackson alluded to the subject, suggesting 
 views opposed to its re-chai-ter, and recommending a Bank " founded 
 on the credit of the government and its revenues." In his mes- 
 sage in 1830, Jackson again took notice of the bank, and recom- 
 mended a substitute "as a branch of the Treasury department." 
 The Bank was very strong with the people at this time, and Clay 
 seized upon Jackson's messages to make it, with the tariff, the 
 key-note of the coming campaign. The Bank charter expired in 
 1836, and Clay, in December, 1831, made its re-incorporation a 
 plank in his party platform. In January, 1832, he caused the 
 Bank to present to Congress a memorial praying for a re-charter. 
 This party action aroused all of Jackson's resentment, and the 
 overwhelming victory gained by him, in the fall of 1832, con- 
 firmed him in the belief of the dangerous character of the institu- 
 tion. And hero the reader will indulge me in a brief review of 
 the Bank question, and Mr. Tyler's relations with it up to this 
 point of his public career. 
 
 The government of the United States is admittedly one of lim- 
 ited powers. The sanction of its existence being the Constitution, 
 it is natural, in treating of the question, to 'ask what was the in- 
 tention of the framers of that instrument. This intention is, of 
 course, best collected from the published debates of the Federal 
 convention. Edmund Randolph, of Virginia, had the high honor of 
 opening the proceedings there by submitting for discussion sundry 
 propositions which, as amended, were finally referred, on July 23, 
 1787, to a committee on detail, for the purpose of reporting a 
 Constitution. On the 18th of August, Mr. Madison and Mr. 
 Pinkney submitted, in order to be referred to the same committee, 
 a number of additional powers, among which were these: "To 
 grant charters of corporation, 'in cases where the public good may re- 
 quire them and the authority of a single State may be incompetent ; 
 to establish a university ; to establish public institutions, rewards, 
 
472 LBTTBES AND TIMES OF THE TTLBES. 
 
 and immunities for the protection of agriculture, commerce, trades^ 
 and manufactures."^ 
 
 On August 22d, Mr. Kutledge, from the committee, reported 
 various amendments to their report already before the convention, 
 hut omitting the special grants of the powers enumerated. Sub- 
 sequently, on September 13th, Dr. Franklin moved to add, after 
 the words "post roads," in the grant to Congress under Article 1, 
 Section 8, "to estabhsh post-offices and post roads," a power "to 
 provide for cutting canals, when deemed necessary." Mr. Madison 
 suggested an enlargement of the motion into a power "to grant 
 charters of incorporation, where the interest of the United States 
 might require and the legislative provisions of the State may be 
 incompetent."^ Objection was raised to this, and the motion 
 being so modified as to admit a distinct question, specifying and 
 limited to the case of canals, three States voted aye, and eight 
 no. The other part fell, of course, as including the part rejected. 
 Mr. Madison and Mr. Pinkney then moved to insert in the list of 
 powers vested in Congress a power "to establish a university, in 
 which no preferences or distinctions should be allowed on account 
 of rehgion." On the question the motion was lost, four States 
 voting aye, and six no. 
 
 It thus appears that the cherished " American System " of Clay 
 was treated as containing primary, and not incidental powers, and 
 expressly rejected by the convention. In 1791, Hamilton recom- 
 mended a national bank, involving not merely the power of incor- 
 poration, but the grant of exclusive privileges for twenty years, 
 independent of the control of future Congresses. "Washington 
 doubted the constitutionality of the recommendation, and got Mad- 
 ison to draw up a veto of the same, which he was only induced to 
 waive at the last hour. 
 
 Hostility to the Bank became an article in the true Eepublican 
 creed. Madison opposed the first Bank, since as the proposer of 
 the power in the convention, no man knew better than he its un- 
 constitutionality. In 1811, the Bank tried, but failed, to get a re- 
 charter from Congi-ess. It was defeated in the Senate, by the cast- 
 ing vote of the vice-president, George Clinton, of New York. In 
 1814, the project of a national bank, to relieve the financial distress 
 of the country, due to the war with Great Britain, was again started. 
 
 ' EUiot, T., pp. 439-'40. ■' Ibid., v., pp, 543-'4. 
 
HISTORY OF THE BANK. 473 
 
 Calhoun and John "W. Eppes, the son-in-law of Jefferson, accord- 
 ingly suggested a bank in the District of Columbia, by virtue of 
 the exclusive authority of Congress over the same, and branching 
 with the consent of the States. Few objections to its constitution- 
 ality were raised by the strictest party men. In 1815, the charter 
 of a bank located in Philadelphia, passed Congress under the pat- 
 ronage of the Federal wing of the Eepublican party. Mr. Madison 
 vetoed it on grounds of expediency, since it failed to provide a re- 
 liable circulating medium or furnish loans to the government, in 
 return for its franchises. In 1816, another bank charter passed 
 Congress, not subject to these objections. It received Madison's 
 approval, for reasons expressed in his veto message of 1815, that 
 the question of constitutional authority was precluded by repeated 
 recognitions of the validity of such an institution, in acts of the 
 several branches of the government. Next followed the decision 
 of the Supreme Court, in 1819, in the case of McCuUoch vs. The 
 State of Maryland , that the United States Bank was constitu- 
 tional, because it was a " necessary and proper " means for carrying 
 into execution the fiscal powers of the government. As such, it 
 could establish branch banks in the States without their assent, and 
 free from State taxation. 
 
 The opinions of Madison and the Supreme Court were con- 
 sidered by a large portion of the people of the United States as 
 by no means a settlement of the question. Madison's tergiversa- 
 tion was traced to his early predilections in the convention of 1788, 
 in favor of corporations, and Marsliall's decision was looked upon 
 as a mere matter of course, and as confined after all to the case in 
 court.' Jefferson remained until his death a declared enemy of 
 the Bank ; and the State-rights party maintained that no precedent 
 
 ' Thus Bancroft writes : "But the Constitution retains the means of protecting 
 itself against the errors of partial or interested judgments. In the first place, the 
 force of a judicial opinion of the Supreme Court, in so far as it Is irreversible, 
 reaches only the particular case in dispute ; and to this society submits, in order 
 to escape from anarchy, in the daily routine of business. To the decision on an 
 underlying question of constitutional law, no such finality attaches. To endure, 
 it must be right. If it is right, it will approve itself to the universal sense of the 
 impartial. A judge, who can justly lay claim to integrity, will never lay claim to 
 infallibility, but with indefatigable research will add, retract and correct when- 
 ever more mature consideration shows the need of it." (Bancroft's Const. Hist., 
 ii., pp. 201-2 ,) 
 
474 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 could justify a violation of the Constitution. The State of Yir- 
 ginia never once acknowledged the constitutionality of the Bank. 
 It instructed its senators, Messrs. Giles and Brent, to vote against 
 the re-charter, in 1811 ; and in 1819, it protested solemnly against 
 the decision of Marshall, the Federal chief-justice. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, as a Kepublican by inheritance and feeling, and a 
 native of Virginia, imbibed from an early day a strong opposition 
 to the Bank, on grounds both of expediency and constitutionality. 
 In 1812, we have seen him introducing a resolution to censure 
 Messrs. Giles and Brent for not voting against the Bank.^ In 1819 
 he v?as one of a committee of the House of Representatives to 
 report upon the condition of the bank chartered three years before. 
 He regarded, then, the whole banking system. State and Federal, 
 as hopelessly corrupt, and the Federal bank unconstitutional. At 
 this time it will be remembered that he supported Mr. Trimble's 
 motion to issue a scire facias against the bank, on the ground 
 that, by its enormous discounts and loans, it had forfeited its charter. 
 But even then he showed his noble respect for law and moderation 
 by voting against the proposition to repeal the charter, since that 
 would have prevented it from properly winding up its affairs and 
 drawing in its debts.' 
 
 In January, 1828, in his speech on the Cumberland road, Mr. 
 Tyler vindicated the "Virginia principles, and instanced the bank, 
 in 1819, as a proof that a departure from the Constitution was 
 always accompanied with injury to the general interests of the 
 country.' The main object of its charter had been to coerce the 
 State banks into the use of specie, and it had beat them all in is- 
 suing paper, and encouraging the spirit of speculation. On Feb- 
 ruary 2, 1831, Benton proposed a i-esolution, ''that the charter of 
 "the Bank of the United States ought not to be renewed." The 
 majority of the Senate was in favor of a bank, and refused per- 
 mission to introduce it. — Yeas twenty, nays twenty-three. Mr. 
 Tyler and Mr. Tazewell were among the yeas. In January, 1832, 
 the Bank applied for a re-charter. The petition was referred to 
 2, committee in the Senate who reported in favor of continu- 
 
 ' Journal House of Delegates, January 14, 1812. 
 
 * AnnaJs Congress, 15lh Cong., second Session. Abell's Tyler, p. 39. 
 
 ^ Congr. Debates, iv., p. 107. 
 
PASSAGE OF THE BANK BILL. 475 
 
 ing it. Mr. Tyler steadily opposed the bill at every step, voting 
 for the amendment offered by Mr. Benton, which provided that 
 the Bank should issne no currency which should not be payable 
 on demand, at the branch bank where issued, and which, strange 
 to say, was negatived ; for the amendment by Mr. Marcy, reserv- 
 ing the power to Congress to alter or modify the charter, after the 
 10th of April, 1836; for the motion of Mr. Tazewell, to restrict 
 the duration of the charter to ten years instead of fifteen, as pro- 
 vided in the bill ; for the amendment presented by Mr. Bibb, pro- 
 posing that, in lieu of the bonus, the bank should be bound, during 
 the continuance of the charter, to make loans and discounts at a 
 rate of interest not exceeding five per cent, per annum ; for the 
 motion of Mr. Sprague, to enlarge the bonus provided by the bill 
 to 8525,000, and for the subsequent largest sums named; for Mr. 
 Marcy's proposal to amend, by introducing a proviso that the bill 
 should not be construed as taking away the right of any State to 
 tax the branches located within their limits ; and for the postpone- 
 ment indefinitely of the bill ; and, finally, against the bill on its 
 engrossment and on its passage. 
 
 There were, however, enough Bank democrats in both Houses to 
 enable the charter to receive the sanction of Congress. But Jack- 
 son only too gladly returned it with his veto. His message is re- 
 markably clear and able ; and disposes of the Bank on grounds of 
 both constitutionality and expediency. Jackson's action in this 
 case was particularly agreeable to Mr. Tyler, who supported him 
 in the canvass that followed. 
 
 In his message at the beginning of the session, 1832-'33, Jack- 
 son recommended an investigation into the condition of the Bank. 
 The House Committee of Ways and Means reported a resolution 
 that the government deposits could be safely continued in the Bank. 
 This resolution was adopted by the House — one hundred and nine 
 to forty-six. The fact is, that whatever objections existed against 
 the Bank, as an overgrown monopoly, it was at this time in a most 
 perfectly sound condition. The notes of the Bank were regarded 
 •as equal to specie all over the country. Discounts, which had been 
 the rock on which the Bank had split in 1819, were cautiously 
 dealt in; and its operations in exchanges had augmented from 
 seven million dollars in 1823 to one hundred millions, nearly, in 
 1833. This made little difference with Jackson, who had now 
 
476 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 made up his mind to remove the government deposits, let come 
 what might. 
 
 By the law of 1816, creating the Bank, the public money was 
 required to be deposited in the vaults of the Bank and its branches, 
 under the supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury, who, in his 
 discretion, might remove the deposits, in which case he was re- 
 quired to immediately lay before Congress, if in session, and if 
 not, immediately after the commencement of the next session, the 
 reasons of such order or direction. In the spring of 1833, McLane, 
 the SecretaVy of the Treasury, who, in his report in December, 
 1831, had strongly favored the Bank, was transferred to the State 
 Department, and William J. Duane, of Pennsylvania, appointed 
 in his stead. This seems to have been done under tlie impression 
 that Duane would readily bend to the will of Jackson. But a 
 mistake was m.ade in this. Duane was found to be of sterner 
 stuff, and when approached on the subject of the removal, he in- 
 dignantly declined taking part in the transaction. Thereupon 
 Jackson, on the 18th of September, 1833, summoned his cabinet 
 together, and read them a paper, prepared by Boger B. Taney,, 
 the Attorney General, in which he took upon himself the respon- 
 sibility of the order. Duane, in whom the discretion as to remov- 
 ing the deposits was vested hj the law, refused to give the order 
 that Jackson wished, and also declined to resign. He was then 
 dismissed by Jackson, and Roger B. Taney appointed in his stead, 
 who gave the order. 
 
 The removal caused a commotion in business and politics. Bank 
 stock fell, and bankruptcy became general. Meetings were held 
 in every place, and memorials adopted, praying the relief of Con- 
 gress. The political elements were in flames. If by the procla- 
 mation of 1833 Jackson had lost the assistance of Tyler and his 
 friends Tazewell, Bibb, Upshur, Gordon, and others, by removing 
 the deposits he lost the aid of many other warm supporters, among 
 whom, to say nothing of other able and talented statesmen, was 
 the young and ardent Henry A. Wise, destined to play so im- 
 portant a part on the national stage for the next forty years. In 
 principle, the conduct of Jackson at both times was the same ; but 
 so different were the interests aifected that, the general fusion, 
 which seemed to be imminent in 1833, of the Federal Demo- 
 crats and National Kepublicans, was entirely cut off by the 
 
EISE OF THE WHIG PAETY. 479 
 
 policy adopted with reference to the Bank, which contro the char- 
 monetary interests of the North. So intimate were the -pa Taze- 
 Telations of Webster and Van Buren in 1833, that many, iiihe 
 Tazewell, confidently predicted that they would form a ticket"- 
 together, — Webster taking the second place. Now these antici- 
 pations were all dashed by the removal of the deposits. The 
 National Kepublican party did indeed lose its identity, hut instead 
 of coalescing with the Federal Democrats, they joined with the 
 State-rights men, — the lesser wing of the old Jackson party, — and 
 together formed a new party, called the " Whig." • 
 
 The National Republicans afterwards set up an exclusive title to 
 the term " Whig," and reputable writers have been betrayed into us- 
 ing the terms " Whig" and " National Kepublican" as synonymous ; 
 but nothing could be further from historic accuracy.^ The National 
 Kepublican party fought for high tariff, internal improvements, 
 and national bank; but with the rise of the Whig party in 1834, 
 in which year the name was first used, the admission went forth 
 that all these questions had become "o'teolete." Indeed, there 
 was everything in the past to recommend the name "Whig" to 
 the State-rights men. The old Jeffersonians had, in the stirring 
 times of 1798-9, often applied the name to themselves in contra- 
 distinction to the Tories, who composed, in part, the Federal party. 
 But the apostle of Democracy had himself in more recent times 
 illustrated the use of the term. When parties, in 1823, were 
 divided between Jackson, Crawford, Adams and Clay, Jefferson, 
 in a letter to Lafayette, stigmatized the policy of Adams as Tory- 
 ism, and crowned the devotion of the Crawford men to State- 
 rights with the blessed title of " Whig." ^ 
 
 ' Von Hoist makes this error several times. See an instance, Constitutional 
 History, 1750-1832, p. 404. In the next volume he approaches much nearer a 
 true conception of the party. 
 
 ^ "Who is to be the next president is the topic here of every conversation. 
 My opinion on that subject is what I expressed to you in my last letter. The 
 question will be ultimately reduced to the northernmost candidate (Adams) and 
 southernmost (Crawford). The former will get every Federal vote in the Union, 
 and many Republicans; the latter, all those denominated of the Old Balwol ; for 
 you are not to believe that these two parties ane amalgamated, — that the lion and 
 
 the lamb are lying down together On the eclipse of Federalism with us, 
 
 Although not its extinction, its leaders got up the Missouri question, under the 
 false front of lessening the measure of slavery, but with the real view of produc- 
 ing a geographical division of parties, which might ensure them the next president. 
 
476 
 
 LETTBBS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 made u^- ^^S P^^tj) i° i*^ origin, was, therefore, properly a State- 
 what V^^'^Ji — formed out of a hotchpot of opposition. There 
 
 re first tlie old National Republicans, at first barely concealing 
 ^neir nakedness under a few fig-leaves, and then lustily donning the 
 straight jacket of strict construction only to throw it aside at a. 
 more distant day to shame the day-light with their harlot dress of 
 many colors. Next, there were the nuUifiers, opposed to Jackson 
 since the election of 1832 ; then the Tyler class of State-rights 
 mpn, who condemned nullification, but saw too clearly the cloven- 
 foot in the proclamation of Andrew Jackson ; then the Democrats, 
 who considered the removal of the deposits an unconstitutional 
 procedure, and fell ofi^ from the administration in 1834:; and finally 
 we notice the anti-Mason zealots, unscrupulous, vindictive, and 
 unbending, but now, with a wry face, dealing in the arts of com- 
 promise, and affecting a reverential regard for the Constitution. 
 
 All of these several elements condemned the course of Jackson to- 
 wards the Bank, — the State-rights men on principle, but the National 
 Kepublicans and the anti-Masons merely because they loved the 
 Bank for the pecuniary favors it had done them in some shape or 
 another. The Constitution was nothing ; but the Bank, — why, for 
 the Bank they were ready to become State-rights zealots at any 
 moment. 
 
 Virginia had supported Jackson up to the date of this day. She 
 now, like Mr. Tyler, disowned Jacksonism, and joined the opposi- 
 tion, — thus fulfilling another prophecy of Mr. Tyler, made in 1827, 
 when he was first prevailed upon to support Jackson : " Should he 
 (Jackson) abuse Virginia by setting at naught her political senti- 
 ments, he will find her at the head of the opposition,' and he will 
 probably experience the fate of J. Q. A." The strong sentiment 
 of the opposition in the State pointed to Littleton Waller Taze- 
 well as the proper successor to Floyd in the administration of the 
 State government. In directing this sentiment Mr. Tyler was 
 
 The line of division now is the preservation of State-rights as reserved in the 
 Constitution, or by strained constructions of that instrument to merge all into a 
 consolidated government. The Tories are for strengthening the executive and 
 general government. The Whigs cherish the representative branch and the 
 rights reserved by the States as the bulwark against consolidation, which must 
 immediately generate monarchy. And although this division excites as yet no 
 ■warmth, yet it exists, is well understood, and will be a principle of voting at the 
 ensuing election with the reflecting men of both parties." 
 
LETTER TO TAZEWELL. 479 
 
 particularly industrious. The rare value that he laid upon the char- 
 acter and abilities of Tazewell seemed entirely justified by Taze- 
 well's course in the past. When Mr. Tyler first appeared in the 
 Senate, Tazewell was then at the height of his fame. Jackson of- 
 fered him the post of Secretary of State, which he declined. This 
 was a fatal step for the State-rights party, since Jackson was at 
 the time under strong inducements to favor them, and the declen- 
 sion led the way to Van Buren's nomination. Tazewell was as 
 learned as Adams, as keen-minded as Calhoun, as brave as Andrew 
 Jackson, and as eloquent as Webster. But neither he nor any of 
 those named could compete with Mr. Tyler, his colleague, in the 
 ■ perfect comprehension of fitness for an end, — in that rare faculty 
 which, when it controls present circumstances, is called tact, and 
 when employed to avoid the hidden shoals of the future, seems 
 akin to prophecy and divination. Tazewell, like all the rest, made 
 political blunders, — Mr. Tyler never a single one. 
 
 On the day of the opening of Congress, and while preparation 
 was making for what was long to be remembered as a session un- 
 equalled for excitement, Mr. Tyler wrote the following letter to 
 Mr. Tazewell, then in retirement at Norfolk. 
 
 [To Littleton W. Tazewell, Esq.] 
 
 Washington, Dec. 3, 1833. 
 
 Mt Dear Sib : On my way hither I fell in with several members of the 
 General Assembly, principally from the West, and with one or two of the 
 most prominent and- controlling got into conversation on the subject of Floyd's 
 successor to the government of Virginia. I need not say with what pleasure 
 I learned that a prevalent disposition existed to select you for that office. The 
 situation of public affairs appears to me most imperiously to call for precisely 
 that appointment. To our own party nothing could in any shape be more 
 truly acceptable, as it would go farther than any other conceivable thing to 
 revive principles which the madness of the times has so nearly overthrown. 
 
 May I obtrude the expression of the hope that you will permit things to take 
 their course, and deny not to your friends the use of your name in a crisis so 
 full of peril to the public good. I should fondly hope that a residence in 
 Richmond, surrounded as you would be by your numerous friends there, 
 would be almost as agreeable to you as a residence in Norfolk: while in the 
 general, the absence of all weighty concerns of a public character would leave 
 you a full share of leisure to bestow the necessary attention on your private 
 affairs. 
 
 I have not been here sufiSciently long to form any definite idea of what may 
 be the results of the session. The Jackson vote in the House of Eepresenta- 
 tives is nominally overwhelming ; and so far as office (the only cement of the 
 
480 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 party) is concerned, they act with resistless force. The fate of Clark fully 
 confirmed this; but my expectation is, that when public measures come to 
 be canvassed, the present Congress will manifest the same want of cohesion 
 which has been exhibited by its predecessors for the last four years. Every 
 effort will be made and every expedient adopted to hold " the party" together 
 - — per fas aut nefas — to secure the succession ; but whether this can be done 
 remains to be seen. The talk is that Johnson sets up resolutely for himself. 
 This may or may not be. As an expedient to avoid the schism, the Northern 
 j)ress is urging a convention, and promising to Johnson all their support in 
 the event of his being nominated. If he is weak enough to fall into the 
 snare, then Van Buren makes him, not his purse, as did the honest lago his 
 fool, but his stirrup, by which to mount into the presidency. 
 
 Among the measures of most prominence will be the removal of the de- 
 posits. Duane's exposition is promised by the Northern press to-morrow. 
 ■One prediction I will venture touching Duane: that however correctly he 
 may have borne himself, he will be hunted down. The men of all-work will 
 be upon him, and if they cannot crush him vvith truth, they will with false- 
 hood. The country is sinking deeper and deeper into corruption, and the 
 only privilege which will shortly be left to the patriot will be to sigh over the 
 recollection of the past. 
 
 I need not say how much pleasure I shall take in receiving letters from you 
 containing your views in relation to public affairs. May I ask a few moments 
 of your time when they can best be spared from your other correspondents 
 •and pursuits? I am in the same mess with your devoted friends Patton, 
 •Grordon and Davenport, whose enquiries after you are constant and unceasing. 
 
 With the truest esteem, I am, dear sir, yours, etc., John Tyler. 
 
 A little later he wrote to Mr. Gilmer : 
 
 [To Thomas W, Gilmbh.] 
 
 Washington, Jan. 7, 1834. 
 
 My Dear Sir: Your letter of the 1st instant, concerning certain papers for 
 Mr. White, of Hampshire, is now before me. The papers shall be preserved 
 and duly delivered to Mr. White. 
 
 There is no subject that so much interests me, of a public nature, as the 
 election of a successor to Governor Floyd. The agitated condition of the 
 country, the mad career of our rulers here, the corruption which everywhere 
 stalks abroad, the decay of those fundamental principles on which our insti- 
 tutions can alone rest in safety, and last, though not least, the divided and 
 distracted condition of public sentiment in our own State, — all call for the 
 highest grade of intellect in the gubernatorial office, united to the most un- 
 suspected purity and public virtue on the part of that high ofBcer. Who 
 unites these qualifications in so eminent a degree as L. W. Tazewell? His 
 past history proves him to be one of the most unambitious of men. Jackson 
 offered him everything — any department — the mission to England — and yet 
 he preferred the service of old Virginia. Has not disinterestedness such as 
 this a strong claim upon the State? They idly declaim against him as a 
 ouUifier. He is what he was in 1798-9,' a thorough-going Democrat; and 
 
■DEBATE ON THE DEPOSn QUESTION. 481 
 
 those who seek to give him a new name show the cloven foot. My prayer is, 
 that the Legislature will look to the glory of Virginia, and place at her head 
 ^ man e'very way worthy of her. 
 
 An illness which still confines nie to my room has kept me out of the vortex 
 of politics for the last ten days. I know not what is passing. If Virginia 
 throws off the shackles, a new game will at once commence. Van Buren will 
 take a northwardly direction ; that is, he will play a game for the New Eng- 
 land States. Heretofore he has looked to the South. Whether he can attach 
 New England to him is doubtful, hut surmises are afloat of a probable defec- 
 tion in that quarter. I vouch for nothing, and, keeping aloof from machina- 
 tions of all sorts, I desire only to see the right prevail, and the country rescued 
 from the corruption which preys on her bowels. 
 
 With sentiments of high respect, I am, dear sir, your friend and servant, 
 
 John Tyler. 
 
 The session of 1833-4 was full of Bank and deposits. 
 
 The President in his message, and Taney in his report, at the be- 
 ginning of the session, elaborately set forth the grounds of their 
 attack on the Bank. The Bank was charged with converting itseK 
 into a monstrous electioneering engine, which it was the duty of 
 the President to suppress at all hazards. True, neither he nor Mr. 
 Taney could point anywhere in the Constitution to any clause au- 
 thorizing them, or either of them, to create themselves guardians 
 ■over the morals of the people, or interfere with elections. Never 
 mind that, said Jackson, I choose to have the deposits removed ; 
 and as to the Secretary of the Treasui-y, he is my officer, and bound 
 to do all I command him to do. The "men of all work" took the 
 cue from the President. They simultaneously "got down" on 
 Duane, who had resisted the removal, and he was roundly and 
 lustily abused in the unscrupulous party press. 
 
 The opposition, however, in Congress and out of it, left little 
 behind, of the various charges against the Bank, but that the lat- 
 ter wished not to be used as a tool by Jackson, and hence had in- 
 curred his enmity. In the House of Representatives, the report of 
 the Secretary of the Treasury on the removal of the deposits from 
 the United States Bank was referred to the Committee of Ways and 
 Means, with instructions, on motion of George McDuffie, to report a 
 bill for their restoration. The torrents of debate deluged both 
 Houses. On Christmas day, 1833, Mr. Tyler wrote to Mr. Taze- 
 well as follows : 
 
 McDuflBe occupied two days in the delivery of his speech, and yet he passes 
 over the question of what is the Treasury ? without a single remark. If the 
 31 
 
482 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 Secretary can locate that Treasury where he pleasea, there can exist no 
 security or safety for the public moneys. With the like authority with which 
 he has undertaken to make the local banks that Treasury, he may make either 
 his own or the President's pockets. I darkly threw out intimations upon the 
 subject in the Committee of Finance a few evenings ago, with the sole pur- 
 pose of ascertaining the impression they would make on the mind of Webster, 
 and was somewhat surprised at the avidity with which he seized upon them. 
 He admitted them to be new, and will doubtless bestow upon them a careful 
 examination. . . . 
 
 What effect will a restoration of the deposits have upon the country ? It is 
 said that the " pet banks" have discounted largely, and that a mere notice from 
 the government to the Manhattan bank, that it will be compelled shortly to 
 make requisitions upon it, has driven that bank into a course of heavy curtail- 
 ment ; and those who claim to have knowledge on the subject anticipate, from 
 the combination of causes now operating a crash of the local banks of the 
 northern States. Would not this be prevented by a restoration of the deposits ? 
 The United States Bank being relieved from the constant and heavy drafts which 
 will be made upon it through the deposit banks, would cease to curtail, and 
 confidence would thereby be restored. This would be the result of a fair course 
 of proceeding on the part of the United States Bank. In a short time, however, 
 ifit designed no further struggle for its charter, it would gradually withdraw its 
 loans, and having four years in which to settle its affairs, it might go out of ex- 
 istence without producing much embarrassment. If, however, it designed to 
 make a struggle for a renewal of its existence, might we not, by restoring the de- 
 posits, arm it with a power of inflicting great injury on the community; and 
 can we be certain that it would not so use its means as to produce the great- 
 est state of embarrassment and suffering? My impression is that General 
 Jackson and the Bank will make their exit, three years hence, fighting; and 
 that the Bank, having received severe wounds at his hands, will readily fall 
 under the blows of " the successor." Is the Bank to keep up the struggle for 
 the next three years ? or are my fears in this behalf unfounded ? If it will 
 continue the struggle, will not a restoration of the deposits increase its ability 
 and render its spasms more disturbing and hurtful to the country ? I seek 
 the truth merely to regulate my own vote, for I am fully persuaded that a 
 majority of votes in both Houses in favor of the restoration would not move 
 the President or alter his purpose. 
 
 Clay's course, since the session commenced, has been ill-advised, and is but 
 too likely to lead to the result you anticipate. He harped too much on the 
 subject of Van Buren's absence. Calhoun's move on the Force bill, even if 
 successful, and the prospects are considered auspicious, will amount to but 
 very little. Its repeal will be put upon the basis of conciliation, without any 
 abandonment of the principle involved, so that but little more is obtained by 
 the repeal than by its expiration. It will still stand off as a precedent. 
 Among my reminiscences I have a prediction of yours uttered two or more 
 years ago, viz. : that Webster would sooner or later take his stand by the 
 side of Van Buren, and seek the office of his lieutenant. At one time I had 
 my pen in my hand to advise you of the fulfillment of this prophecy, but I 
 
TAZEWELL ELECTED GOVEENOE. 483 
 
 delayed for a day or two, and matters iinderwent a change. Whether it will 
 occur or not is now rendered more doubtful. 
 
 My information from Richmond makes me sanguine of your election to the 
 chief magistracy, — a consummation more devoutly wished by the good and 
 true men of the South than any other event which the winter is destined to 
 bring forth. With the truest esteem, etc., 
 
 A few days later, hearing of Mr. Tazewell's election by the 
 Virginia Assembly as governor, Mr. Tyler wrote again : 
 
 [To Littleton W. Tazewell.] 
 
 Washington, Jan. 9, 1834. 
 
 Mx Dear Sir : I cannot withhold from you my congratulations on your 
 recent election to the chief executive magistracy of Virginia. The joyful 
 tidings reached me this morning, and the rejoicings of our friends are open 
 and loud. I have been confined to a sick room for the last fortnight, but, the 
 day being fine and the news from Virginia cheering, I resolved to visit the 
 Senate chamber. There I was met with congratulations by State-rights 
 men and nationals, for many of them who served with you in the Senate 
 seemed highly gratified ; but the third party — the corruptiouists — were gloomy 
 and cast down. Their looks indicated a sad defeat, and displayed the hand- 
 writing on the wall so plainly that I should not be surprised at a, counter- 
 march. The New York game has been played for the South. I doubt 
 whether the North, or more properly the East, will not now be aimed at ; but 
 the great bellwether from that region appears to me to be growing more and 
 more determined every day to adhere to his old friends. 
 
 Binney, from Philadelphia, has concluded to-day a speech of great force, 
 and I think that the administration majority are beginning to stagger. The 
 voice of condemnation from various parts of the country is so loud as to make 
 itself heard. A gentleman said to me last night that an accurate count had 
 been made, and that the majority on the Bank question had dwindled down 
 \jQ five.. This proves that it is seriously staggering. Stevenson goes to Eng- 
 land — so say all, and speculations are made and combinations forming to elect 
 a successor. I think it probable that the non-contents will cast their suffrages 
 on Coalter, of Pennsylvania, under the expectation that he will draw off half 
 the Pennsylvania vote. But my object in taking up my pen was not to 
 indulge in political speculations, but merely to express the great gratification 
 your election has given, and in this Gordon, Patton, and Davenport desire 
 permission to unite. 
 
 With the truest esteem, I am, dear sir, yours, etc., John Ttler. 
 
 p. S. I wrote you not long since, and have no answer to my letter. It 
 
 may have miscarried. If not, I have only to say that my opinion is fully 
 and decisively made up' on the subject of the deposits. J. T. 
 
 Memorials in favor of a restoration of the deposits overwhelmed 
 the attention of Mr. Tyler. Virginia had gone along with him, on 
 
484 LETTBES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 the present question, and Hives, who had followed Jackson, found 
 himself stranded on the shore, instead of riding proudly the bil- 
 low. On the 18th of February, 1834, Mr. Tyler presented a me- 
 morial from the city of Richmond, signed by nearly nine hundred 
 of its citizens, as also certain resolutions adopted by the people of 
 Franklin county, in the State of Virginia. In the course of his 
 remarks, at this time he 'pronounced the true question before the 
 country to be, whether the President or Congress had a right to 
 establish a Treasury agency. If the executive was sustained in the 
 power he had exerted in removing the deposits and locating them 
 where he chose, then Congress had nothing to do with the manage- 
 ment of the revenues whatever. For his part, he believed that the 
 executive had invaded the legislative functions in a vital point — 
 that Jackson had grasped the public purse. Mr. Tyler presented 
 many other memorials. But the people of Virginia spoke, when, 
 on February 22d, he presented the resolutions lately adopted by 
 the Legislature, solemnly condemning the action of the President, 
 and instructing Mr. Tyler and Mr. Rives to use their best efforts 
 to procure the restoration of the public moneys to the Bank of the 
 United States.^ Five days previous to this, Mr. Tyler wrote home 
 as follows : 
 
 [To Mks. Tyler.J 
 
 Washington, Feb. 17, 1834. 
 
 My Dear Wife : I fear that you are really tired looking for me, as I have 
 been worn out with the hope, in which I have constantly indulged, of being 
 able to leave here. The weather has been so mild of late that everything is 
 once more in motion. The steamboats are upon their regular routes, and fa- 
 cilities for travelling are thus afforded which have been denied for the last 
 two months. The Potomac began her trips last Friday, and will leave here 
 every Friday in future, and yet I am so much of a prisoner that I cannot say 
 when I can quit the Senate chamber. Sometimes I flatter myself that I may 
 do so next Friday, but the resolutions of the Legislature have not yet reached 
 me, nor can I conceive what Floyd is after that he does not forward them. 
 Perhaps they may reach me to-day. But then the whole town is full of a 
 rumor that Kives intends to resign, which might have the effect of keeping 
 me here much longer yet, for, if left alone, I do not know how I could leave. 
 
 He desired me, through his brother-in-law, Major Pollard, to call to see him, 
 if the resolutions came on, before I presented them. He is sick, and I have 
 
 1 The fourth resolution, denying the power of Congress to charter a United 
 States Bank, was adopted by ninety-seven to twenty-seven. Journal House Del., 
 1833-'4, p. 169. 
 
EIVES SUCCEEDED BY LEIGH. 485 
 
 no doubt but that he wishes to cousult with me about his course. If so, 1 
 know not what I shall say to him. He has chosen to separate from me in 
 politics, and he must abide the issue. I do not believe, however, that he will 
 resign. His plain course is to obey the instructions of the Legislature. By 
 80 doing he will soflun the asperities of public feeling in Virginia, and bis 
 restoration to public confidence may the more readily be effected. Other re- 
 ports are also in circulation that MoLane is to vacate the State Department 
 and Barry the Post-office. For these reports I believe there is some foundation. 
 McLane is now in Delaware, where it is supposed he is gone to malie the pro- 
 per domestic arrangements for his retirement. Barry will, if he can, retire 
 upon a judgeship in Kentucky. The conjecture is, that Rives will be offered 
 the State Department, in place of McLane. How these things are I know 
 not with any certainty. The administration is evidently sinking, and I do 
 not doubt that in six months it will be almost flat. In the meantime aug- 
 mented distress threatens the country. It is supposed that the Banks will 
 have to stop specie payment ; bankruptcy to the North is almost general, and 
 where the present state of things will end it is impossible to say. I have not 
 yet spoken, but everybody seems to be anxious to hear me. and I hope to get 
 the floor on Wednesday. I shall here stop my letter until the evening. 
 
 Evening. — I have received the memorial of the people of Richmond, signed 
 by nearly nine hundred citizens, drawing a gloomy picture of affairs and anti- 
 cipating a period of more severe trial, and resolutions adopted by the people 
 of Franklin county. To-morrow I shall present them. But nothing from 
 the Grovernor relative to the legislative resolutions. What he can be thinking 
 of I cannot conceive. If they do not come to-morrow, I shall think that he is 
 asleep. Rives is unwell, and the talk is that he will resign. If he does so, 
 I shall soon expect to hear of his being offered a high station by General 
 Jackson. He has great difficulties to encounter, let him decide as he may. 
 Of this you may be certain, that he is utterly down in Virginia. Every- 
 thing is 
 
 [_The rest of this letter is lost.'] 
 
 Mr. Eives, not being inclined to vote a restoration of the de- 
 deposits, and fearful of the sentiment of Virginia, in favor of the 
 doctrine of instructions, threw up his seat in the Senate, and re- 
 tired into private life. The General Assembly of Virginia then 
 proceeded to select a more harmonious ambassador. Mr. B. 
 W. Leio-h, the late Commissioner to South Carolina, received the 
 majority of votes, and took his seat March 5, 1834, as Mr. Tyler s 
 colleague. 
 
 In the meantime, the Committee on Finance of the Senate, of 
 which Mr. Tyler was a member, had had occasion to pass a severe 
 stricture on the course of the President on the deposit question- 
 The report of the Secretary of the Treasury, assigning his 
 reasons for removing the deposits, was on motion referred to 
 
4:86 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 that committee, and the expedition with which a reply was made 
 to the arguments of Taney, occasioned a rather amusing passage at 
 arms between Mr. Forsyth, afterwards made Jackson's Secretary 
 of State, and Mr. Tyler, whose hand was clearly seen in the 
 preparation of the report. 
 
 The reference was made on the 4th of February, and Mr. 
 Webster read the report of the Committee in the Senate on the 
 next day. As soon as it was read Mr. Forsyth arose and observed 
 that the extraordinary expedition with which the report had been 
 made, reminded him of what had happened in one of the courts of 
 justice in his native State. A grave question of constitutional law 
 had been presented, and was argued for days with great ability. 
 At the close of the last day of argument, the judge, being finally 
 called to pass upon the question, drew forth from his pocket a 
 written opinion, which he read and ordered to be recorded as the 
 opinion of the court. In the case before the Senate, unless the 
 Senator from Massachusetts carried the opinion of the Committee 
 in his pocket, he could scarcely have presented the report with the 
 unexampled dispatch that had been witnessed. 
 
 Mr. Tyler thereupon arose and proceeded to relieve the embar- 
 rassment of Mr. Forsyth. The whole matter was easy of solution. 
 The members of the Committee of Finance had long ago com- 
 pared their views on the subject as one very likely to come before 
 them. Mr. Webster had done full justice to the suggestions of 
 each and all the members. But why, asked Mr. Tyler, even if he had 
 not, did Mr. Forsyth go way down South to Georgia in search of 
 a fitting similitude. There was, in truth, one pat at hand here, at 
 the seat of government itself. The very report of the Secretary 
 of the Treasury showed in a aremarkable manner how expe- 
 ditious some men could be in forming most important conclu- 
 sions. The paper of the President had been read to Duane on 
 the 18th of September, and in a period almost as short as that 
 occupied by the Committee, Taney his successor had come to his 
 decision, that it was entirely proper that the deposits should be 
 removed. " His reasons," as he called them, might all have been 
 found in the reasons of the President. 
 
 On the 24th of February, following the report of the Finance 
 Committee, Mr. Tyler engaged the attention of the Senate in an 
 elaborate speech on the all absorbing question before them; and 
 
SPEECH ON THE DEPOSIT QUESTION. 487 
 
 it is saying no more than what is Mr. Tyler's due, that of all the 
 speeches made at this session, on this hotl}' contested subject, not 
 another one is characterized by a greater wealth of argument. 
 
 The Bank question was not new to Mr. Tyler. His experience on 
 the committee, in 1819, made him fully conversant with the run 
 of its affairs, and his treatment of the subject therefore is minute 
 and comprehensive. The Democrats tried to make the question 
 one of " Bank or no Bank." But Mr. Tyler readily showed them 
 that the real question was whether there was to be "law or no 
 law." The Bank was established by law, and its privileges could 
 only be rightly taken away by the same authority. The use of the 
 government deposits was one of those privileges — a use placed under 
 the supervision of the Secretary of the Treasury, who was by the act 
 ■creating the bank made an officer of the House quoad that pur- 
 pose. But the President had not rested with directing the removal 
 himself, and depriving the Secretary of all discretions in the 
 matter — he had undertaken, by depositing the government moneys 
 in twenty-three State banks, to create a treasury, — a power belong- 
 ing solely to Congress. By this assumption, the public purse, the 
 peculiar care of the people's representatives, was handed over to 
 the President — a course of action mortally repugnant to the 
 principles of English and American liberty. Mr. Tyler said he 
 was against the Bank, not because he was insensible to the bene- 
 ficial influences it exerted on the currency of the country, through 
 its immense transactions in exchanges, but because, and simply be- 
 cause, the bank was vnconstitutional. That was reason enough 
 with him to desire its extinction. 
 
 Mr. Tyler said he was in favor of a restoration of the deposits, 
 since he was assured that business would be given immediately a 
 beneficial turn, and no risk could be incurred of a re-charter. The 
 President's term of office did not expire until a year after the ex- 
 piration of the Bank charter, and the veto power, therefore, con- 
 trolled its destiny. The removal of the deposits, even from Jack- 
 son's standpoint, was wholly unnecessary to effect the great end 
 of a restoration of the Constitution to its original soundness. 
 
 The zeal displayed by Mr. Tyler in condemnation of the course 
 of Jackson was, as the reader must be aware, no new-born zeal in 
 favor of the Bank. His objections to the Bank were enduring, 
 fiince its existence was a standing violation of the Constitution. 
 
488 LETTERS AND TIMES OP THE TYLEES. 
 
 And the only safeguard to the minority consisted in keeping that 
 instrument inviolate. Mr. Tyler dreaded the silent growth of the 
 mere majority principle, trampling on the rights of minorities. 
 The only preventive against this lay in opposing to the bitter end 
 all latitudinous assumptions. Let the Constitution be once looked 
 upon as a mere system of convenient rules, — as the by-laws of a. 
 corporation, alterable at pleasure, — and good-by to the rights of 
 the South and the integrity of the Union ! 
 
 But Mr. Tyler had always been ready to do justice to the Bank. 
 True, in 1819, he had publicly condemned its operations ; but then 
 the immense discounts of the Bank were an admitted evil. A 
 change for the better had ensued after 1819, and Mr. Tyler had 
 recognized it as emphatically as any other man. In 1828, in his 
 speech in the Cumberland Eoad, he praised its president, Langdon 
 Cheves, of South Carolina, for the " self-denying policy " which 
 had given the Bank " the power and influence which it then so 
 unhappily enjoyed." The Bank was at the time very popular^ 
 and Mr. Tyler used the term " unhappily " in view of its expected 
 re-incorporation. Against that re-incorporation, as attempted four 
 years after, Mr. Tyler gave his vote, though prepared still to ad- 
 mit the merit of the Bank as a fiscal agent. And now, when he 
 saw the subject of the Bank made a political foot-ball by men like 
 Benton and Van Buren, who, while making pretenses toward De- 
 mocracy, always cast their votes on elementary questions with the 
 National Republicans, — it was a most natural wish with him that 
 the question of its existence should be submitted to the people, as 
 the fathers of the Republican party had advised should be done 
 on all great disputed questions. Mr. Tyler had no hesitation in 
 admitting at this juncture that the Bank was far superior, as a 
 government fiscal agent, to the "pet banks" of Jackson, or to any 
 other scheme that had been as yet suggested. The submission to 
 the people would be a real settlement of the question, whether the 
 vote was for or against the Bank. " It would arrest the action of 
 the mere majority principle, would be the forerunner of other 
 submissions to the same legitimate source, and go far towards ar- 
 resting the government in its downward tendency. The States 
 would come again to be elevated in our system, and nationalism 
 lose many of its votaries." ' 
 
 ' Letter to Tazewell, (see p. 498.) 
 
ME. TYLEE PEOPOSES AN AJIENDMENT TO THE CONSTITUTION. 489' 
 
 The project of amending the Constitution by a provision either 
 forbidding or permitting the creation of a National Bank was sug- 
 gested by Mr. Tyler in his speech of February 24th, 1834, on the 
 removal of the deposits, as also in private to Clay, Calhoun and 
 Webster, whose views upon its propriety were separately sought 
 by Mr. Tyler. According to his own account, Clay and Webster 
 expressed at the time a ready concurrence in the idea, but Cal- 
 houn was full of a project of his own, and hence did not receive 
 Mr. Tyler's very favorably. He afterwards unfolded his plan to 
 the Senate, which, plausible as all his suggestions were, lacked,, 
 as was too often the case, the very essential pre-requisite of 
 being practical. Calhoun proposed to charter the Bank for 
 twelve years, limiting the issue of its notes to large amounts, so 
 that, by the time of its second expiration, the country might be 
 fOJed with small coin, and might experience no shock on its wind- 
 ing up its affairs. The E"ational Republicans were very busy this, 
 session consolidating the new party, and to conciliate Calhoun — 
 the most eccentric element of the opposition — they very willingly 
 gave his views the ascendant. Webster even proposed a plan of 
 re-charter for six years, somewhat after the character of Calhoun's. 
 But after all, how was a bank to be put into operation after 1836, 
 when no limitation as to time or detail could remove the constitu- 
 tional objection, or drive Andrew Jackson away with his veto ? 
 
 In concluding his speech on the deposit question, Mr. Tyler 
 avowed his unchanging devotion to the " old Republican party ."^ 
 But that was a very different thing from the facile mass that 
 hurrahed for Jackson, be his course what it might. The old Re- 
 publican party would never have denounced the tariff, and yet 
 have voted for and sustained the tariff of 1828. It would never 
 have denounced the Bank as unconstitutional; and yet have ap- 
 plauded the Federalism of the Force bill and the proclamation, — 
 nor have condemned the system of roads and canals, and yet have 
 approved the much greater swindle of the "River and Harbor 
 biU."i "ISTo, sir," said Mr. Tyler, "I do not belong to that Re- 
 publican party. Its work is that' of president-making. Even 
 now it is in motion. Before the President is scarcely warm in his. 
 seat, not yielding to what decency would seem to require, not 
 
 ' During idams' four years there were spent $2,083,331 for internal improve- 
 ments, and in 1829 and 1830, $2,501,590. 
 
490 LETrEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 even permitting one short year to elapse, that party is in full 
 march, calling conventions, organizing committees, and seeking 
 by all manner of means, at this early day, to commit the people. 
 But I will tell them, Mr. President, in the language of Holy "Writ, 
 that ' the race is not to the swift.' They are too much in advance 
 on that question. The people will demand some short breathing- 
 time ; and when the proper time arrives for them to act, I trust, 
 sir, that they will look only to high considerations in selecting an 
 agent to fill the highest office in the world, because conferred by 
 a, free and intelligent people. I hope that they will select the in- 
 dividual most capable of advancing the public good, whether he 
 be the favorite of this or that man who may be high in office. 
 "With that business I have nothing to do. I hope the country 
 will have nothing to do with it, until the vital questions which 
 now engage us shall be settled on a proper basis. And, sir, I, as 
 ■one of that people, express it as my opinion that, unless those 
 questions be properly settled, we may talk of a Constitution, but 
 we shall have it not ; we may boast of our laws, but they will be 
 impotent and feeble; we may sing of liberty, but it will be the 
 song of the bird in the cage." 
 
 Saving other incidents of this exciting session for the next 
 chapter, I proceed to close with the following three letters of Mr. 
 Tyler to his brother-in-law, Dr. Curtis : 
 
 [To Dk. Henbt Cubtis.J 
 
 Washington, March 28, 1834. 
 
 Mt Dear Doctob: I fear that you have set me down, long since, as in- 
 different to the request contained in your last letter. True, there has been a 
 greater delay than I could have desired ; but my correspondence has of late 
 been so extensive, and the pressure of public business so weighty, that I have 
 ■doubtless appeared, in more than one case, a'tardy correspondent. With you 
 I felt I could take liberties not allowable in the case of others, and hence I 
 have postponed you from time to time, for a more convenient season. The 
 answer of the auditor accompanies this, and discloses to Mr. Earnest what it is 
 necessary for him to do in order to get Cockburn's claim adjusted. 
 
 Clay finishes to-day the closing speech on the resolutions disapproving the 
 late executive proceedings. We shall probably take the question this even- 
 ing. The vote will probably be twenty-five to fifteen — a clear majority of 
 ten. The truth is, that nobody approves out of the Senate chamber. There 
 party requires a different course on the part of the whole-hog men. For my 
 own part, I can regard the questions at issue as importing nothing short of 
 an actual change in the character of the government. Concede to the Presi- 
 
LETTEES TO DE. CUETIS. 491 
 
 dent the power to dispose of the public money as he pleases, and it is vain to 
 talk of checker and balances. The presidential office swallows up all power, 
 and the president becomes every inch a king. Such things as are daily trans- 
 piring want even the shadow of a precedent to repose under. The whole ap- 
 pointing power is exerted without the concurrence of the Senate. Pour 
 months of our session have elapsed, and no nomination of secretaries to the 
 State or Treasury departments, or of the Attorney-General yet made. And 
 this is justified upon the ground that these worthies, appointed during the re- 
 cess, are to hold their commissions until Congress adjourns — a provision pur- 
 posely introduced to enable the Senate to deliberate and to act advisedly on 
 ■nominations, and resting upon the necessity of fixing some time for the 
 •expiration of the commission. In the meantime, every department of indus- 
 try is visited by the heaviest curse, and all this brought about for no reason of 
 law or policy which a bedlamite would not repudiate. I am sickened, fretted 
 and almost angered, by the present condition of things. 
 
 One word about Eobert: He has passed his examination well. Philosophy, 
 metaphysics, chemistry, mathematics, all are alike embraced by him, and the 
 professors advise me that he has never appeared at lecture unprepared. This 
 has given me great pleasure, and I mention it to you, because I know that 
 what interests me interests yourself. 
 
 With love to all. Yours truly, John Tyler. 
 
 [To De. Henkt Cdetts.] 
 
 Washington, April 5, 1884. 
 
 My Dear Doctor : I received this morning from White's office your ad- 
 dress to the people of Hanover, which I have read with infinite satisfaction ; 
 and it gives me pleasure to add, that other members who have received it, 
 and several have spoken of it to me, have expressed themselves highly pleased 
 with it. If your fellow-citizens would read it, and ponder on its truths, your 
 success in the canvass would be certain ; but I fear that the great mass will 
 go off under the influence of names, among the most potent of which is that 
 word "Hero." I feel greater solicitude about your election than I can well 
 ■express. This was manifested in my last, written hastily at my desk, on 
 hearing, for the first time, that you were a candidate. Can it be possible that 
 old Hanover will sustain the mad course of this administration ? Specula- 
 tions, however, are useless, as the day of trial is at hand. Yesterday the 
 House of Representatives, by a majority of fifty-three votes, decided against 
 re-chartering the Bank, — so that that question is put at rest, and the cry of 
 " Bank or no Bank " can no longer be raised. No Bank can be chartered un- 
 less our opponents, with whom on that question we have acted from principle, 
 shall have played most falsely, of which I suspect them most strongly. In 
 fact, I do not doubt but that they will adopt some bank sooner or later. 
 
 The vote on the question of restoring the deposits was carried by a majority 
 of fifteen against the restoration. Every effort from the first has been made 
 to gull and deceive by varying the true issue and presenting a false one. The 
 only question which Congress has been called on to decide has been whether 
 the reasons of the Secretary were sufficient for the removal; and the majority 
 
492 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 in the House of Representatives have dexterously avoided that by a call for 
 the previous question, which cut it off. Mr. Wilde has moved it as a sub- 
 stantial proposition, but trust me, they will not vote upon it directly. 
 
 In the Senate two senators expressed themselves dissatisfied with the rea- 
 sons, but upon frivolous pretenses voted against us ; the expression of their 
 opinions, however, on our side should be considered equivalent to their votes ^ 
 two of our side were absent ; the vote, then, ought properly to have stood 
 thirty-two to sixteen— being two-thirds ; and I give it as my deliberate opinion, 
 that if party trammels had been laid aside, the vote would have been forty to- 
 four. As it is, compare the known opinions of the two Houses, and the mat- 
 ter stands thus: Senate's majority, fourteen; majority House of Eepresenta- 
 tives, fifteen, — from which last, one should be deducted, as old Mr. Burgess- 
 lost his vote by having been about one foot outside the bar of the House, viz., a 
 thin strip four inches wide, and rising one inch above the floor, separating the 
 seats of the members from the ordinary gangway around the seats. He asked 
 to be permitted to vote, which the House refused. On joint ballot, then, the 
 administration have no majority ; and if all was told, their majority would 
 not exceed two or three. Are they not then beaten ? If not entirely, they 
 are so nearly that there is no glory to them in the matter. These things I 
 thought it well thus hastily to set down to you, in hopes that they maj- be 
 made available in your contest. I, however, do not know when your election 
 comes on. Do write me the moment it does. 
 
 Yours truly, J. Tyler. 
 
 [To DocTOs Henry Ctietis.] 
 
 Washington, April 6, 1834. 
 My Deae Dootoe : Your letter reached me to-day. I had received your 
 address to the people of Hanover, from White, of Richmond, and had im- 
 mediately written you a long letter, containing matters I was very anxious- 
 for you to see. Under the hope that you will receive it in time to answer 
 pome good purpose, I abstain from repeating its contents; it was addressed to 
 you through the Richmond post-office, and explained the true state of recent 
 votes. I wish I had documentary proof to establish what I have good autho- 
 rity for knowing is the case, viz, : that the post-office is insolvent. One fact 
 will enable you fully to reason upon the subject : Barry's own confession 
 that he has had to borrmc between $400,000 and $500,000 to meet engage- 
 ments heretofore. Has anything occurred to swell the revenues of the de- 
 partment ? Nothing. He must continue then to contract loans in order to 
 get on ; but where can he now get them ? No bank can loan or will loan. 
 Two drafts on New Orleans remain impaid, as I am well informed ; and the 
 fact is, although not yet divulged, and, therefore, incapable of proof, that the 
 department gets on for this quarter by anticipating its revenue ; that is to 
 say, the principal post-masters are required to honor acceptances in anticipa- 
 tion of the quarter. If the truth could be come at, I have no doubt but that 
 the department is $1,000,000 in debt. When McLean left, he reported an 
 annual excess of revenue of $200,000, and now it is bankrupt. A violation 
 of the true intent of the Constitution, as flagrant as any every committed, has 
 
LETTER TO CURTIS. 493 
 
 yet scarcely been glanced at. Neither the Secretary of State, Treasury or 
 Attorney-General, have yet been nominated to the Senate. (For this fact Mr. 
 Preston's speech in the Senate may be quoted, where it is expressly stated). 
 Remember four months have passed by. Now the authority of the President 
 to fill vacancies in the recess was granted ex necessitate rei. When the 
 Senate is in session no such power exists. The conclusion then is obvious, 
 that as soon as may be after the Senate meets the President should nominate all 
 whom he has appointed in the recess. The appointing power is with him and 
 ihe Senate; and yet, under the new practice, if the Senate continues in ses- 
 sion the whole round year, the President's minions might be continued in office 
 upon his mere appointment until the last day without the Senate being con- 
 sulted. The provision that the person appointed during the recess shall con- 
 tinue in office until the end of the session, is a provision neces.sary in itself to 
 .enable the Senate to deliberate thoroughly. The time is given for them, and 
 not the President. Now the President is indeed a unit. He has in verj' truth 
 Ms Secretary of State, his Secretary of the Treasury, his Attorney-General, — 
 as who should say his grace and majesty. I have thought to mention these 
 things to you believing that you might use them advantageously. The 
 main point though is the money, and you will stick to that mainly. One 
 point more at your service. It is vaunted that Jackson has done a great deal 
 for State-rights. A modest claim for the author of the proclamation! But 
 how does the matter stand in regard to internal improvements? I send you 
 a statement of two years of Adams, 1828-9, his last two years, and of the 
 last two of Jackson's. For the first year Adams beats Jackson, but Jack- 
 son's last exceeds Adams's last by $333,000, and yet he is to be lauded to 
 the skies for having stopped internal improvements. But he killed the tariff. 
 This is as false as the other. He voted the tariff of 1824, and his messages 
 have uniformly contended that a protective tariff was constitutional. 
 
 God grant you a safe deliverance. Yours truly, John Ttleb. 
 
CHAPTER XYI. 
 
 1834—1835. 
 
 "1 believe llie Bank to be the original sin against the Constitution, which, in the progress 
 of our history, has called into existence a numerous progeny of usurpations. Shall I per- 
 mit this serpent, however bright its scales or erect its mien, to exist by and through my 
 vote ?"— John Tylek, (1834.) 
 
 Me. Tilek as a Membee of the Finance Committee. — Nomination op Bank 
 DiEEcioES. — Senate Rejects Them. — Renominated. — Repokt of Mb. Tylee. 
 — Lettee to Tazewell. — The Mission to England. — Cotjese or Me. Tylee on 
 Stevenson's Nomination. — On Taney's and Gwin's. — His Lettee to Taze- 
 well. — His Couese on the Mission to England at the Succeeding Session. 
 — Adjouenment of Congeess in June, 1834. — Me. Tylee's Laboes on the 
 Finance Committee Dceing the Recess. — Hie Repoet on the Bank in Decem- 
 BEE, 1834. — Collision with Benton. — Death of Thomas Tylee Bouldin.— 
 Assault on Jackson. — Lettees of Me. Tylee. — Elected Peesident peo tem. 
 OF THE Senate. 
 
 THE labors of Mr. Tyler in Congress and on the Committee of 
 Finance during the session of 1834:-'5 ■were severe and con- 
 tinuous. Sincerely believing that the President had acted in de- 
 fiance of all law, and that the boldest stand was necessary to stop 
 the government in its race over the Constitution, Mr. Tyler did 
 all he could to enlist the people in behalf of the opposition. The 
 times were a true crisis in government, — when jealousy and envy 
 stand back, and merit and character are peraiitted, hj universal 
 consent, to take the lead. Though nominally holding the second 
 place on the Committee of Finance, Mr. Tyler in reality held the 
 first.^ The self-denying policy of which he was known to be the 
 advocate, brought its reward in every emergency; for who could 
 doubt the honesty and sincerity of his purpose in such an hour 
 when he arrayed himself on the one side or the other ? 
 
 By the terms of the Bank charter, the government liad the right 
 to appoint five directors as representatives of the stock invested in 
 
 ' The Committee consisted of Messrs. Webster, Tyler, Ewing, Mangum and 
 "Wilkins. 
 
JACKSON AND THE BANK DIEECTOES. 495 
 
 the concern. These government directors for the current term had 
 proved themselves zealous partisans of Jackson, and were accused 
 of acting as spies upon the proceedings of the Bank. When, 
 therefore, at this session, four out of the five were renominated 
 by the President, the Senate considered it altogether proper to 
 reject them. The government directors were no sentinels "placed 
 at the Board to observe the conduct of the Corporation," but 
 merely financial agents, acting for the profit of the stock-holders. 
 It seemed a contradiction to appoint men as guardians of the 
 Bank who were notoriously eager for its destruction. Jackson, 
 however, was not inclined to acquiesce in this view of the matter. 
 He renominated the directors, and sent a long message to the 
 Senate, severely lecturing them upon the impropriety of their 
 action. True, the President made a pretense of disclaiming all 
 right to enquire into or to call into question the reasons of the 
 Senate for rejecting any nomination whatsoever; but the "if" 
 with which he introduced his charges could scarcely make hypo- 
 thetical the partisan motives to which he ascribed the rejections. 
 
 The Senate referred the President's message to the Committee 
 of Finance for consideration. This Committee found themselves 
 confronted with a subject upon which their action would furnish 
 a precedent to aU future legislation. Besides the mere right 
 of renomination, there was involved the much more important 
 right of rejecting without assigning a reason for it. On the occa- 
 sion of the first nominations, Mr. Kane had submitted a motion 
 that an enquiry should be made by the Committee of Finance into 
 the several qualifications and fitness of the nominees for Bank 
 directors. To have approved the proposition would have es- 
 tablished for all time an intolerable burden upon the dispatch and 
 freedom of executive sessions. The Senate very properly voted 
 it down. It became now, on the receipt of the President's mes- 
 sage, a matter of principle with the Committee not to be drawn 
 into an explanation of their reasons. The report of the Committee, 
 therefore, which was drawn by JVEr. Tyler, planted itself upon a 
 ground that was entirely safe.' It admitted the i-ight of the 
 President to renominate the same individuals, but denied his right 
 to criticise the Senate for rejecting them. Only so far as the 
 Senate itself was concerned did it say that " only in very clear and 
 
 ' Report of the Finance Committee. Senate Journal, ]833-'34, pp. 438-442. 
 
496 LETTEBS AMD TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 strong cases should the Senate reverse decisions which it had de- 
 liberately formed and officially communicated." The report re- 
 gretted the intimation contained in the message that the President 
 was disposed to restrict the Senate to the individuals in question. 
 
 The concluding action of the Senate was in every way consis- 
 tent with the position assumed in the report. The Bank directors 
 were again rejected; and the Senate, in voting to make public 
 the proceedings in relation to the nominators, refused to include 
 the debates, which would have amounted to assigning a reason for 
 their determination.' 
 
 A week later Mr. Tyler wrote to Governor Tazewell, rejoicing 
 an the fortunes of the opposition, which hitherto had steadily 
 gathered power, and was brilliantly auspicious of final victory. 
 
 [To Governor Tazewell.] 
 
 Senate Chamber, May 9, 1834. 
 
 My Dear Sir : I am under obligations to Judge Wilkins, of Pennsylvania, 
 for the enclosed papers, for the procurement of which I solicited his agency 
 in compliance with the request of your letter. The most flourishing institu- 
 tion for the education of the deaf and dumb is to be found in the State of 
 ■Connecticut, and Gov. Tomliuson is in pursuit of all the information in re- 
 lation thereto which you may desire. When procured, I will, without delay, 
 transmit it to you. 
 
 The elections in our dear native State have resulted as you anticipated, in 
 an entire rout of the administration. You cannot well appreciate the actual 
 extent of the victory unless you were here to mingle with the members and 
 hear their notes of triumph. They rest in confidence upon the great moral 
 and political influence which this result is to have in their own States, and 
 for myself, I readily conclude that all they say is true. I look back with in- 
 creased satisfaction to the position we assumed while we were here together, 
 and bring myself readily to believe that but for the resistance we from time 
 to time urged, even in the hey-day of Jacksonism, against executive usurpa- 
 tion, the present condition of things could never have been brought about. 
 It requires numerous strokes of the axe to bring down the oak, and the ex- 
 posure of every encroachment committed by a popular administration on 
 constitutional rights is absolutely necessary for preserving free government. 
 
 I congratulate you on the present prospect of public affairs, and am, truly 
 and devotedly, yours, etc., John Tyler. 
 
 Nothing can show to better advantage the superiority of Mr. 
 
 ' The reader cannot fail to see how utterly dishonest Benton is in his comments 
 upon this subject and upon the parallel drawn by him as to the action of Mr. 
 Tyler, as President, in renominating Gushing and others. (Benton's Thirty Years' 
 Tiew, i., p. 342, and ii., p. 630.) 
 
497 
 
 Tyler to mere partisan considerations than his course upon the 
 nomination of Andrew Stevenson, who had continued an adherent 
 of Jackson. The attacks of the Whigs often degenerated into 
 factious opposition, and Mr. Tyler was found more than once 
 separating from them in the support of truth and justice. 
 
 Since the rejection of Yan Buren, in 1832, the mission to Eng- 
 land had remained vacant. On the 10th of May, 1834, the Presi- 
 dent nominated for the vacant mission Andrew Stevenson, the 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives. Mr. Tyler had been 
 too long acquainted with Mr. Stevenson to doubt his fitness for 
 any position, and proceeding always upon principle, he would not 
 consent to record his vote in opposition to his ratification. Steven- 
 son was, nevertheless, rejected by a vote of twenty-three to twenty- 
 two. The ground taken by those that voted against him was that 
 he had received the offer of the mission to England previous to 
 his election as Speaker, which had disqualified him for the im- 
 partial performance of the duties of that ofiice. But, on the other 
 hand, the President, in fact, relieved him from any imputations to 
 his discredit in this particular by informing the Senate that it was 
 true that an offer of the kind had been made to Mr. Stevenson, 
 but that tlie negotiations to which it referred were commenced 
 early in April, 1833, in Washington instead of London, and having 
 since been conducted there, no further communication was made 
 to him on the subject until after his election as Speaker at the 
 present session. 
 
 Yery different was Mr. Ty^^^'^ course with reference to several 
 other nominations made about this time. Those of Eoger B. Taney 
 and Samuel Gwin were of peculiar interest. Taney was thought 
 to have acted as a mere tool of Jackson' in ordering the removal 
 of the deposits, and thus had shirked the responsibility vested in 
 him by Congress under the charter of the Bank/ Gwin had been 
 
 ' This suspicion was, however, unjust to Mr. Taney. Tyler, in his "Life of 
 Taney," proves that, as Attorney-General, he had always been in favor of remov- 
 ing the deposits. He, in fact, drew the paper read by the President at the Cabinet 
 meeting on the 18th of September, 1833. Mt. Tyler did the amende honorable to 
 the character of Mr. Taney in his address at the Maryland Mechanics' Institute, 
 in 1855 : "And now let me do an act of justice to myself, on this, the first oc- 
 casion which has ever presented itself, in regard to the part I bore on the nomi- 
 nation of that distinguished Secretary. Had I then known him as I have since in 
 his exalted office of Chief Justice of the United States, maugre any discrepancy 
 32 
 
498 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 appointed, in October, 1831, a registrar of the Land Office, to fill 
 up a vacancy in that office which had happened in the recess of 
 the Senate. He had afterwards been rejected by the Senate at 
 the next succeeding session. Nevertheless, in the following recess, 
 the President once more appointed him to the same office. The 
 Senate considered that the previous appointment of Gwin was 
 a full and complete exercise of the power of the President to ap- 
 point to vacancies, while the postponement of Taney's nomination 
 as Secretary of the Treasury to almost the last hour of the session 
 was, in fact, a frustration of the original intention of the Consti- 
 tution, which meant that the president should promptly nominate 
 at the beginning of the session, and the Senate pass upon the 
 nomination at their convenience. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's letter at this time to Governor Tazewell is full of 
 interest : 
 
 [To Gov. L. W. Tazewell.] 
 
 Washington, June 23, 1834. 
 My Dear Sir ; Your highly valued favor of the 9th inst. has thus long re- 
 mained unanswered, from the fact of the almost entire occupation of my time 
 by matters of much interest, which as a member of the Committee of Finance 
 devolved upon me. I have at length a short breathing space, and have re- 
 solved to devote it to you. I need not give you the assurance that your opinions 
 upon what may be passing here will always be highly acceptable to me; and 
 that I shall consider the expression of them, after the most frank and unre- 
 served manner on your part, as the greatest favor. I have long seen, and to 
 that effect have often in conversation expressed myself, that those of us here 
 who entertain the opinion that the United States Bank wanted in its creation 
 the sanction of the Constitution, and that that primeval sin still attached to it, 
 stood in a situation any other than enviable. Our opinions are made to 
 minister to the malignant feelings of those who make war upon the institution 
 for mere party purposes — which war they are enabled, by our conscientious 
 convictions being put into practice, successfully to prosecute. I know their 
 motives and understand their designs. They seek to kill the thing they hate, 
 and use us as instruments, without reference to the good of the country or the 
 restoration of the Constitution. This conviction of the character of the game 
 which is playing, has produced with me painful reflection and no little concern. 
 But what is an honest man to do under such circumstances ? He stands 
 in the midst of sharpers and must necessarily decide between them ; for the 
 game for political ascendency is not played single handed. The conclusion to 
 
 of opinion which might have existed between us, there was no office, however ex- 
 alted, either in the gift of the executive or the people, for which I would not 
 promptly have sustained him." 
 
LETTER TO GOVEENOE TAZEWELL. 499 
 
 which I have long since come, and which I have puhlicly expressed, is to take 
 the Bank, and consequently the currency, out of the hands of the political 
 gamhlers, by introducing an amendment of the Constitution which shall 
 either affirm or deny in express terms the authority to establish a Bank. The 
 subject is of too delicate a character ever to be thrown into the presidential 
 scale. Every interest of society is affected by it ; industry in all its branches 
 acknowledges its influence ; and every human consideration requires that it 
 should be put forever at rest. I have seen no man in the walks of private 
 life who did not acknowledge the force of these views — nor would such a pro- 
 ceeding compromit the opinions of any man or State. To yield the power 
 would be a mere question of expediency on the part of those who do not be- 
 lieve it to exist, while with those who already regard it as conceded, a, pre- 
 amble expressive of that opinion, and placing it on the ground of conciliation, 
 would protect them and their opinions from misapprehension, and hold them 
 safely in reserve for future occasion. The Southern States are in constant ap- 
 prehension lest the government should be converted into a mere majority 
 machine. Tn appeal to the source of all power hero, the States, for a grant 
 upon a subject such as this, would be in every view highly important. It 
 would arrest the action of the mere majority principle — would be the fore- 
 runner of other submissions to the same legitimate source, and go far to- 
 wards arresting the government in its downward tendency. The States 
 would come again to be elevated in our system, and nationalism, if I may coin 
 a word, lose many of its votaries. These views, with the exception of the last, 
 were mentioned by me early in the session to Clay, Webster, and Calhoun. 
 
 The two first expressed at the time a ready accordance, but the last was more 
 full of objections. His own scheme of " unbanking the Bank through the 
 Bank" had the decided ascendency, and in consequence of his objecting I have 
 not thought it worth while to move. These are my opinions — what further 
 can I do? I believe the Bank to be the original sin against the Constitution, 
 which in the progress of our history has called into existence a numerous 
 progeny of usurpations. Shall I permit this serpent, however bright its 
 scales or erect its mien, to exist by and through my vote, lest if it be de- 
 stroyed another may invade the Constitution, and expel us beyond its pale? 
 I see no reason in this, and therefore no escape is left me from the company 
 of political speculators into which I have fallen. Like yourself, I would not 
 rudely tear away the water-sprout from the healthful stock. This I have con- 
 demned by my course this winter, when performed by the man who in all his 
 proceedings appears to be more the creature of passion than of judgment. I 
 would rather engraft a new and healthful principle of vitality on the Consti- 
 tution. 
 
 As to Stevenson, it is more than possible that T may err. Since I received 
 youf letter, I have revised all the ground, with the view of ascertaining 
 wherein the error, if it existed, was to be found, and I confess to you that in- 
 stead of changing my opinion, I am the rather confirmed in it; looking at it 
 as a mere question of policy, I think that it is better in every view to make 
 no point about it. Had we never confirmed any member of Congress in ofSce, 
 we might rest on the broad principle which would thus have been laid down. 
 
500 LETTERS AND TIMES OP THE TTLEES. 
 
 But member after member has been confirmed by the Senate to high and im- 
 portant offices, and I can see neither justice nor reason in now excluding a 
 man who has chanced to be the Speaker, unless, indeed, it can be made 
 manifest that he has abused that high office for corrupt purposes, by convert-' 
 ing it into a mere party machine. I have in this compared the acts of the 
 late Speaker with those of his predecessors, and, with the exception of the 
 Bank Committee, I see nothing which operates to his disadvantage. Every 
 Speaker is more or less a party man, and the committees are invariably organ- 
 ized so as to give his party the ascendency. The Senate has done the same 
 thing this session. 
 
 In the House of Representatives he left eleven opposition men at the head 
 of committees, some of them of high importance too, and bare majorities are 
 cast for the administration. In high party times the Speaker is always ac- 
 cused of partiality, but although I have made diligent enquiry, I am not in- 
 formed of any striking act of injustice or partiality. Man is but man after 
 all ; frailties will manifest themselves with the wisest and best, and we should 
 be in sad plight if we waged continual and exterminating war against our 
 fellow-men for acting occasionally after a manner which we did not approve. 
 His great error was in being a candidate for the Speaker's chair. He thereby 
 exposed himself to suspicion, which the greatest impartiality would not enable 
 him to overcome. 
 
 But, my dear sir, why run the hazard of exciting the sympathy of a single 
 human being in his behalf by creating the belief of his being a persecuted 
 man ? We have planted ourselves upon a great principle, and shall inevitably 
 triumph, if we do not counteract our own endeavors by some useless and un- 
 necessary, if not precipitate, act. Useless it would be to reject him, because 
 his place would instantly be supplied by some one equally obnoxious to you, 
 and probably more so to me. We have a great work before us — a work of 
 real reform. Without the people we can do nothing, and we should be more 
 than cautious in doing any thing which might be tortured into a factious op- 
 position. Other considerations operate with me, but it is useless to fatigue 
 you by a further detail. Mr. Leigh must be supported, and I shall be par- 
 ticularly careful to say nothing, even in my defence, except to a very few, 
 out of the Senate chamber. I do not ask my friends to come to my aid. Go 
 rather to the aid of my colleague, who acts upon principles which I know how 
 to appreciate, although, in this instance, I can see no sufficient reason to 
 adopt. 
 f Your anticipations as expressed to me at the commencement of the session 
 in regard to the treaty with Siam are realized. Two treaties have been ne- 
 gotiated through the same minister (a Mr. Eoberts), and are submitted for 
 ratification. This minister was appointed while the Senate was in session, in 
 January, 1832, and not a whisper breathed to the Senate concerning it. Was 
 there ever so reckless and headstrong a set in the administration of public 
 ^ffairs ? Be assured that I sliall not permit the treaties to be ratified without 
 suitable salvo, if I can prevent it. The seal of secrecy still rests on this trans- 
 action, but in a few days it will be removed. In the meantime it is confided 
 to your knowledge. 
 
ME. TYLEE S CHAEACTEEISTIC IMPARTIALITY. 501 
 
 Taney and Butler are at length before us. The first will be disposed of in 
 short order. Who will succeed him is not yet conjectured. Forsyth will 
 most probably sucopcJ MoLane, and if Cass resigns, which is hugely ex- 
 pected, Benton will probably occupy his vacant slippers. A few days will 
 give us certainty fur speculation. 
 
 With sentiments of the truest esteem, I am, dear sir, yours, etc., 
 
 John Tyler. 
 
 P. S. — Taney is rejected, Butler confirmed. Stevenson is rejected by a 
 majority of one vote. 
 
 But to show how little Mr. Tyler was actuated by motives of 
 hostility to the administration, it is only necessary to mention his 
 further course on the mission to England, when the subject came 
 up at the next session, in connection with the general appropriation 
 bill. The President had made no attempt to fill the vacancy, and, 
 on the 2Sth of February, Mr. Webster, from the Finance Com- 
 mittee, reported the general appropriation bill from the House, 
 with an amendment which proposed to strike out the appropriation 
 for the Enghsh mission. On the 2d of March, Mr. Webster moved 
 to amend the amendment by providing that the salary to the min- 
 ister to Great Britain should not be paid unless such minister 
 should be appointed at the then session of Congress, or, in the 
 recess, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate first had 
 and obtained. 
 
 Mr. Webster, Mr. Clay, Mr. Clayton, Mr. Calhoun, Mr. Bibb, 
 and Mr. Leigh, of the opposition, expressed their entire conviction 
 of the propriety of the amendments, and on the side of the admin- 
 istration were answered by Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Wright. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun contended that to approve the provision for the 
 outfit was neither more nor less than to encourage the administra- 
 tion in performing an unconstitutional act. He alleged that the 
 executive was actuated by resentment on account of the rejections 
 of Mr. Van Buren and Mr. Stevenson, and only intended to wait 
 for the adjournment of Congress to make an appointment on its 
 own responsibility. 
 
 Thereupon Mr. Tyler rose and said, that when an encroachment 
 on the Constitution was made, be it by whom it might, he trusted 
 that he would be as ready to resist it as any senator ; but he could 
 not approve the amendments proposed, since he could never take 
 it for granted that the President intended a violation of the Con- 
 stitution until the act was committed. Mr. Tyler said that, not- 
 
502 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 withstanding almost the last day of the session had ai-rived, he 
 was disposed to wait until the very last minute for a nomination. 
 He would never give his assent to any course that would cast, in 
 advance, a dishonorable imputation upon any department of gov- 
 ernment, or, what was worse, have the air of a threat or determi- 
 nation to coerce the executive. Let his friends do as they pleased 
 in the matter, but for himself he must take the way of duty and 
 vote against them. And Mr. Tyler did so. His vote, alone of 
 his party, was found among the Democrats. 
 
 This act of sterling independence on the part of Mr. Tyler must 
 be viewed in the light of all the circumstances to be appreciated 
 at its fuU value. The English mission, from the peculiar fate at- 
 tending the nominations of Jackson, became a subject of intense 
 political interest. During the following session Mr. Tyler re- 
 ceived a letter from Mr. John H. Pleasants, of Richmond, editor 
 of the ^yhig, assuring him that his nomination for the vice-presi- 
 dency would be '■'■resentfully opposed" in case he voted for Ste- 
 vensoia again. ^ "What the reply of Mr. Tyler was I do not know, 
 and he was instructed out of his seat before his firmness could be 
 put to a second test on the question ; but who can suppose that his 
 course in 1836 would have been different from what it was in 1834 
 and 1835, when his name was already familiarly connected with 
 that oiiice ? 
 
 Stevenson was re-nominated in 1836, and tlie English mission, 
 which had remained vacant since 1832, was at length filled by 
 the fact of ]iis ratification at the hands of the Senate. So that 
 the President ultimately had his own way. 
 
 On the celebrated resolution of Mr. Clay to censure the Pres-i 
 dent, Mr. Tyler, acting under the instructions from the Virginia 
 Legislature, voted "aye" with the rest of the opposition; and, by 
 virtue of the same authority, his vote was recorded against the Presi- 
 dent's request to admit his celebrated "protest" to record on the 
 journal of the Senate. 
 
 One of the last acts of the session was the passage of a resolu- 
 tion by the Senate, instructing the Finance Committee to sit during 
 the recess for the purpose of investigating the affairs of the United 
 
 ' On the back of this letter is endorsed, " Pleasants, answered, — advising that 
 if Stevenson was renominated I should oppose it ; my nomination put in hazard 
 by a different course." 
 
ME. TTLEk's EAIJK EEPOET. 503 
 
 States Bank. Mr. "Webster yielded the first place on the committee 
 to Mr. Tyler, whose peculiar attitude to the Bank was recognized as 
 calculated to impress the country with the idea of greater impar- 
 tiality ; and immediately after the adjournment of Congress the 
 members of the committee repaired to Philadelphia, with a view 
 of ascertaining, as a preliminary to their subsequent proceedings, 
 the readiness of the directors of the institution to submit its papers 
 and books to their free and unreserved inspection. Their recep- 
 tion by Mr. Biddle, the president of the Bank, was every way 
 gratifying. Full access to all the private dealings of the institu- 
 tion was promised, and the committee thereupon, as the readiest, 
 if not the only mode of acquitting themselves of the several duties 
 required of them, devolved apon each of the members separately 
 the task of obtaining such information as their respective States, 
 and those, most contiguous to them, afforded relative to the several 
 heads of enquiry. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's summer, as may be imagined, was pretty well oc- 
 cupied with arduous labors. He visited the branch bank in Nor- 
 folk, and was honored while there with a banquet from the Whigs. 
 He visited Bichmond, and was kept so busy as not even to have 
 time for a trip of a few miles to the country, in Hanover, to see 
 his friend Curtis. "My time was entirely occupied," he wrote 
 from Gloucester Place, in August, on the eve of a flight to Bos- 
 ton ; " I dined at Buchanan's Spring on Saturday, and there met 
 our viost eoacellent friend, Mr. Eitchie. You cannot conceive how 
 cordially he saluted me." " To-morrow," said he, " away for Bos- 
 ton ! Is there danger, think you, that I shall turn Yankee before 
 I reach home again ?" 
 
 On the 13th of September, 1834, having finished with the branch 
 banks, the majority of the committee repaired to the parent bank, 
 at Philadelphia, and unremittingly prosecuted their investigation 
 into its affairs to its final completion. When Congress met on the 
 1st of December, 1834, the committee was possessed of a pile of 
 material which gave ample evidence of their industry during the 
 recess. The arduous and even more exhausting duty remained of 
 reducing the midtitudinous data, figures and calculations, into an 
 harmonious whole. On the 15th of December, 1834, Mr. Tyler 
 wrote to his son: "Since I have been here, I have encountered 
 lieavy labor in preparation of the Bank report. It is now finished, 
 
504 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 and will be passed on by the committee to-morrow. Whether we 
 shall differ among ourselves is somewhat problematical." 
 
 The report, embodying the result of the most extraordinary 
 labor, and containing, with accompanying documents, upwards 
 of three hundred and forty-eight octavo pages, was presented by 
 Mr. Tyler to the Senate on the 18th of December, 1834. It was 
 a remarkably fair document, — just to the Bank and just to the 
 President. It made it most clear that the Bank, prior to the re- 
 moval of the deposits, was perfectly safe and souad, and that it 
 had not used its money to corrupt editors and members of Con- 
 gress, as charged by its enemies. On the other hand, it had cur- 
 tailed its discounts, and to justify this the Bank pleaded that the 
 loss of the deposits compelled it to do so in self-defence. The 
 Jackson men had imputed the act to a malicious purpose. The 
 people were to be distressed by an unnecessary restriction, and the 
 odium of their sufferings was to be thrown upon the President as 
 resulting from his own really innocent action. The report did not 
 undertake to decide the question. On this, as on other points, it 
 presented both sides, — the view most favorable and that most 
 unfavorable to the Bank, — and left the decision to the Senate. 
 Something more than a doubt was expressed as to whether, under 
 ordinary circumstances, the course of the Bank in discounting could 
 be justified. Its circulation of nineteen millions was protected by 
 specie to the amount of ten millions, and by claims, equal to specie, 
 on the State banks for two millions, while, by the decline in the pur- 
 chases of exchange from May to October, tive million dollars had 
 been placed at the Bank's disposal. So, too, in regard to the Bank's 
 perseverance in its measures of precaution as long as it did. 
 
 Upon one point — and an important one at that — the committee 
 unequivocally condemned the Bank. The Bank had printed and 
 distributed various pamphlets and documents, setting forth its ad- 
 vantages, etc., and this subjected it to the charge of interfering 
 with elections. Moreover, during the yeai-s 1832 and 1834, at 
 which national elections occurred, the contingent expenses were 
 out of all proportion to the expenditures for similar purposes in 
 other years. True, the Bank alleged that the publications were 
 made only in reply to malevolent charges on the side of the Dem- 
 ocrats. Be that as it may, the precedent set was bad, and the 
 .committee denounced it as such. 
 
COLLISION WrrH BENTON. 505' 
 
 The report was an able, clear, and remarkably sober and tem- 
 perate argument, dealing in facts and truth, and avoiding recrimi- 
 nation; but this was just what was calculated to make it obnoxious 
 to the administration, coming as it did, too, from a recent friend- 
 No sooner, therefore, was the report read by Mr. Tyler in the 
 Senate, than Benton, in the most furious manner, without taking- 
 the necessary time to examine the documents so as to form any — 
 even a pretense to a just — opinion, pounced upon the report and 
 pronounced it an "elaborate defence of the Bank." His speech 
 was made after the true Bentonian style, and is a singular exhibi- 
 tion of inaccuracy and perversion of statement. Mr. Tyler killed 
 his assault with a reply full of dignity and truth, and warmly re- 
 torted upon Benton the charge of being an advocate of the Bank i 
 
 He has loudly talked of the committee having been made an instrument of by 
 the Bank. For myself, I renounce the ascription. I must tell the Senator that I 
 can no more be made an instrument of by the Bank than by the still greater and 
 more formidable power- — the adtninistration. I stand upon this tioor to accom- 
 plish the purposes for which I am sent. In the consciousness of my own per- 
 sonal honesty, I stand firm and erect. I worship alone at the shrine of truth 
 and honor. It is a precious thing, in the eyes of some, to bask in the sun- 
 shine of power. I rest only upon the support which has never failed me — the 
 high and lofty feelings of my constituents. I would not be an instrument even 
 in their hands, if it were possible for them to require it of me, to gratify an 
 unrighteous motive. 
 
 On the 12th of January following this, Mr. Benton once more 
 brought up the subject of the Bank, moving that the Senate should 
 order the Finance Committee to investigate the alleged trafficking- 
 of the Bank in gold and silver. This subject had been already 
 passed upon in the Bank's favor by the committee, in their late 
 report, and the motion, therefore, was intended to reflect on the 
 motives of its members. Mr. Tyler took fire at this second attack^ 
 and a fierce collision ensued between him and the arrogant Sena- 
 tor from Missouri. Mr. Tyler avowed his entire willingness to re- 
 sume the investigation as often as the Senate should think proper^ 
 as he stood prepared to substantiate every statement in the report 
 by the most conclusive documentary evidence. And to the taunt 
 of Benton, that his experience in the new investigation to which he 
 was dared would be found "something more than walking among 
 burning plowshares," Mr. Tyler replied that " he thought that to be 
 delivered from Jacksonism and its blighting effects would not be 
 
606 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 SO easy a task as to be delivered from the blighting trial which he 
 (Mr. T.) had to go through. He thought that he had shaken this 
 incubus from his shoulders ; and although his opinions concerning 
 the United States Bank were well known, he should pursue this 
 investigation actuated by the most impartial motives.^ The hon- 
 orable Senator need not feel the slighest apprehension about him ; 
 for on his mother's knee he had heard an adage to which he should 
 ever cling: that in all matters, private or political, '■'■'honesty is the. 
 iest policy." 
 
 Benton never forgot nor forgave the rebuke administered by 
 Mr. Tyler, although he was careful enough not to pursue his 
 roughness to a second personal encounter. 
 
 "Do not apprehend anything between Benton and myself," 
 wrote Mr. Tyler at this time. " I shall avoid a quarrel, if it be 
 possible, and I rather think that he is no more inclined for one 
 than myself. I will not permit him, however, to encroach upon, 
 me too far." In January of the following year, he remarked in 
 
 ' Mr. Sumner in his Andrew Jackson — that and the Life of Monroe, by Profes- 
 sor Gilman, being the only endurable books of the "American Statesmen Series" — 
 speaks of Mr. Tyler's remarks against the Bank, on the 12th of January, 1835, as 
 "a profession of faith drawn from Tyler.'' This has an air of implying that, 
 hitherto, Mr. Tyler had kept his opinions concealed. The imputation is extraor- 
 dinary, coming from a man so painstaking and accurate as Mr. Sumner. — (His 
 splendid little work should be in every one's hands,) Mr. Tyler had, at the pre- 
 vious session, repeatedly put himself on record against the Bank. See his re- 
 marks in reply to Mr. Forsyth, Feb. 5th, 1834, Oong. Debates, x. p. 468. Speech 
 on the Deposits, Ihid., x., p. 663. On the Virginia Memorial, Ibid., s.., pp. 604, 943. 
 On the Shenandoah county resolutions, Mr. Tyler said that, "like them (the me- 
 morialists), he was opposed to the Bank on high constitutional grounds, and should 
 vote against a renewal of the charter for a day, as well as for any other time." — 
 Ibid. , X. , p. 960. Mr. Tyler reiterated his opposition to the Bank on the reading 
 of his report. He was opposed to the Bank, but wanted to do it justice while it 
 was a creature of law. Even in his report, he added this paragraph : 
 
 " The committee have now fulfilled, as far as they were able, the highly respon- 
 sible duty imposed upon them by the Senate. In the investigation which they 
 have made, their only object has been to arrive at truth and award justice. Their 
 opinions upon the subject of the Bank are by the whole community known to be 
 various ; by some of the members of the committee the opinion has been uniformly 
 maintained, and continues wholly unchanged, that the creation of the Bank was 
 violatory of the Constitution. They would, therefore, desire to see the charter to 
 •expire. Others of the committee maintain different opinions, in the maintenance 
 of which they have been equally inflexible ; but that question has nothing to do 
 with the enquiry which the committee have been called upon to make ; nor have 
 party politics been permitted to influence them." 
 
DEATH OF THOMAS TYLER BOULDIN-. 507 
 
 his letter to his son, in allusion to Benton : " The Colonel and my- 
 self are quite gracious so far. I shall be guilty of no violation of 
 ■order or decorum, nor do I anticipate any from him towards my- 
 self." 
 
 At this period of our history sudden and oftentimes thrilling 
 €vents were continually adding fresh fuel to the fires of excite- 
 ment that raged in Congress and out of it. These were almost 
 always given a political signification. Mr. Tyler's first cousin, 
 Thomas Tyler Bouldin, sometime judge of the General Court of 
 Virginia, and who represented the district of John Eandolph in 
 Congress from 1829 to 1834, fell dead in the midst of a sen- 
 tence, while announcing at the first session of this Congress to the 
 House of Kepresentatives the death of Mr. Eandolph. In Jan- 
 uary, 1835, a crazy man named Lawrence attempted to assassinate 
 the President. He failed, but the Democratic papers took it up 
 and made the Whigs his abettors. Jackson, Benton, Blair, and 
 most of the other prominent loco-focos resembled one another 
 strikingly in this, viz.: Every hostile influence, however ac- 
 cidental, was in their estimation the result of some terrible con- 
 spiracy, in which the whole world was engaged for their undoing. 
 Thus, in this instance, Jackson imagined the Whigs in conspiracy 
 against his life, and even charged Senator Poindexter, of Missis- 
 sippi, who had defended him so strongly in the Seminole war, with 
 being at the bottom of the affair. 
 
 On February 23, 1835, Mr. Smith, Mr. Wright, Mr. King, Mr. 
 Mangum, and Mr. Tyler were appointed a committee to investi- 
 gate, at Poindexter's request, the rumors implicating him as an 
 accessory before the fact to the late attempt to assassinate the 
 chief-magistrate. On March 2d the committee, thus appointed, 
 reported a resolution entirely exculpating Senator Poindexter, — 
 which resolution was unanimously adopted by the Senate. 
 
 Mr. Tyler gives a detailed account in the letters that follow of 
 this attempt on Jackson's life. They contain other interesting 
 matter. Noteworthy are the speculations of Robert Tyler, alluded 
 to in the last of the three letters, respecting Mr. Tyler's future ad- 
 vancement. Mr. Tyler modestly characterizes them as '■'■mere 
 speculations," but the recognition that was now everywhere ac- 
 corded him as one of the first men of the country made them 
 something more than that: 
 
508 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYiEES. 
 
 [To Robert Tyler.] 
 
 Washington, Jan. 31, 1835. 
 
 My Son : I was very much pleased at a letter which General Gordon showed 
 me from you this morning, in return for his kind recollection of you in having 
 forwarded Mr. Adams' oration.' You very properly returned him your thanks- 
 for the favor, and he is obviously very much gratified at the terms' employed 
 in your letter. I dined a few days since at General Jones', with Governor 
 Dickerson, who enquired after you. My object, however, in writing to you 
 was to give you an account of an occurrence which transpired yesterday, and 
 to ask that you will walk down to Judge Semple's and inform him of the- 
 facts. 
 
 Warren R. Davis died two nights ago, and yesterday the funeral ceremonies- 
 were performed in the House of Representatives. The members of both 
 Houses were present, and the President of the United States, with the mem- 
 bers of his cabinet. The procession moved from the hall through the rotunda 
 to the east porch of the capitol, — the House first, the Senate second, followed 
 by the President, etc. I was unwell, and concluded not to go to the grave, and 
 after getting to the porch, I stepped out of the line of procession to the right. 
 I had not been standing there more than a minute before I heard an explosion, 
 similar to that produced by an ordinary cracker, which caused me to turn 
 around, when I perceived a man standing in front of the President, about four 
 steps off, with a pocket pistol pointed at the President. The report imme- 
 diately followed, of the same character with that I had a moment before 
 heard. The President immediately raised his cane and made at him ; but, 
 before he could strike, the fellow was seized and thrown down, the President 
 still pressing on him, and when preparing to stick his cane into him was- 
 drawn off. The fellow was immediately transferred to the civil authorities,, 
 and now lies in jail to await his trial at a future day. 
 
 It seems that he had two pistols, each of which he had attempted to dis- 
 charge ; but they were with percussion locks ; the day was very damp, a thick 
 mist prevailing, and although the caps, by their explosion, must have been 
 as fine as were ever used, the powder did not ignite. They were found to be 
 well loaded with the finest powder, and it is almost a miracle that they did 
 not go off. The man is said to be an Englishman by birth ; to have been in 
 this city some three years; to be a painter by trade; and to have given, on 
 more occasions than one, evidences of derangement. He was asked, I learn, 
 by Mr. Randol ph, the sergeant-at-arms to the House, what led him to attempt 
 the life of the President. He replied, "Because he killed my father three 
 years ago ! " There is nothing but madness in all this. 
 
 The effort will doubtless be made to turn this to political effect. Although 
 Ravaillac killed Henry IV. of France, although one madman attempted to- 
 shoot George III., and another killed Mr. Percival, the prime minister, in the 
 Parliament house; yet if a madman attempts to kill General Jackson it must 
 be used for party effect. 
 
 I have not heard from your sister since I last wrote. If the weather is 
 
 ■ On Lafayette's death. 
 
LETTER TO ME8. TYLEE. 509 
 
 .-good, I shall look for her on Tiiesdi|y week. Has she no acquaintance in 
 Norfolk with whom she can pass the \iight on which she reaches there ? And 
 if she gets to Baltimore in the evenili|g, would it not be well for her to see 
 3Irs. McClanahan ? Why does not one or the other of you write to me ? 
 
 Your father, J. Tyler. 
 
 [To Mrs. Tyler.] 
 
 Washington, February 1, 1835. 
 
 My Dear Wife: We had a most extraordinary scene at the capitol on 
 Priday last. 
 
 Warren R. Davis, of South Carolina, had died two nights before, and 
 iis funeral ceremonies were performed in the House of Representatives. 
 The body was then moved in procession to the east porch of the capitol, 
 from whence it was to be taken to the burial ground. The members 
 ■of the House went first, the Senate secoud, and the President and executive 
 officers third. I was one of the last of the senators who reached the portico, 
 and being unwell resolved not to go to the grave, and therefore stepped out 
 of the line of procession to the right. The President followed on, some six or 
 ■eight paces behind me. 
 
 While I stood contemplating the scene around me, I heard a sharp noise 
 like that proceeding from the explosion of a cracker. I turned around to see 
 from whence the noise proceeded, when I saw, but a few steps off, and some- 
 what in front of the President, who was advancing with his cabinet officers, 
 .and who, but a moment before, had entered the porch, a man presenting a 
 pocket pistol at the President, which, in a moment, caused an explosion 
 .similar to that I had before heard. The President immediately raised his 
 cane and put at him ; but the crowd seized the man in an instant, threw him 
 ■down, disarmed him, and handed him over to the marshal, who carried him 
 before the civil authority. He is now in jail to await his trial at a future day. 
 
 The fact was that he had two pistols with percussion locks. The caps ex- 
 ploded as finely as ever caps did, but for some cause, possibly the dampness 
 of the day, the pistols did not go off. If they had the President must have 
 been killed, and I almost trembled to think what might have been the con- 
 sequences. The pistols, it is said, were afterwards examined and found to be 
 properly loaded. The man is ascertained to be a madman — a painter by 
 trade, and an Englishman by birth, and to have been here about three years. 
 It is said that he made an effort not long since to kill his sister, and after- 
 wards to kill himself. I stood near by and saw the whole affair. The old 
 general sprung at him like a tiger, and manifested as much fearlessness as 
 one could possibly have done ; but he got into a furious rage, and said some 
 things very unnecessarily. However, many allowances should be made for 
 his situation at the moment. 
 
 If I had not heard from those who have used the percussion looks that they 
 will not fire well in damp weather, I should either ascribe his safety to divine 
 interposition, or the whole affair to a mere trick for political effect. Certain 
 it is that there would be but one person benefited by his death, and that is 
 the Vice-President, who by the Constitution would succeed him. The thing 
 
510 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 produced an immense sensation. Yesterday I called. to see and to congratu- 
 late him on his escape. He was highly pleased at my laughing and saying 
 to him : " Why, Mr. President, when I looked at you yesterday while spring- 
 ing on that man with your cane, 1 could have taken you for a young man of 
 twenty-five." 
 
 Well, Leigh is elected and Daniel turned out. Brown, of Petersburg, Will- 
 cox's son-in-law, is said to have made a tremendous speech. I suppose that 
 Eitchie & Co. are to keep the State agitated for another twelve months. Rives 
 appealed to the people ; they decided against him ; then he appealed to the 
 Legislature, which has also decided against him ; and now he takes another 
 appeal to the people ; but I think he will again be disappointed. Do not ap- 
 prehend anything between Benton and myself. I shall avoid a quarrel if it 
 be possible ; and I rather think that he is no more inclined for one than my- 
 self. I will not, however, allow him to encroach upon me too far ; but of 
 this I have no expectation. I have not received a letter from Mary or Robert 
 for some time. Mary wrote me that she would be here on the 10th ; Robert 
 was directed by me to purchase such clothes as he might want. You had 
 better get jackets for Burwell and William at Harwood's or Daniel's. I have 
 written regularly, and your not receiving my letters is a proof that it would 
 be unsafe to send money by the mail. Peas ought to be sowed the first open 
 good weather ; but instead of stopping Burwell from the waggon, Mr. Pear- 
 man had better make the other hands manure a square and spade it up. 
 Burwell can then stop a few days to sow peas. 
 
 Well, this is the first day of February, and four more weeks will soon run 
 by. Tell Alice that she must hem a handkerchief for me, and to learn her 
 book ; that father will soon be at home now. I hope the weather will con- 
 tinue good; but I fear we shall have a wet month. Since writing thus far, I 
 have received a letter from Robert, in which he speaks of parties without 
 end. Miss Mary Cook Smith seems now to be his flame. He tells me of his 
 bidding her farewell on her quitting Williamsburg, and of her inviting him 
 to Doctor Chamberlayne's whenever he should happen to visit Richmond. He 
 is a curious fellow. 
 
 I cannot conclude without mentioning a rumor, which is that the President 
 said in the midst of affairs on Friday, that Poindexter had set the ruffian on. 
 What a charge ! I am sure that it is wholly false. P. has, I learn, written 
 to him upon the subject ; and if he is governed by proper feelings, the Presi- 
 dent will either deny the charge or apologize for having made it. What will 
 be the sequel I cannot tell ; perhaps the matter will be brought before the 
 Senate to-day. Yours affectionately, J. Tyler. 
 
 [To Robert Tyler. J 
 
 Washington, Feb. 23, 1835. 
 My Dear Son : I am sorry to learn, through your last letter, that you en- 
 tertained difficulties about graduating, in consequence of the necessity which 
 it would impose on you to make a speech publicly. For this to produce any 
 difficulty is what I had not anticipated. The very circumstance of your being 
 the only graduate, and yours the only speech to be delivered, should be a oirr , 
 
PEESIDEilT PRO TEM. OF THE SENATE. 511 
 
 cumstance rather of gratification than otherwise. The undivided honor is cer- 
 tainly calculated to render it the more distinguished. It affords you, also, an 
 opportunity for a more elaborate essay. You may go more deeply into your 
 subject without the fear of fatiguing your audience. The report to be given 
 of the occasion for the newspapers will distinctly present you to the whole 
 public, and will afford to yourself and your relatives the greater satisfaction. 
 I hope therefore, that you will attempt no compromise with the professors, 
 but press forward to the full and complete discharge of the whole task. 
 
 Your sister, since her arrival, has received every attention at the hands of 
 the people here. Visitors have come in numbers, and invitations have thick- 
 ened upon her. She has been but once to the Senate chamber. Doctor Chris- 
 tian takes great interest in what is going on. For myself, I was looking to 
 some leisure for this week, but I was on Saturday evening placed on a most 
 disagreeable service. It seems that charges are afloat against Poindexter of 
 having had some connection with Lawrence, the man who attempted to as- 
 sassinate the President ; and that the President has procured criminating af- 
 fidavits from three persons. Poindexter brought the thing before the Senate, 
 and a committee of five was appointed to investigate it. If true, he deserves 
 to be hung ; if false, his accusers would disgrace the gallows. Being on the 
 committee, it would be improper in me to express an opinion in advance ; but 
 it is sufficiently mortifying to find such a, spirit prevailing in the highest 
 places. 
 
 I shall leave here now in a, few days, and may pass through Williamsburg. 
 At all events, the money which you want you will get in a short time. I am 
 glad to find you so much opposed to being in debt. Stick to this through 
 life, and you will thereby promote your happiness. Your speculations about 
 my future success are mere speculations. Every man should aspire to attain 
 eminence ; but the failure to do so should produce no inquietude. Ambition, 
 like everything else, should be well regulated, or it will plague more than it 
 will profit. The great end of existence should be to curb the passions, and 
 never to render ourselves up to their influence. This is the true philosophy ; 
 and after all, happiness is more frequently the inmate of the cottage than the 
 palace. Your father, John Ttlee. 
 
 That the speculations of the son were founded in reason, and that 
 in fact no honor was too high for Mr. Tyler to attain, if he lived 
 long enough, his brilliant success in the past fully attested. But 
 of this a new proof was afforded only a few days after the date 
 of his son's letter, by his election at the close of the session as 
 president pro tempore of the Senate. His name had been pro- 
 posed for this office once before, at the commencement of the ses- 
 sion of 1832-'33, when Judge White was elected over him by 
 three votes. The duration of his term now was brief, but his election 
 was none the less indicative of the decided weight attached to his 
 character, as one of the ablest, though one of the youngest mem- 
 
512 LETTERS AOT) TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 bers of the Senate, — seventeen years younger than Judge White, 
 -who made up with him the Whig national ticket in the South 
 in 1836. 
 
 Upon taking the chair, Mr. Tyler made the following remarks : 
 
 Senators — In calling upon me unexpectedly to preside over your deliber- 
 -ations, you have conferred on me a testimonial of your respect and confidence 
 upon whicli I place the highest value. I accept it veith gratitude, and shall 
 fondly cherish its recollection. You are the representatives of sovereign 
 •States, deputed by them to uphold and maintain their rights and interests. 
 Unlike the Roman Senate, so much the vaunt of ancient story, you owe your 
 •elevation to the high seats you occupy to no adventitious circumstances of 
 birth or fortune, but to the ennobling traits of intellect and virtue. And what 
 •citizen of any of these States can fail to be proud of you ? Who can reflect 
 without high satisfaction on the daily display of intellectual vigor constantly 
 manifested in the debates which here occur ? Party contests may divide and 
 sever ; those contests constitute the organic principle of free States. Ton may 
 •severally, in your turn, have become the objects of attack and denunciation 
 before the public ; but there is not, and cannot be, an American who does not 
 turn his eyes to the Senate of the United States as to the great conservative 
 body of our Federal system, and to this chamber as the ark in which the 
 ■covenant is deposited. 
 
 To have received, therefore, at your hands this station, furnishes to me 
 •abundant cause for self-gratitude. This feeling is not diminished by the fact 
 that but few hours now remain of this session, and that I shall probably be 
 called upon to render but little active service in this place. Upon this cir- 
 cumstance I congratulate both you and myself, for, although I have for the 
 greater portion of twenty years been connected with legislative bodies, this is 
 the first time I have ever been called on to preside over the deliberations of 
 any ; and I have only sought so far to make myself acquainted with the 
 rules of parliamentary proceedings as to avoid any flagrant violation of them 
 in my personal conduct. For the short period which will now elapse prior to 
 your adjournment, I claim, and shall doubtless receive at your hands, a liberal 
 indulgence for any defects I may exhibit, or any errors into which I may fall. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1835—1836. 
 
 ■" I bannot look to consequences, but perhaps I am doomed to perpetual exile from the 
 public councils. If so, I am content; nor should I repine at it." — John Tyleb (1636). 
 
 D18TBACTIONS £N THE Whig Paett. — Politics in Vieoinia, "Leigh ob no 
 Leigh." — Benton's Expunging Resolution. — Judge White made the Pbesi- 
 DENTiAL Nominee of the State-Rights Whigs. — Me. Tylee's Lettee to Col. 
 Smith. — Nominated as Yice-Peesident in Maryland. — Geangee, the Anti- 
 Masonic Candidate foe the Vice-Peesidency. — Clay's Machinations to 
 Defeat Me. Tyleb in Ohio. — Lettees of John Or. Milleb and Eobebt Waee. — 
 Resolutions of Instbuctions in the Vibginia House of Delegates. — Offee 
 of a Judgeship to Mb. Tylee. — Conflicting Advice. — Lettees. — Passage 
 of the Resolutions of Insteuction. — Resignation of Me. Tyleb. — Leigh's 
 Refusal to Resign. 
 
 THE distractions in the Whig party, resulting from its varying 
 and repugnant elements, began, as the presidential election 
 approached, in 1836, to threaten with disappointment those pros- 
 pects of success which the justice of their cause had at first raised 
 up. The Jackson men were now an organized unity, with a 
 system of national conventions and State committees, which ena- 
 bled them to march to the polls with the irresistible effect of a 
 highly disciplined army. In Virginia the battle raged hot and 
 bloody. The Whigs had elected Tazewell governor in 1834:, and 
 a majority of the Legislature. To bend the latter to their pur- 
 poses, the Democrats now began to press the doctrine of instruc- 
 tions. The movement began soon after Leigh's election. County 
 meetings were gotten up all through the State to instruct the 
 members of the Legislature to vote against Leigh on the expiration 
 of the unexpired year of Mr. Tazewell's original term in the Sen- 
 ate. The issue was "Leigh or no Leigh." The Democracy was 
 solid in the western counties, and Leigh was especially obnoxious 
 on account of his red-hot speeches, in the convention of 1829, in 
 favor of a restricted suffrage and the unequal representation of the 
 old State constitution. 
 33 
 
514 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE 'JYLEES. 
 
 On the meeting of the Legislature, in 1834, Mr. Tyler wrote tc 
 his son, at William and Mary College, as follows : 
 
 [To Robert Tyler. J 
 
 Washington, Dec. 11, 1834. 
 
 Mt Son : Your letter, dated the 4th, did not reach me until yesterday. I 
 now enclose you ten dollars. You must get on with as little money as possible, 
 as I have a large sum to raise by the spring, and shall be pretty hard pressed 
 to accomplish it. Say to Mr. Dew that I will pay him the balance due on 
 account of your last year's fee during the winter. I would have you to go 
 into genteel company when you can do so without neglecting your studies. 
 They must go on at all events, lam sorry that mathematics .-ihould so puzzle 
 you; but adopt my motto, Perseverando, and all difficulties will vanish. Let 
 your trip to Richmond be as expeditiously performed as possible, so that youi 
 may lose nothing by absence at college. 
 
 I hope Mr. Kennedy has received my letter. I wrote him the second day 
 after my arrival here, — which say to him. 
 
 As to political matters, your speculations may or may not be realized. My 
 impression is that, if the election of senator takes place this winter, Mr. Leigb 
 will be re-elected. If he is not, although I shall be mortified at it, I shall 
 still be unmoved. He rendered himself obnoxious to the west by his speeches 
 in the convention, and in other respects he stands at disadvantage. However 
 it may be, I feel but little concern. Betirement has no horror for me; for,, 
 come when it may, I have the satisfaction to know that I have been honest in 
 the worst of times. But I have still confidence that Virginia will not desert 
 her ancient principles when they are in danger. 
 
 I write you in haste, as my time is greatly occupied. 
 
 Your father, J. Tyler. 
 
 Leigh was elected over Hives by only two majority, as against 
 fifteen at the preceding session over Judge P. P. Barhour. "Wm.. 
 H. McFarland was elected by a similar vote over Peter V. Daniel,, 
 executive councilor. The Whigs had won the contest by the skin 
 of their teeth, but a new schism in the Democratic party during 
 this session afforded them fresh hope. 
 
 Judge Hugh Lawson White, of Tennessee, had been for forty 
 years a warm friend and consistent supporter of Jackson, having 
 supported him on the nullification and deposit questions. He had 
 not only voted against Mr. Clay's resolution of censure, but had ar- 
 gued that the president had the constitutional right to remove the 
 deposits whenever he had reason to believe them unsafe. White- 
 had cherished from an early day presidential aspirations, and 
 was doubtless much chagrined at the preference of Jackson for 
 
HUGH LAWSON WHITE. 515 
 
 Yan Buren. White waited until the nomination of his rival 
 was a foregone conclusion, and then began to kick in the party 
 traces. 
 
 At the session of ISS-i-'S, Benton introduced his resolution to 
 expunge froca the journal the vote of censure passed on the Presi- 
 dent at the session of 1833-4. White opposed it, but in lien 
 thereof he offered another, ordering Mr. Clay's resolution to be 
 "rescinded, reversed, repealed, and declared null and void." In 
 this movement he was joined by most of the administration mem- 
 bers, only seven voting to retain the word "expunge." Benton 
 reluctantly voted, along with others of his friends, to emascu- 
 late his own motion. "The moment the vote was taken," says 
 Benton, "Mr. Webster arose and exulted in the victory over the 
 hated phrase ' expunge.' It was now settled by the votes of the 
 administration members that it should never again be proposed. 
 And then, to secure the victory which he had gained, Mr. Webster 
 immediately moved to lay the amended resolution on the table." 
 This was done by a vote of twenty-seven to twenty. The exult- 
 ing speech of Webster stung Benton to fury. He imme- 
 diately rose, "and submitted the original resolution over again, 
 with the detested word in it, — to stand for the second week of the 
 next session, — with the peremptory declaration that he would 
 never yield it again to the solicitations of friend or foe." 
 
 At the same session White went with the opposition on the bill 
 of Calhoun to repeal the law of 1820, which vacated every four 
 years certain numerous offices under the government, and which 
 accordingly made the retention of the office-holders dependent on 
 their zeal in the interest of the lucky candidate; and on the three 
 million dollars appropriation, appended to the Fortification bill 
 at the close of the session, he likewise went against the ad- 
 ministration. This latter measure was intended to provide for an- 
 ticipated trouble with France, growing out of the treaty signed at 
 Paris July 4, 1831, whereby France agreed to pay twenty-five 
 millions of francs in settlement of French spoliations on our com- 
 merce in the ware of Napoleon. The first installment fell due 
 February 2, 1833. No money, however, being appropriated by 
 the French chambers for two successive sessions, Jackson under- 
 took to correct the delay ; and in his message at the commence- 
 ment of the session of 1834-'5, he recommended reprisals on 
 
516 LETfEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEE6. 
 
 French property. This way of settling claims is an excellent 
 way to provoke war; and so the Senate unanimously thought. 
 The Committee on Foreign Relations, while expressing a full con- 
 currence with the President on the propriety of maintaining the 
 rights and dignity of the country, believed the policy of em- 
 ploying reprisals as premature, and not conducive either to peace 
 or to attaining the great end in view of remuneration, and atone- 
 ment for violated honor. On January 1-i, 1835, the Senate voted 
 unanimously that it was -not expedient to adopt any legislative 
 measures in regard to the state of affairs between the United States 
 and France. 
 
 The Senate acted sensibly; for it was fully understood that our 
 navy was in no condition for war, and that the French king was 
 earnestly in favor of carrying out the treaty. Nevertheless, the 
 friends of the administration in the House tacked on to the For- 
 tification bill, at the close of the session, a provision placing three 
 million dollars at the disposal of the President, to be expended on 
 such fortifications and works as he chose to designate. In the face 
 •of their previous action on the subject, and the vague, loose, and 
 indefinite discretion which the provision left to an irate president, 
 the Senate could hardly do less than reject the amendment. Mr. 
 White voted with Mr. Tyler and the rest of the opposition. Even- 
 tually the Fortification bill itself was lost, — the House insisting 
 on their amendment, and the Senate disagreeing to it until Con- 
 gress adjourned. 
 
 The administration papers, in the interest of Van Buren, turned 
 upon White with the bitterest of vituperation. Tennessee sup- 
 ported White; and in the spring of 1835, the formal ostracism 
 from the Democratic party of Judge White and his friends was 
 pronounced in the nomination of Van Buren for the presidency 
 by a national convention assembled at Baltimore. Already be- 
 fore this had the State-rights section of the old Democratic party 
 seized upon White as an available candidate to present to the 
 country. A meeting of Whigs, opposed to Bank, internal im- 
 provements, and high tariff, was held at Charlottesville, Va., 
 adopted a State-rights platform, accused Van Buren of being a 
 Federalist, and nominated White for the presidency. A few days 
 after Mr. Tyler wrote to Col. Smith, the member of the House of 
 Delegates from Gloucester: 
 
WHITE NOMINATED FOE "aWSS'-aiS^IDENCY. 517 
 
 [To Col. Thomas ^m^nu-.^y-^ 
 
 GLOB'(fES|^Eli,I']^OE, May 8, 1835. 
 
 Dear Colonel : The result of the elections SfttM^a nj^jthat Virginia will 
 go against the designated heir if proper exertio^tSire us^. Between Van 
 Buren and White our party cannot long hesitate.* %*hiteTlk6 been against 
 the old Democracy for two years only, and on two or ttfreS'l'mi^oAftnt subjects; 
 Van Buren always, — for upon no one point of policy bajft we ikreed with 
 him. Judge White would give a pure administration ; Van .Btiljea would 
 seek to fortify himself by all the means in his power. For one, 1 dotngt hes- 
 itate a moment in my choice. But we should be in motion. Our opponents 
 are calling meetings every where; let us do the same. Can y%||i 'n'c^"foj|Bw 
 the suit of Albemarle, and have a meeting next Saturday? SWm|E ipoird'if 
 you approve to Roy to make a similar move at an early day in Matthews 7 and 
 in this county address Kemp and others of our friends. Put Geaig%T^,b,, 
 John Sea well, and the other young men in motion. I shall write to'Middl*- 
 sex, and probably to King and Queen, King William and Hanover, anSi'other 
 counties. There is nothing like an early blow. It will strengthen us"by^ 
 strengthening our friends elsewhere. I doubt not but that we shall, with tBI' 
 White men added, have a majority in the Legislature. 
 
 I learn that there is an idle rumor afloat relative to myself. I need scarcely 
 say to you, believe it not. I shall not yield while there is a plauk left. 
 
 Yours, in haste, J. Tyler. 
 
 White was taken up all through the South. The North inclined 
 to Webster and Harrison. This was due to the difference of 
 principle prevailing in the two sections. White was a pronounced 
 strict constructionist, and the North went generally for looser views. 
 Harrison had been opposed to a Bank in 1822, when he wrote a 
 letter to the Cincinnati Inquisitor declaring its unconstitutional- 
 ity. True, he had been long separated from political transac- 
 tions, and his opinions were not so repeatedly on record as White's. 
 Webster had been in favor of a Bank and the other features 
 of the "American System." The adoption by the Northern 
 Whigs of Harrison in preference to Webster proved how anxious 
 they were already to conciliate the South. 
 
 For the second place on the ticket the democrats nominated E. 
 M. Johnson. In his letter of acceptance he professed a wish for a 
 government bank such as Jackson had recommended. The Demo- 
 crats made this nomination through the national convention, and 
 thus secured unity in the ranks. The Whigs stuck to the plan 
 generally adopted after the abandonment of the Congress caucus 
 nominations in 1824, and acted through resolutions of the State 
 Legislatures. North and South both showed an inclination to 
 
518 LETTEKgiAl'jD'-SJMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 support Mr. Tyler agai'ist Johnson. His defense of the Treasury, 
 which happened tO'fceJ thW'Bank, made him popular in the North, 
 and his single vote agaihst the Force bill endeared him to the 
 South. A? e,&ri^\a^ January 7, 1835, the inquire?' announced 
 that the Vingipj,,a,'rFree Press had nominated Mr. Tyler for the 
 vice-presidency ) and Henry Clay for presidetlt, as a compromise 
 ticket, '^he' Washington Sun, in December of the same year, 
 followed fvui't.'m terms of glowing eulogy to Mr. Tyler. The 
 Jiici§mo>i,d ^WMg, of December 19, 1 835, spoke "of the strong and 
 growiug .wish for the nomination of this gentleman to run on a 
 Sfebte-rights ticket with Judge White." It referred to his princi- 
 pKsin public life, as inherited from his father, "one of the patri- 
 Areh's of State-rights." In December, 1835, the Whigs of Penn- 
 sylvania held a convention at Philadelphia. The editor of the 
 Whig thought it was more than probable that Mr. Tyler would be 
 selected by it for the vice-presidency. But these anticipations 
 were disappointed by the anti-Masons, who- as yet maintained a 
 separate organization with a view to dictate the candidates. The 
 anti-Masonic party owed its origin to the imputed abduction and 
 murder by the masons of a man named Morgan, who revealed the 
 secrets of Free-masonry in a publication. On this single issue, 
 having no political significance, a fanatical party was formed which 
 soon attained formidable dimensions, controlling State elections 
 and aspiring to presidential nominees. William H. Seward, who 
 was a member of this party, confesses in his autobiography that " it 
 seemed to be hoping too much that it could ever succeed to the 
 position of one of the two great contending parties of the Union." '■ 
 Seward was right ; but it is a matter of record that the anti-Masons, 
 led by Seward, Thurlow Weed, Francis Granger, Thaddeus 
 Stevens, and others, did entertain such hopes, however chimerical to 
 men of judgment and broad views must have appeared the chances 
 of anything like permanent success. 
 
 For a time, however, the progress of anti-Masonry was rapid. 
 "Anti-Masonry," says Sumner, "spread rapidly through New 
 York and large parts of Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. Ver- 
 mont became a stronghold of it. It is by no means extinct there 
 now. It had considerable strength in Connecticut and Ohio. It 
 widened into hostility to all secret societies and extra-judicial 
 
 ' Seward's Seward, i., p., 74. 
 
ANTI-MASONS. 
 
 oaths. Perhaps it reached its acme when it could lead men L. 
 J. Q. Adams and Joseph Story to spend days in discussing plans 
 for abolishing the secrecy of the Phi Beta Kappa society of Har- 
 vard College." The truth was, the anti- Masons were born agita- 
 tors. They never looked an .inch before them, and fancied, while 
 they sat astraddle the ridiculous hobby of their party, that they 
 were acting the part of statesmen and philanthropists. It was an 
 accident that drew them afterwards into abolition, and the attitude 
 they assumed on that question was posed on grounds closely akin 
 to their present fancy. Nor is it surprising that, under the new 
 tanner, they proclaimed the "higher law"^ — a law which they ex- 
 alted above the Constitution and the oaths which they had taken 
 to support it. In the very nature of such men, the present pur- 
 pose is always the higher law, which overrides everything of prin- 
 ciple and expediency. The anti-Masons, of course, entertained the 
 ■ex'tremest notions on economic subjects. 
 
 Francis Granger had been their candidate for the presidency 
 in 183i, and in now compromising on Harrison, they insisted on 
 ■Granger for the second ofiice. Their convention was held in Penn- 
 sylvania, at the same time with the Whig State convention, and 
 the latter was compelled to keep its preferences for Webster 
 for president and Tyler for vice-president in waiting upon the 
 action of the anti-Masons. When, therefore, the anti-Masons 
 made known their wish for Harrison and Granger, nothing re- 
 mained for the Whigs to do but to cry, "Great is Diana of the 
 Ephesians!" and submissively endorse their ticket. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's friends, however, did not lose heart, and on the 29th 
 of December, a few days later, the Maryland Legislature substi- 
 tuted Tyler's name for Granger's, on the Harrison ticket. This was 
 followed by Mr. Tyler's nomination in the South. By February, 
 1836, North Carolina, Georgia and Yirginia had spoken in favor of 
 Mr. Tyler on the White ticket. Town and county meetings were 
 heartily endorsing him everywhere. The fact is, the politics of the 
 two rival candidates, Tyler and Granger, show the ruling elements 
 in the Whig party. North and South — State-rights and anti-Masonry. 
 Harrison and White were selected simply for their availability. 
 
 Ohio now became the State to which every nerve was strained 
 by the friends of the several aspirants. In that State the anti- 
 Masons were in a minority, and Mr. Tyler's friends knew that sue- 
 
LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 s in getting his name on the ticket there, with Harrison, would 
 Jompel the withdrawal of G-ranger in Pennsylvania. But again 
 they were disappointed. Clay controlled the western "Whigs, and 
 it was at his instance that the National Kepublicans betrayed Ty- 
 ler and selected Granger. 
 
 The truth was. Clay did not wish the concentration of the Whigs 
 on any candidate. Johnson, the Democratic candidate for vice- 
 president, was unpopular with a large number of Van Buren's sup- 
 porters. At the convention which unanimously nominated "Van 
 Buren, Johnson received but one hundred and seventy-eight votes, 
 against eighty-seven for William C. Rives, of Virginia. The Vir- 
 ginia delegation denounced Johnson for his unsoundness on the 
 tariff, bank and internal improvements. Clay feared, therefore, 
 that unanimity as to the vice-president, on the part of the Whigs, 
 would surely lead to his election ; and the phenomenon which his 
 election might present to the world, of a Democratic president and 
 a Whig vice-president, would forthwith convert the latter into a 
 dangerous rival in 1839. 
 
 Clay smiled blandly on Mr. Tyler ; but, all the time, he was se- 
 cretly dispatching letters to Columbus, urging the "Whig State 
 convention to nominate Granger instead of Mr. Tyler, their first 
 choice ; and Ewing, the senator from that State, was the pliant in- 
 strument employed by him in the dirty business of catting Mr. 
 Tyler's throat. This was destined, however, to be by no means 
 the only time that these two worthies would unite in the interest- 
 ing game of deception to Mr. Tyler. 
 
 But how the thing was done at Columbus is told in the letters 
 of two of Mr. Tyler's friends, which read as follows: 
 
 [Fkom John G. Miller. J 
 
 Columbus, Ohio, February 23, 1836, (four o'clock P. M.) 
 Dear Sir : The great Whig convention has just adjourned. Their nomina- 
 tions are as follows : Harrison for President ; Granger for vice-president ; 
 Vance for governor. 
 
 The result is such as I anticipated and forewarned you of. Three-fourths 
 of the people of this State, three-fourths of the members of this convention, are 
 for Tyler for vice-president, but a fevs^ old Federal leaders, by management, 
 carried the convention vi'hithersoever they would. In this instance, your 
 Domination has been defeated, as I am well assured, by the instrumentality 
 of one who sits near you. Letters came here from Washington demanding 
 the nomination of Granger ; they were called for in the convention by your 
 
LETTERS FROM THE OHIO WHIG CONVENTION. 521 
 
 friends; but came not. Insinuations out of doors alarmed the timid and de- 
 ceived the ignorant, but when they were called on to show their hands, they 
 shrank from it. 
 
 For instance, a large delegation from one county voted three to one for 
 Tyler, yet were they made to give the vote of the county for Granger. 
 Another county delegation were every man for Tyler, yet they gave the vote 
 to Granger; another was all but one for Tyler, etc., etc. It is in truth all 
 humbug and trickery. 
 
 You may set down Ohio for Van Buren, Mr. Ewing to the contrary not- 
 withstanding. With the thinking men of this State, who are also honest, it 
 was a hard pill to swallow Harrison; but to roll him up in anti-Masonry and 
 abolitionism is too bad ; it will choke thousands of us. Mr. Ewing and his 
 men will find when too late that there is still left a little southern feeling in 
 Ohio. 
 
 The convention consisted of more than a thousand men, I think — the 
 secretaries have not yet had time to number them. No house could hold them 
 yesterday, and they were forced to meet on the public square. To-day they 
 were accommodated in the theatre. 
 
 I write in haste and under excitement. Doubt whether you can either read 
 or understand. I will write you calmly hereafter. In the meantime remain^ 
 Yours sincerely, Jno. G. Miller. 
 
 [From Robert Ware.] 
 
 Columbus, O., Feb. 24, 1836. 
 
 Mt Dear Sir : We have the mortification to say to you that, af oer all our 
 efforts to obtain for your name a place on the electoral ticket of this State, at 
 a convention held here the 22d instant, we failed, and the name of Mr. Gran- 
 ger was supplied. We have the consolation, however, to have learned that 
 fully half (I think a majority) of this convention were in favor of you. The 
 managers succeeded upon the fear, as alleged, that, unless this State recipro- 
 cated the Pennsylvania nomination, Harrison would not be sustained in that 
 State. 
 
 We, the State-rights party, held to you, with all the inducements we could 
 muster. We claimed some voice in the election, and could and would support 
 the nomination, if they would give us the governor (knowing that would not 
 be acceded) or the vice-president. It is said the strength of our party was 
 set down at the contemptible number of two thousand and anti-Masons eight 
 thousand, and this prevailed, when I have no doubt we will in a short time 
 prove our strength double these antis. But how contemptible is the necessity 
 of making a comparison of strength of State-rights men and anti-Masons. If 
 you will excuse me, I will never write the like comparison again,— the one 
 standing upon the constitutional rights of the sovereign States, the other run- 
 ning after m.en. 
 
 I think we shall not be deceived in the supposition that our State-rights 
 association will gain great strength during this canvass upon the following 
 contemplated action: The 13th April our party will hold a great meeting in 
 
-522 LETTERS AND TIMES OP THE TYLEES. 
 
 this place or Tazewell. In reply to our proceedings, our State-rights friends 
 in other counties tied down by the coavention will call meetings, advocate our 
 doctrine, but deny their right to depart from the nomination at the convention 
 on the 22d February. We shall thus have our doctrine for the first time 
 generally discussed, and these counties pledged in future to support it. If 
 we live three or four years, we may thus get a majority of this State for us. 
 If we are disappointed in this, we can enjoy, as Burns says, "the glorious 
 j)rivilege of being independent." Our principles we will never yield. 
 
 A big ox was slaughtered here the 22d ; weight, 3,375 pounds ; said to be 
 the largest ever raised in the United States. Handbills with subscription pa- 
 pere went round, proposing to furnish tin boxes and transportation gratuitous 
 to Washington city for those who subscribe at twenty-five cents per pound. 
 I took a share, and have been disappointed in the conveyance by the stage, 
 and must eat it at home. My intention was to surprise you with a box of it 
 (twelve or fifteen pounds), and to ask you to partake of it in partnership with 
 Mr. Calhoun, and also to give Mr. Pickens a slice for his late abolition speech. 
 But you must now take the will for the deed, f jr I am sure the purity of our 
 postmaster here would not permit him to frank it. 
 
 I hope to be in Washington the last of March, on my way to New Jersey 
 on business ; shall remain in the city ten or twelve days. 
 
 Your friend and obedient servant. Eo. Wabe. 
 
 In the midst of these events, Mr. Tyler"'s senatorial career drew 
 to a close. Machine work and the bold tone of Jackson's mes- 
 sage against France had given the Democrats in Yirginia the 
 ascendency at the late spring elections. Under these circum- 
 tances the Virginia senators saw too plainly the handwriting upon 
 the wall. 
 
 Both Mr. Tyler and Mr. Leigh were especially committed on 
 the doctrine of instructions, and the Democrats who controlled the 
 Legislature greatly rejoiced in the prospect of instructing them 
 out of their seats. Mr. Tyler, it was remembered, had moved the 
 censure on Messrs. Giles and Brent, in 1812, for disobeying the 
 Legislature on the subject of the re-charter of the Bank. Mr. 
 Leigh had offered a substitute which elaborately defended the doc- 
 trine of instruction, and which was adopted in lieu of Mr. Tyler's 
 resolution. The Eriquirer made the most of their commitment, 
 and rang the changes upon the subject for months before the 
 meeting of the Legislature. Nevertheless, Mr. Leigh very early 
 took a resolve antagonistic to his published record. Now he 
 avowed to Mr. Tyler that sooner than obey the Legislature he 
 would M'rite himself " fool, knave, and slave." " 1 know very well," 
 .said he, " that I cannot do my duty to my country without a sacri- 
 
EBSOL0TIONS OP INSTEtJCTION. 523 
 
 :fice of myself as a public man in my own State ; for as the ad- 
 vocate of the right of instruction in 1812, 1 am peculiarly situated ; 
 but I am prepared to make the sacrifice without a sigh or a mur- 
 mur : " 
 
 [Leigh to Tyler.] 
 
 Richmond, July 5, 1835. 
 
 Mt Dear Sir : As to politics, I should but for want of time have 
 
 a great deal to say to you — as it is, I have very little to say, and that on a 
 point, chiefly, if not wholly, affecting myself alone, on which I am desirous 
 "that you shall understand my purposes. I shall take my seat in the Senate, 
 unless an imperious necessity arising out of the state of my private affairs 
 -should put it absolutely out of my power to do so No other consideration 
 on earth shall weigh with me; and my course in the Senate shall be directed 
 by my own sense of duty and right, without the least regard to consequences 
 afl'ecting myself. I will not be instructed out of my seat. I will not obey 
 instructions which shall require me to vote for a gross violation of the Consti- 
 -tution. If I shall be instructed to vote for expunging or rescinding the reso- 
 lution of the Senate disapproving G-eneral Jackson's conduct in removing the 
 public deposits from the Bank, I shall obey the instruction, when I shall be 
 prepared to write myself fool, knave, and slave,' and not before — when I shall 
 be prepared to obey an instruction to vote for the abolition of the Senate, and 
 with it of the State sovereignties — when I shall be willing to fix the monarchical 
 doctrine! of the protest upon this nation, and then, in effect, to subvert the 
 Republic. I know very well, that I cannot do my duty to my country without 
 s. sacrifice of myself as a public man in my own State ; for as the advocate of 
 the right of instruction in 1812, I am peculiarly situated ; but I am prepared 
 to make the sacrifice without a sigh or a murmur. 
 
 Yours, with all respect and regard, B. W. Leigh. 
 
 The General Assembly met in December, 1835, and immediately 
 the discussion ran upon the question of instructing the senators in 
 behalf of Benton's motion to " expunge " the journal of the Senate. 
 Mr. Tyler went, as usual, to his seat in Congress, but did so fully 
 resigned to any fate. On the 14th of December, 1835, Col. 
 Joseph S. Watkins, of Goochland county, a leading Democrat of 
 Virginia, introduced into the House of Delegates the threatened 
 resolutions of instruction. The war of words now commenced in 
 earnest. 
 
 A remarkable circumstance, however, just at this time was pri- 
 vately developed, the particulars of wliich are highly honorable to 
 Mr. Tyler. It seems that though the Democrats wished Mr. Tyler's 
 place, they had no desire to make him out a martyr. Mr. Tyler, 
 too, had very many personal friends among the Democrats, and 
 
524 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 with these and others the honorable desire prevailed to retain in 
 the public service one who had given such high proofs of in- 
 tegrity and talent. The vile spirit of party proscription had not 
 yet infected the entire morals of the State, as it had already done 
 those of the North. Thus the Whigs, in the midst of their 
 triumph in 1834, had not presumed to deprive all the Democrats 
 of office, and the Democrats at the present session treated as 
 generously the Whigs. In Governor Tyler, nothwithstanding his 
 political opinions, the Democrats recognized a man of exceptional 
 character, and in response to an intimation from him would have 
 been probably prepared to gratify him at all times in the be- 
 stowal of any State office in their power. 
 
 Now such an office as a senator might retire to with grace and 
 dignity was just at this time open in his own district. This was 
 the circuit judgeship — lately held by Judge James Semple, de- 
 ceased. True, John B. Christian, his wife's brother, had been ap- 
 pointed by the Governor the temporary occupant of the vacancy, 
 and he, next to Mr. Tyler, was recognized as the man having the 
 highest claims to the office in the district. But there was nothing 
 that Christian would not have done for Mr. Tyler's sake ; and Mr. 
 Tyler had but to say the word, and the field would have been free 
 from all competition in this direction. 
 
 Colonel Watkins proposed his resolution in the Legislature, and 
 simultaneously the Democrats sent a letter to the Kev. William 
 S. Morgan, a member of Congress from Virginia, authorizing him 
 to approach Mr. Tyler with a tender of the judgeship in return 
 for his voluntary resignation. Mr. Tyler treated the proposal as 
 it deserved to be treated. He inquired not into motives, but 
 deeming any escape from his present position dishonorable, 
 "threw the offer from him, and stood ready to abide any storm 
 which might come :" ^ 
 
 ' The indidents of this affair crept afterwards into the papers. The WMg of 
 April 6, 1836, has a letter propounding certain queries about the matter to a 
 " certain State office-holder, who was spared by the Whig Legislature of 1834:-'5." 
 The answer of "office-holder," in the Enquirer of April 12, acknowledges having 
 written such a letter to Mr. Morgan, but disclaims for himself and the Democrats 
 any idea of assailing the cupidity of Mr. Tyler. " How stood the case ?" he asks, 
 "Does the Whig doubt that, notwithstanding Governor Tyler's opinions, both the 
 people of the State and the district would have had more confidence in him than 
 any other man in the district?" 
 
ME. TYLEE EECEIVES THE TENDEE OF A JUDGESHIP. 525 
 
 [To Col. Thomas Smith.'] 
 
 Washington, Dec. 16, 1835. 
 
 My Dear Sib: The speculation in which you indulged when I saw you in 
 the public road near my house, relative to the judgeship, has this day been 
 realized. I have a tender of it in what may be regarded as a tangible form — 
 as positive assurance that if I will intimate a willingness to accept, my elec- 
 tion is certain. I have treated it as such a proposal deserved — I have forbidden 
 the use of my name in any way whatever. 
 
 The offer is made with strong assurance of friendly regard. I enquire not 
 into motives ; to accept any retreat from my present station would be dis- 
 honorable. Christian is destined to make an able judicial officer ; and is 
 better qualified for the station than myself or any man who will be opposed 
 to him ; and if party is to 07errule everything else, it shall not find in me an 
 instrument to accomplish its purposes. I throw the offer from me, and am 
 ready to abide any storm which may come. 
 
 I am, dear sir, most truly yours, John Tyler. 
 
 P. S. Use this only as circumstances may require, and preserve it carefully. 
 If you hear anything said about this matter, show this letter to our friends, or 
 use it in any way to put down the attempt. 
 
 The proposition to instruct the senators lingered for several 
 weeks in the House of Delegates. The pressure on the Whigs was 
 terrible, and a spirit of "hedging" became fashionable, not with 
 Leigh alone, but with a majority of the Whig party. Some openly 
 gave their consistency to the winds, and fiercely denounced a doc- 
 trine which put their party to the rack. The larger number, how- 
 ever, still professed a devotion to this time-honored doctrine of 
 Eepublicanism, but were disposed to see a distinction in the cir- 
 cumstances of its application. Thus many contended that the peo- 
 ple, and not the Legislature, possessed the power to instruct Sen- 
 ators, and that any action of the Legislature, in this particular, re- 
 mained incomplete till the voice of the spring elections had been 
 heard. 
 
 How Mr. Tyler was advised on this subject, and what he him- 
 self believed, is best to be seen from the following letters : 
 
 [From John Hampden Pleasants.] 
 
 Richmond, \Zth Jan'y, 1836. 
 My Dear Sib : I most freely coincide in your conclusions upon the sub- 
 ject of the expunging resolutions. The subject presents itself to my mind in 
 this light : If you obey, dishonorable motives, the love of oflice, the determi- 
 nation to thwart what they are pleased to call the will of the people (touching 
 Mr. Leigh, at least) will be at once ascribed. A great clamor will be got up, 
 with design to influence the elections in April, and they will be most perni- 
 
 1 The delegate from Gloucester county. 
 
626 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEB8. 
 
 ciously influenced by it. If you disobey, and retain your seats, I do not hesi- 
 tate a moment to say, that our hopes of carrying the State, spring and fall,, 
 will be annihilated at once. The cry of violated instructions is raised; false- 
 issues will be again made, and the true issues merged in them. 
 
 You correctly say that, before that cry, false or fair, no man has been able 
 to stand, let his popularity have been what it may. It overthrew us last 
 spring, and will do it the next. That and the Bank and Mr. Leigh out of the 
 way, and I have no fear for the result in April, and a fortiori, in November. I 
 say Mr. Leigh. You know his popularity with the gentlemen of his State, 
 and his unpopularity with the mass. It ought not to be so ; but it is so, and 
 action ought to be regulated accordingly. If you reliDquish your seats, you 
 give us the argument of obedience, or yielding, always influential. You ap- 
 pease the ignorant, who have a spite against Mr. Leigh, for being out in, as- 
 they say, against their will. You disarm the enemy and inspirit our friends 
 to activity by inspiring a sentiment of indignation. 
 
 Thus far I have considered it only as a question of party policy. Am I not 
 right in regarding that aspect as the most important ? Is it not essential for 
 the ultimate assertion of our principles, that Virginia should be redeemed ? 
 With her on the side of power, can anything be anticipated but continued de- 
 feat and final ruin ? With her in opposition, may we not sanguinely hope for 
 victory at last ? This, in my view, is the predominating principle, and to it 
 I would make all else yield. Success in Virginia is the first thing to be con- 
 sulted. Success is secured by your resignation — defeat is entailed by your re- 
 taining your places. I am very sensible that, by resigning, you countenance 
 dangerous heresies; that you admit the right of the Legislature to instruct a 
 violation of the Constitution, and to indirectly abridge the term of the sena- 
 torial tenure; but you are powerless to sustain those principles by holding on. 
 You strengthen the hands of the enemy, and but secure their ultimate sacri- 
 fice the more certainly. 
 
 I am of opinion that it has been unfortunate that the Whigs have had 
 a majority for the last three years in the Senate. It has kept the Senate in 
 perpetual collision with the overwhelming popularity of Gen. Jackson; de- 
 stroyed the influence of the great men of the country, there assembled, by that 
 circumstance, and endangered the very existence of that body, which I believe 
 the people would abolish if they could. The accruing advantages are not to 
 he compared with these evils. I wish Jackson owned the department, as he 
 owns all the rest. I believe it would be best if he had, for the remainder of 
 his reign, unlimited sway. 
 
 These are my notions, — erroneous, perhaps, the latter may be, — correct as- 
 to what the senators ought to do, looking at ovr parti/ interests, I am sure 
 they are. I have spoken them, as you desired me, freely and unreservedly. 
 I have little doubt that an immense majority of our friends here concur in 
 them. At first all seem opposed to it who are spoken to, but I know few 
 cases in which the dissentient, upon argument, has not promptly yielded and 
 admitted it to be best that yoii should resign. Of one thing I am certain, — 
 that the enemy would cheerfully relinquish a majority in the Senate to see 
 you disobey, and thus get up another uproar about violated instructions. I 
 
LETTERS ON RESIGNATION. 52T 
 
 suppose the expunging resolutions will pass in their present form essentially; 
 nay, there can hardly be a doubt of it. I hope they are digging their graves, 
 and think so, — but God knows. 
 
 The abolition debate is going on here, — the House in a complete snar-Z as to 
 order, etc. I cannot tell you what will be the result. The V. B'ites are 
 evidently laboring to blink and evade, and alarmed exceedingly. Is it true 
 there is a schism in the Cabinet? We are looking to Washington with great- 
 interest. Write as often as you can. 
 
 With all respect, your friend and servant, J. H. Pleasants. 
 
 [From Gov. James Barbour. J 
 t ElCHMOND, January 14, 1836. 
 
 Mt Dear Sir : Though I have been here four days, I have not had it in 
 my power to converse with many of the leading politicians on the very grave 
 subject on which we were conversing together ; and among them I find much 
 division of sentiment. While Pleasants goes for resignation. Judge Brooke, 
 Stanard and others entertain altogether diflFerent views. My own decided 
 opinion is that, should you and Mr. Leigh divide in your course, it will be the 
 most fatal shock that the Whig party will have received. 
 
 I presume not to know what course either of you will pursue, and suppose 
 that both of you will keep yourselves uncommitted till the moment that final 
 action becomes indispensable ; but I may add, that however sacred instruc- 
 tions may be held wheu honestly and properly given, yet if this great power 
 is abused to factious and fatal purposes to break down the Senate by requir- 
 ing its own degradation, and for the purpose of obtaining a servile body to 
 the executive, and thus give him absolute power, then I would not yield to 
 such a movement, but, standing on the Constitution, I would boldly appeal 
 to the people, and disclose the means and the ends of the party. In such a 
 conflict you enlist whatever of patriotism and intelligence is left in the land, 
 and presenting a question not confined to a single State, but embracing the 
 Union, and one indefinitely in importance beyond the temporary triumph of 
 party ; a question that cannot fail to arouse the American people, and I would 
 fain hope its solution would result most favorably to those who had fearlessly 
 met the danger, and offered themselves, if the sacrifice was required, as 
 martyrs to the Constitution. 
 
 These are my views, frankly expressed and hastily written, just on my 
 march for home. Whatever may be the result of these things, be assured of 
 my friendship. James Barboub. 
 
 [From Gen. Wm. F. Gordon.] 
 
 Albemarle, January 15, 1836. 
 My Dear Tyler : I received your welcome letter a few days ago. I have 
 given to it all the consideration I am capable of. From your position on the 
 stage of affairs, you have a more commanding view than I can possibly have, 
 and my opinions may, therefore, be worth little ; but as you request them, they 
 shall be given in all sincerity. I am decidedly of opinion that you ought not 
 to resign. That would be to do precisely what your adversaries desire you 
 
528 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 should do. I cannot tell in what form the resolutions of the Legislature may 
 pass. You say you would have no difiiculty to obey an instruction to rescind 
 the resolution of the Senate. Is that proposed by Watkins' resolution more 
 than a proposition to rescind, supremely ridiculous as it is ? The proposition 
 to draw black lines around the original resolution, and to write on it that it is 
 expunged, is a fetch to get round the constitutional objection to an oblitera- 
 tion of the Journal of the Senate, and a new interpretation to the word " ex- 
 punge." 
 
 Were I in your place, I should " agnize a willing and prompt alacrity " and 
 obey literally the instructions given. Obedience, however, is not what your 
 masters at Richmond desire ; they want your place, and Leigh's. Obedience 
 will disappoint them woefully. As to the fate of that resolution of the Senate 
 it is now of no moment. It has already had its effect for good or evil ; it 
 never can he obliterated ; the very effort to effect that would give it a more 
 conspicuous place in history, and the posterity of this degenerate and corrupt 
 generation will have to decide whether you who denied or those who asserted 
 a rightful control over the public revenue for the chief executive officer were 
 the friends of liberty. You suggest the propriety of resigning, and appeal- 
 ing to the people ; discard the idea, power can only be controlled by power. 
 In your place you have power. You have a point from which you can defend 
 yourself. If you resign, you sink into the great mass of citizens, without a 
 shield to ward off the attacks of the press and the office power of the admin- 
 istration. 
 
 Your case will be unlike Rives' ; he resigned with the administration at his 
 back — with all their power, money and presses ; you would be a warrior going 
 into battle without a sword or shield. The question of instructions has been 
 BO bandied in Virginia — has been so universally acknowledged — that it is very 
 difficult to make the great body of the people understand its rightful from 
 its false exercise by the Legislature. I am decidedly of opinion that, if you 
 can without violating your own consciousness of duty to your country and 
 yourself, obey the instructions of the Legislature to the letter, that it will have 
 the happiest effect both for you and those with whom you act on the people 0/ 
 Virginia. 
 
 The time must come and shortly, when the people of Virginia at least will 
 learn, that the control of the revenue of the country is not an executive func- 
 tion. The discussion of this subject at your present session will be received 
 with more calmness than at the last. Let the charter of the United States 
 Bank expire and present the naked question to the community, and they 
 must decide rightly. Mr. Calhoun's bill to regulate the deposits will be a 
 fine opportunity, not only to relieve the Secretary of the Treasury from the 
 high and painful responsibility which so much discretionary power has im- 
 posed, but of damning the administration which imposed it on him. 
 
 I expect great results from this session from your body. Mr. Clay and 
 Mr. Calhoun will both wield a power infinitely greater than when they were 
 considered candidates for the presidency. I am decidedly of opinion that 
 Van Bureu cannot get Virginia against White. I was at Louisa court the 
 other day, and was present at a meeting to send delegates to Eiohmond. 
 
LETTERS ON RESIGNATION. 529 
 
 Many of General Jackson's strong friends there are opposed to Van. What 
 •effect their dropping Col. Johnson may have, I know not. If Johnson him- 
 self has any of the hero remaining, I think he and his friends must look with 
 indignation on the attempt to use hira for the promotion of Van and to his 
 •own defeat. My own opinion is, that if ever we can get General Jackson's 
 shield from around him, that he can be foiled. You must show up the cor- 
 ruption of the administration ; do not give too much importance to the French 
 •question ; it is a ruse of the administration to call off the people from attend- 
 ing to their domestic demerits. There can be no war, and if there is, it will 
 seal the fate of the party; but do not make a noise about it, to draw off the 
 attention of the country from the misrule under which we are suffering. 
 
 In regard to your own affair, I wish you all success. But I fear that it 
 will be too good luck for us, even to get the second officer of the government — 
 a man of your politics. I am very sure, however, you will be sustained by 
 your own State, or rather by the party in Virginia, which must now stand for 
 what Virginia once was. Make it a majority, and you and the cause are 
 triumphant. But I candidly confess I have not much concern who is presi- 
 dent, in comparison with the re-assertion of those Republican principles which 
 were once the glory and now the disgrace, by their abandonment, of Virginia. 
 We have a very able paper at Charlottesville. The editor, Mosely is a man of 
 irst-rate talent. It is doing good in this part of Virginia ; give him a hand. 
 
 Present me respectfully to any of my old friends who remember me. To 
 Robertson and Mr. Calhoun especially. Accept my congratulations on the 
 •marriage of your daughter. Present me most kindly to General Tipton and 
 Mrs. McDaniel's family, and believe me, your friend, Wm. P. Gordon. 
 
 [To Robert Tyler.] 
 
 Washington, Jan. 16, 1836. 
 
 Mt Son : I read your letter, which reached me on Saturday, with much 
 interest. Your views in regard to my situation, in the event of the instructions 
 of the Legislature reaching me in their present form, are possessed, in my 
 opinion, of unquestionable accuracy ; and yet I am continually beset upon the 
 .subject by objectors and objections. What I say to you on this subject is not 
 to be repeated out of the family ; but Mr. Leigh is disposed to hold on, while 
 my opinion has somehow or other got abroad, and thus I am daily addressed 
 with the enquiry, " Will you abandon the Constitution? " My answers are 
 •enigmatical, but the enquirer never fails to be astounded with the enquiry on 
 my part, " Of what avail is the effort on my part to sustain the Constitution, 
 if the people be opposed to me? " In their desire to destroy me, they will 
 run over the Constitution and trample it in the dust, as they are now doing 
 to get rid of Leigh. 
 
 I am also besieged with propositions of compromise, — the most prominent 
 ■of which is that we shall unite in an address to the people, against the resolu- 
 tions, declaring our readiness to resign if the people shall so decide at the 
 spring elections. This, in my opinion, would be extremely hazardous, and 
 would be an appeal to the people from the Legislature. " Leigh or no Leigh '' 
 would again be the question, and we should be beaten. I am not disposed to 
 34 
 
530 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 entertain it, and yet a public man is to a great extent a mere creature of cir- 
 cumstances. You may rely upon my firmness, unmixed with obstinacy. I 
 have no doubt but that the resolutions will pass. As to your wish to be here, 
 nothing would be more agreeable to me, and if I remain I will forward you 
 the necessary funds, although, to tell the truth, I have large debts to pay, and' 
 your sister's marriage has drained me pretty well of money. 
 
 We had an unpleasant affair between Benton and Mr. Goldsborough, of 
 Maryland, the other day in debate. The papers will give you an account of 
 it. A correspondence, it is said, is going on between them, but how it is likely 
 to eventuate is still a matter of speculation. Goldsborough is an Eastern- 
 shore Marylander, and comes from a figiiting country. The Colonel and my- 
 self are quite gracious so far, and I shall be guilty of no violation of order or 
 decorum, nor do I anticip.ite any from him towards myself, 
 
 I hope you are now engaged in your law studies. You should set in regu- 
 larly to work, and prepare yourself for the active concerns of life, so that if 
 any thing should befall me, you may be ready to take my place. You are 
 too regardless of small affairs, and overlook the thrifty maxims of life ; rely 
 upon it that a knowledge of the minutest circumstances coiinected with the- 
 every-day business cpf life is essentially necessary to success. System, order 
 and arrangement are better with ordinary talent than the highest intellectual' 
 endowment without them. Every thing should have its appropriate place;, 
 and every place its appropriate thing. You have intellect enough; add to it 
 method and system, and all will be well. I would have you also change your 
 manners somewhat. You should practice a courteous deportment towards 
 all, and regard no inconvenience to yourself in trifling matters in order to 
 gratify otliers. Destined to the profession of the law, the acquisition of popu- 
 larity is important. You should, therefore, by gentleness andcourtesy to all, 
 win golden opinions from all. Never give way to bad temper ; restrain it, 
 and keep it in subjection. " When mad, count ten before you speak; when 
 very mad, count one hundred," so says Mr. Jefferson, one of the greatest and 
 wisest of men. 
 
 Tell Gregory to lose no opportunity of filling the ice-house; and in bad. 
 weather to shuck out the corn, and to keep a sharp look out. 
 
 Your father, John Tyler. 
 
 P. S. To-day (Monday) the President has sent in his long-looked-for mes- 
 sage on French affairs. War becomes more and more probable every day. 
 The matter in difference is a mere cipher. The French government says, 
 " say that you regret the condition of things, did not design to charge us with 
 a breach of faith, or to extort from a menace, and we pay the money forth- 
 with." Gen'l Jackson says: " I will not say any such thing. It is true I 
 have said so to all the world in two several messages; but I won't say so to- 
 France." Thus, for a mere point of etiquette, two nations are to be involved 
 in war. 
 
 [To Mrs. Mart Tyler Jones.] 
 
 Washington, January 20, 1836. 
 My Dear Mary : Your letter reached me in safety, and as I wrote to your 
 
LETTEES ON EESIGNATION. 531 
 
 mother by the last mail, I must write to you by this. I suppose that Mr. 
 Jones has reached you by this ; and I am pleased to learn that it enters into 
 your contemplation to prevail on him to permit you to remain with your 
 mother during the winter. I hope it may comport with his arrangements to 
 do so. What am I to do without you on my return home, should you have 
 left before that takes place? I need not say that I shall miss you daily and 
 hourly. I scarcely know how I ever prevailed on myself to part with you at 
 all ; but I hope the change may contribute to your happiness. Your union 
 is founded on reciprocal affection, and that constitutes the principal guaranty 
 of a happy married life. I wish, however, that Mr. Jones had located him- 
 self nearer to us, and yet my own movements are somewhat uncertain. 
 
 I daily look for my walking papers from the Legislature. My own incli- 
 nation is to quit promptly and at once; but a public man is the creature of 
 circumstances, and things may turn up to vary my present resolves. The 
 administration is bent on war, — every thing indicates that, and the slaves of 
 party are ready to rush into it. The prosperity of the country would thus 
 sustain a severe shock; lands, slaves (negroes, I mean), all products of the 
 soil — everything, in short, would fall, and thousands would be involved in 
 ruin ; and all because of a quarrel between two old men at the head of the 
 two governments. The Indians are in arms in great force in Florida, and our 
 troops have had a severe fight. Geo. Waggamau must have been in the ac- 
 tion, but escaped unhurt. Sister, of course, is very uneasy about him. I 
 seek to fortify her by saying that George is a soldier, and must abide a sol- 
 dier's fortune. The more actions he is in the better, provided he escapes un- 
 hurt. 
 
 We have an animated discussion every day with overflowing galleries. I 
 have to-day offered sundry resolutions on the abolition question, which I shall 
 have to discuss. I must make hay while the sun shines. What are my pros- 
 pects for the vice-presidency, I have no means yet of deciding. If Virginia 
 takes me up on the White ticket, I may get a good vote ; hut for the anti- 
 Masons I should be elected ; but they go for Granger, an anti- Mason, and 
 thus detach the vote in Pennsylvania. As it is, I make no calculcations, but 
 leave things to take care of themselves. Tell Robert that his only chance is 
 the law. He should go at it at once, with all his heart and soul. That pro- 
 fession is the high road to fame; but he should set in at once to reforming 
 himself in all that needs reforming. He should read Lord Chesterfield ; half 
 the success in life depends on manners, and the first and highest conquest is 
 for him to obtain a mastery over his passions. I have no fear of him if he 
 will study to be polite to all, learn to sacrifice his own wishes to the wishes of 
 others, and restrain his temper. His talents ensure him success with these 
 pre-requisites ; without them his life will most probably be unhappy. 
 
 I hope your mother has recovered from her cold. She should expose her- 
 self somewhat every day, and then she will not be so liable to sufi'er. Tell 
 her that I am going to Governor Cass' this evening to a party. I must see 
 the folks, you know, and make myself agreeable. Tell Lizzie that I shall 
 write to her next mail. With best respects to Mr. Jones, and love to all. 
 
 Your father, John Tyleb. 
 
532 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 At length the resohitions of Col. Watkins received the vote of 
 the House. That asserting the bare right of instructing received 
 almost a unanimous approval, while that instructing the senators 
 a strict party vote. The suggestion as to the spring elections 
 made no lodgment on Mr. Tyler's mind, for we find him, im- 
 mediately on receiving the news from Virginia, firmly resolved on 
 maintaining the consistency of his life : 
 
 [From Col. Thomas Smith.] 
 
 Richmond, Feb. 11th, 1836. 
 
 My Dear Sir: It is really painful to me to communicate the fact that the 
 House of Delegates has adopted Joe Watkins' hateful and detestable ex- 
 punging resolutions. The test vote to strike out with" a view to insert Mal- 
 lory's substitute was taken the night before the last, and decided by a ma- 
 jority of eleven, one member only being absent, but the resolution was subse- 
 quently adopted by a, majority of fourteen; and yesterday the resolution 
 asserting the right to instruct, and the duty of the representative to obey, or 
 resign, was carried by a vote of one hundred and fourteen to fourteen. Should 
 they be adopted by the Senate, of which there can be scarcely a doubt (there 
 being a majority in that body of six in favor of the administration) I have no 
 hesitation in saying that you ought to resign ; but I think you ought not to do 
 so until after the adjournment of the Legislature, so that the election this 
 spring may be made in reference to this subject, and in this opinion I think I 
 am justified in saying that a very large majority of our party concur. 
 
 Last night, I am happy to say, we had, according to notice, a convention of 
 the State-rights party, which was the largest and most respectable meeting of 
 the kind which I have ever attended. Judge White was nominated as the 
 candidate for the presidency, and yourself for the office of vice-president ; and 
 both nominations are unanimously concurred in. The prospect of your elec- 
 tion at least is very flattering, but I trust in God that the ticket will be suc- 
 cessful. 
 
 The mail, I fear, will close before this can reach the office, and I have no 
 time to say more than that our friends in Gloucester were a few days ago all 
 well. With great sincerity, I am your friend and obedient servant, 
 
 Thomas Smith. 
 
 [From William Crump. J 
 
 Powhatan County, Feb. 14, 1836. 
 My Dear Sib : I reached my family last night after an absence of five 
 days, on a trip to Richmond, to attend the convention of the 10th, to me, one 
 of the most agreeable visits I have almost ever paid, the results of which, 
 I verily believe in some degree restore the character of the State. You are 
 doubtless fully apprised by your correspondents at Richmond as well as the 
 public prints before this, of the final result of the convention, therefore it is 
 unnecessary for me to trouble you with any narrative of the events. 
 
THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTIONS. 533 
 
 Suffice it to say it was a most numerous and respectable assembly, and our 
 action was most harmonious. There was, however, oae circumstance that did 
 not give me entire satisfaction ; it was a trivial one, but nevertheless it should 
 have been ordered otherwise. You can but observe that your nomination as 
 vice-president was made to the convention by Mr. W. R. J. a highly respec- 
 table gentleman assuredly, but I thought your own representative, your 
 personal and political friend and neighbor, Major T. Smith, was the fit and 
 proper person to have performed that high and satisfactory duty. The pro- 
 ceedings of the convention, however, were arranged the previous evening by 
 an informal meeting held by many members of the convention, which I was 
 prevented by fatigue and indisposition from attending ; had I been there, 
 I most certainly should have designated the Major as the individual most fit 
 to bring your name to the notice of the convention, and in his absence I should 
 have had a claim to that honor myself. As I have before said, this is a matter 
 of minor importance. 
 
 I was highly delighted with the unexampled unanimity and sincere cor- 
 diality with which your nomination was received. I had a seat near two 
 highly respectable gentlemen who some years past denounced me and others 
 for our support of you for the station you now fill. At the moment I caught 
 the eye of one of them he kindly bent towards me and said, " Crump, we are 
 together now ; you were originally correct in your opinion of Tyler ; I was 
 incorrect, and I now cast my vote on him as vice-president with pleasure, and 
 in preference to any man in the United States." 
 
 This, my dear sir, was the agreeable part of my trip. What do you sup- 
 pose was my mortification — my disappointment — my absolute humiliation of 
 feeling — at hearing the vote (the expunging vote) announced? — for, strange to 
 tell, I never could bring my mind to the conclusion that these ignoble resolu- 
 tions would be adopted by the Legislature, and even when the vote was an- 
 nounced I could but hope my ears deceived me. There is a degrading malig- 
 nity, shocking to my mind, but peculiar to some, which delights to revenge 
 itself on those whose illustrious deeds they cannot imitate. This, I fear, is 
 the leading principle with the degraded majority in our Legislature, — or are 
 they yet more degraded, and actuated by a groveling servility to President 
 Jackson ? The latter, I believe, is the case. I am now fully satisfied that the 
 passage of these resolutions by the Legislature will produce a most salutary 
 effect in our State. I have seen several Jackson men who declare unhesitat- 
 ingly that they disapprove most highly of them, and that they never will 
 support any man who has voted for them. In my own county, I have no 
 doubt but the tool of Watkins, who now represents us, will be turned out 
 with ease. 
 
 The last time I had the pleasure of writing to you I expressed the opinion 
 that Mr. Leigh and yourself were not bound under those resolutions to vacate 
 your places, and that you would be sustained by the good sense of the people. 
 I am now well convinced that, if to defeat our opponents — the tools and 
 minions of power — be our moving action, the most certain and efBcient mode 
 that could be adopted to ensure our success would be for both of you to resign 
 your seats in the Senate. Of this, however, you are more competent to judge 
 
53i LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 than I am. I think that it is important that you should have joint action on 
 the subject, as I have no doubt there will be. 
 
 We in Virginia are now quite sanguine of your election to the vice-presi- 
 dency, since we And your name on the Harrison ticket in some of the States. 
 Indeed, I have a strong hope that your name may yet be taken up in Penn- 
 sylvania, as it doubtless will be in the Southern States. You will find many 
 new names to you on the electoral ticket. In making it out, the convention 
 was guided entirely by a desire to succeed in the effort, and the names of 
 those individuals were placed on it that it was thought would carry the largest 
 vote, confining ourselves almost in every case to the selection of the individual 
 from the largest county in the district to which he belonged. We were ani- 
 mated purely by that spirit in relation to our selection of an elector in our 
 district. 
 
 Please excuse my troubling you with this long and (I fear) uninteresting 
 letter. Indeed, I am, sure you will, as you know full well that it comes from 
 one who entertains for you the most unalloyed respect and highest regard. 
 Yours, etc., Wm. Cbump. 
 
 [To RoBEKT Tyler.] 
 
 Washington, Feb. 15, 1836. 
 
 My Son : Your anxiety on the subject of my nomination in Richmond is at 
 last appeased, as the papers will inform you. The denoument is now before 
 the country. Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia may be re- 
 garded as having spoken, but with what success time only can determine. 
 When I contemplate the immense patronage of this government, the activity 
 of the office holders, the direct efforts of the President to dictate his successor, 
 I am left with but little hope of success. I shall, therefore, look upon what 
 may pass from this time until the fall with as much nonchalance as I can as- 
 sume. You have also to assume a course of silent reserve in regard to the 
 election. Say as little about it as needs be. 
 
 The villainous instructions have at last passed the House of Delegates. 
 They are now before the Senate. In that body there is also a majority of 
 pliant instruments, and I shall expect to receive them in the course of a 
 week. My resolution is fixed, and I shall resign. Such, too, seems to be the 
 wish of my friends in Richmond. I cannot look to consequences, but per- 
 haps I am doomed to perpetual exile from the public councils. If so, I am 
 content, nor should I repine at it. 
 
 Be in haste to prepare yourself for the bar. John will soon follow you 
 and, if our lives are spared, the father and his two sons may still run a career 
 of renown together. By uniting our exertions we may attain an ample com- 
 petency. Learn to make yourself popular by accommodating yourself to 
 the feelings, nay, whims, of others; we are put into the world, and it is our 
 duty to use, while we abstain from abusing it. 
 
 I hope you received my last letter, conveying directions to Gregory to 
 plough up the highland field to the right of the cherry-tree for oats; no time 
 is to be lost in doing so. Miller Pearman lives with John Christian, at 
 Williamsburg.. 
 
ME. TYLEE AND ME. LEIGH. 535 
 
 The arrivals from France give assurances of peace. The mediation of 
 ©reat Britain has been accepted by France, and the King's speech breathes 
 amity. We have nothing of interest, and as I shall most probably leave 
 ■early in March, you would derive but little benefit from a trip here. 
 
 Your father, John Tyler. 
 
 No tidings of Mr. Jones yet ? Tell Mary not to lose her patience. He is 
 fio doubt arranging all things to take her to a comfortable home. He shows 
 in this a business turn and temper. 
 
 [To Mrs. Mart Tyler Jones. J 
 
 Washington, February 18, 1836. 
 
 My Dear Daughter : .... I am in daily expectation of receiving my 
 walking-papers, and for them I am fully prepared. If the people can submit 
 to such proceedings, then, indeed, " the post of honor is a private station.'' I 
 shall be willing to bid adieu to public life. By it, it is true, I may have gained 
 some little estimation in the world, but, at the same time, it has made me 
 poor. If I can have health, there may remain to me ten years of activity, 
 which can be devoted to make worldly acquisitions. 
 
 I was invited to a wedding on Tuesday night, of a Miss Hooe, of Alexan- 
 dria, but, in consequence of my having taken a severe cold, I did not go. L 
 learn that the crowd was very great. To-night I am invited to Gov. Cass', 
 but shall not go. Do you recollect Miss Fowler, whom you saw here last 
 winter? Well, she has recently been married, and is now here with her 
 better half. Her hero is a good-looking man, and a gentleman in his man- 
 ners and deportment. She is homely. I hope that Mr. J. will have returned 
 before this reaches you. I wrote to your mother on Monday. 
 
 Your father, John Tyler. 
 
 The doctrine of instructions had been religiously revered by Mr. 
 Tyler, and the present abuse of it by the people, whose capacity 
 for self-government he had always strenuously maintained, affected 
 him very deeply. The question involved was so plain to his mind 
 that he could not realize the fact that, in some of the most extraor- 
 dinary scenes, men are guided by an overwhelming sentiment, 
 rather than by reason. Against such a state of things, checks be- 
 come as nothing. The people demand their way, and must have it. 
 Under the State-rights view, each senator was an ambassador, 
 directly responsible and amenable to the legislature. This re- 
 moved the government, however, a great step from a pure dem- 
 ocracy. 
 
 Mr. Tyler prepared his letter of resignation. It was a long let- 
 ter, and contained a full view of his own position on the right of in- 
 structions, in the past. He now re-affirmed the opinion at all times 
 heretofore expressed by him, that instructions were mandatory, pro- 
 
536 LETTEK8 AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 vided they did not require a violation of the Constitution, or the 
 commission of an act of moral turpitude. The Senate was ordered 
 by the Constitution to keep a journal of its proceedings, and to 
 publish it from time to time. Said Mr. Tyler : 
 
 I dare not touch the Journal of the Senate. The Constitution forbids it. In 
 the midst of all the agitations of party, I have heretofore stood by that sacred 
 instrument. It is the only post of honor and of safety. Parties are contin- 
 ually changing. The man of to-day gives place to the man of to-raoTTO'w, and 
 the idols which one set worship, the next destroy. The only object of my po- 
 litical worship shall be the Constitution of my country. 1 will not be the in- 
 strument to overthrow it. A seat in the Senate is sufficiently elevated to fill 
 the measure of any man's ambition, and as an evidence of the sincerity of my 
 convictions that your resolutions cannot be executed without violating my 
 oath, I surrender into your hands three unexpired years of my term. I shall 
 carry with me into retirement the principles which I brought with me into 
 public life, and by the surrender of the high station to which I was called by 
 the voice of the people of Virginia, I shall set an example to my children 
 which shall teach them to regard as nothing place and ofifioe, when either is 
 to be attained or held at the sacrifice of honor. 
 
 Mr. Leigh, Mr. Tyler's colleague, also prepared a letter, but one 
 of a very different turn. The one senator promptly threw up his 
 office, and thereby grappled to himself, in private life, the entire 
 confidence of his State. The other held on, and, as a consequence, 
 could never regain his hold on the public favor. In a word, Mr. 
 Leigh made a great political blunder ; Mr. Tyler made none. 
 
 [Pkom D. p. Slaughter.] 
 
 Richmond, February 28, 1836. 
 
 Dear Ttler: A report has prevailed in the city for a few hours past, that 
 Mr. Leigh had determined to hold his place in despite of the instructions of 
 the Legislature, and to make it an issue at the polls next spring. A very 
 large portion — indeed all of our party that we could on the moment see — 
 have addressed him a letter deprecating that course, and asking him respectfully 
 to resign. "We have not in totidem vobis included you, for you are not in- 
 cluded in the report. As a party, we cannot exist a moment if you hold 
 your seats. 
 
 It is death to us and our prospects. Your resignation promptly made it in- 
 dispensably necessary to our success. I write this in the presence of twenty 
 friends, and it has their approbation. I have time to add no more. 
 
 Your friend, D. P. Sladghter. 
 
 Vote in the Senate on the second resolution, twenty-five to five; in the 
 House of Delegates, one hundred and fourteen to fourteen ; of the fourteen, 
 many wish the senators to resign. J. Page. 
 
 My Dear Sir: By Slaughter's permission, I add a note. I wish you, if 
 delicacy permit, to show this letter to Mr. Leigh. If it be yet in the range 
 
EISK8 INCUEEED. 537 
 
 of possibility— if the deed be not yet done, for Heaven's sake let us be spared 
 from the dreadful consequences of the refusal to obey or resign. If the step. 
 be taken, there is " no balm in Gilead ;" the Whig party is overthrown 
 inevitably and irrevocably. I speak from the card. I have heard from almost 
 every quarter of the State. This lion out of our path, and we carry the State 
 spring and fall. Yours, J.H.Pleasants.' 
 
 It must not be supposed that Mr. Tyler made no sacrifice in 
 resigning his seat. It was no agreeable matter to have to sur- 
 render the dignity and emoluments of an office as yet hardly half 
 expired, — and such an office ! But the resignation entailed more 
 than this. Other States tliought not as Virginia did on the doc- 
 trine of instructions. The Northern press, as cited in the En- 
 quirer, severely condemned the course of Mr. Tyler in resigning. 
 Even the liichmond ^VMg, after having urged the resignation of 
 the senators from Virginia, began, after the determination of 
 Leigh to hold on became known, to censure Mr. Tyler for not 
 going with Leigh. Mr. Tyler's resignation sank liim into the 
 great mass. Leigh's resolve to hold on compelled the Whig 
 party to defend him. So much so, that threats rose loud and 
 strong from the Maryland Legislature, which was then in session, 
 and had led off in Mr. Tyler's favor, that unless he acted like 
 Leigh, and voted against the expunging resolution, they would re- 
 scind his nomination for the vice-presidency.^ Mr. Tyler did not 
 
 ' The notes of Messrs. Page and Pleasants were added to the letter of Mr. 
 Slaughter. 
 
 ' To a solicitation from his son, in 1855, for his public opinions on the politics 
 of the day, Mr. Tyler, then in retirement, wrote as follows : 
 [To KoBEBT Tyler. 
 
 Sheewood Fokest, January 7, 1855. 
 
 If my name is to figure in the newspapers, I prefer that it shall not be by let- 
 ters proceeding from myself, but rather by historical sketches of the most promi- 
 nent incidents of my past life. A description of the scenes which surrounded 
 the Force bill ; my resignation of my seat in the Senate sooner than violate the 
 Constitution by expunging the records ; the threats then made that a resignation 
 of my seat would be followed by a repeal of the resolutions of Maryland, nomi- 
 nating me for the vice-presidency, the Legislature of Maryland being then in 
 session, etc., etc., etc. These incidents look almost like a political romance in 
 these days when everything is surrendered for office. I am sensible of a great 
 reaction in the pubUc mind ; and I will consent to do nothing, even for the presi- 
 dency itself, which can arrest its onward progress. Give me the assurance that 
 history will do me justice, and shall endorse me as a benefactor of my race and 
 country, and I go to my grave in peace. 
 
 The New Year has inflicted on you a long letter. With love and kisses to alL 
 your household. Your father, J. Tyleb. 
 
538 LETTEES AND TIMES OE THE TTLEES. 
 
 look to consequences, but followed the plain dictates of conscience 
 and self-respect, and put all things behind him in the determination 
 to pursue an honest and upright course. He retired to private life, 
 having been truly ambitious, during nine years of service in the 
 United States Senate, and twenty-four years in the political arena, 
 to stand or fall by his principles, — consistent to the last in his re- 
 solve to be the partisan of no one man, or set of men, on earth. 
 The tyrant, Jackson, had received from him the same unbending 
 opposition as the visionary Adams, and of all men he had proved 
 his title to "firmness unmixed with obstinacy." Rely upon it he 
 was no nose of wax ! 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1836—1838. 
 
 " In every government though tPrrors reign, 
 Though tyrant kings, or tyrant laws restrain. 
 How small, of all that human hearts endure, 
 That part which laws or kings can cause or care ! 
 Still to ourselves in every place consigned 
 Our own felicity "we make or find ; 
 "With secret course, which no loud storms annoy, 
 Glides the smooth current of domestic joy." 
 
 — GoldstniW s Traveller. 
 
 The Feenoh Treaty at Mk. Ttleb's Last Session, and Jackson's Bunglino 
 Statesmanship. — Public Dinnek to Mr. Tyler on His Eesmnation. — Com- 
 ments OF Mr. Ritchie. ^—Results of the Election in the Fall of 1836. — 
 The Whig Defeat. — Mr. Tyler at Home. —Lines on Leaving Washington. — • 
 Anecdotes of Me. Tyler's Tact. — Home Letters. 
 
 THE little soul of Thomas H. Benton was gratified. The de- 
 tested censure was expunged. He saw one of the two men 
 he most hated, White and Tyler, candidates on the same ticket, 
 driven from the floor of the Senate. The other was soon to fol- 
 low. He gloated in the prospects of Van Buren's certain success, 
 and looked with hopeful eyes to that halcyon day, when, as the 
 successor of Van Buren, he should preside over the destinies of 
 the American Kepublic.^ He little knew that the fruit that he 
 eat was like the fabled apples of Ishtakan, — all sweetness on one 
 £ide, and all bitterness on the other. Benton and his master. Van 
 Buren, might triumph now, but the day would shortly come when 
 the bitter side of the apple would be presented to both. Van 
 Buren would play only half his programme, and Benton, pre- 
 yented from acting at all, would lead a disappointed life, 
 
 " Till memory, like a drop that 
 Night and day 
 Palls cold and ceaseless, 
 Wore his heart away.'' 
 
 'Barton describes the Jackson dynasty as follows: "Andrew Jackson, eight 
 years; Martin Van Buren, eight years; Thomas H. Bentpn, eight years." {7&T-. 
 ion's Andn-ew Jcuikson, iii., p.' 297.) 
 
540 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 But before following Mr. Tyler into his retirement, I beg the- 
 indulgence of the reader for a momentai-y glance at Jackson's 
 statesmanship on the subject of the French indemnity. It was a 
 test case, but Jackson got out of it no better than Polk did in the 
 Oregon controversy. The spirited policy which brings about dead- 
 locks, and leaves room for neither retreat nor advance, may do very 
 well for the age of a Brennus, who stands prepared to cast his 
 sword in the scale, but Mr. Sumner aptly says, that "good di- 
 plomacy would avoid it as one of the worst blunders possible." 
 
 The United States had waited so long in getting France to con- 
 clude a treaty of indemnity for losses incurred in the JSTapoleonic 
 wars, that a little delay now could certainly put their dignity in 
 no worse condition than it was. After the ratification of the 
 treaty, France, as we have seen, delayed payment, but the King 
 was well known to be in fa^-or of executing its terms, and pro- 
 perly directed protests would no doubt have obtained for it a 
 speedy attention on the part of the French Chambers. Jackson, 
 however, did not rest content with the ordinary diplomatic chan- 
 nels of intercourse. In his message at the commencement of the 
 session of 1834-5, he recommended "peaceable" reprisals on pro- 
 perty belonging to French citizens. 
 
 The message was regarded by the high-spirited nation of France 
 as a threat. The French minister was recalled, and passports of- 
 fered to the American representative at Paris. The whole world 
 stood on tip-toe at the threatened spectacle of war. France now 
 said that she would not pay a cent until the United States would 
 declare officially that they regretted the misunderstanding; that 
 this misunderstanding was founded on mistake ; and that they 
 never intended to call into question the good faith of France, nor 
 to take a menacing attitude towards France. Such a declaration 
 Jackson refused to make directly. True, he had elaborately main- 
 tained in his message in 1834, that France had no right to take 
 his recommendation as a threat, and equally true that in his mes- 
 sage on French affairs of January 6, 1835, he reiterated this view. 
 Only the vaunted reprisals on French property had degenerated in 
 the latter to a mere recommendation of an interdiction of French 
 commerce ! 
 
 "The matter in difference is a mere cipher," wrote Mr. Tyler. 
 "The French government says, 'say that you regret the condition 
 
DINNEE TO ME. TYLEE. 54-1 
 
 of things— did not design to charge us with a breach of faith or 
 •extort from a menace — and we will pay the money forthwith.' 
 ■General Jackson says : ' I will not say any such thing. It is true 
 that I have said so to all the world, but I won't say so to France.' 
 Thus, for a mere point of etiquette, two nations are to be involved 
 in war." 
 
 Luckily, about this time, England interposed. Under her me- 
 diation, the difficulties were smoothed away and the money paid 
 by France. How diflferent the statesmanship pursued by Mr. Ty- 
 ler, in the negotiation of the Ashburton treaty ! 
 
 The Whigs were inclined to think, after this, that the war pol- 
 icy of Jackson towards France was only a ruse to draw off the peo- 
 ple's attention from his usurpations at home. 
 
 The question of distributing the proceeds of the sales of the 
 public lands, and the abohtion of slavery, were prominent subjects 
 of discussion at Mr. Tyler's last session in the Senate ; but they 
 ivill come up in a future chapter, and may be passed by for the 
 present. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's letter of resignation was dated the 29th of Febru- 
 ary, 1836, and soon after his reaching home a dinner was given to 
 Mr. Tyler and Mr. Leigh, by their numerous "Whig friends. Abell 
 well observes, that perhaps none of Virginia's statesmen ever en- 
 joyed more numerous manifestations of this kind of public respect 
 than did Mr. Tyler. 
 
 The Whigs were very enthusiastic at this meeting. Toasts were 
 given in honor of both Mr. Tyler and Mr. Leigh. Two of those 
 in honor of Mr. Tyler read as follows : 
 
 More true joy Marcellus exiled feels, 
 Than Csesar with a Senate at his heels. 
 
 Our honored guest, John Tyler, "Expunged " from a post that he adorned, 
 and the functions of which he ever faithfully and ably discharged, by the 
 complying tools of an unprincipled aspirant, he is but the more endeared to 
 the hearts of his countrymen. 
 
 These evidences of respect were unquestionably gratifying re- 
 wards for self-sacrifice ; but the wit of Mr. Eitchie was doubtless 
 much enjoyed by Mr. Tyler when, next morning, his paper repre- 
 sented, in amusing colors, the deplorable contradictions into which 
 the stubbornness of Mr. Leigh had involved the dinner party. 
 
 "It is said," remarked he, '•' that General Lambert was president 
 
54:3 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 of the dinner; General Peyton the vice, etc., etc. Rumor says- 
 that many of the toasts were cayenne. Both the Whig senators- 
 (the ex and the in) were toasted, and slang- whanged it in high 
 style. A waggish friend asks whether the toasts were of this- 
 turn: 
 
 John Tyler : His obedience to the requisitions of the Legislature, by resign- 
 ing, does honor to his principles. 
 
 Benjamin Watkins Leigh: His firmness in resisting the instructions of the 
 Legislature does honor to his principles. 
 
 Mr. Tyler : Honor to him ! because he could not with honor retain his seat. 
 
 Mr. Leigh: Honor to him! because he could not with honor relinquish his 
 seat. 
 
 "Be the toasts, however, what they may — whether they touched 
 the cardinal right of instructions, or eschewed it as debatable- 
 ground, we know not ; but it is further said that the orators, 'as in 
 duty bound,' addressed their Whig associates, — Mr. T. in a speech 
 epigrammatic, pleasant, sarcastic. Mr. Leigh's is said to have been, 
 impassioned, harsh, and coarse in its vituperation — speaking of 
 persons by their Christian names — not sparing of Jackson, Van 
 Buren, Benton, Joe Watkins, T. Eitchie, or the devil. We have 
 heard of much rumbling, rattling thunder, with reports of some 
 singular ejaculations on the part of Mr. Leigh, very little adapted 
 to the dignity or discretion of a United States senator, but of 
 no showers of pathetic rain. . . The Whig speaks of the very 
 enthusiastic company — and the Compiler of the 'great applause' 
 — all of which may be true — for a more huzzahing company was 
 never heard in the Eagle — and the whole welkin rang with ' hur- 
 rah for Leigh!' and 'hurrah for Tjder!' while the very sound of 
 instructions was drowned in the chorus." 
 
 The contradictory positions of Leigh and Tyler represented too 
 well the condition of the Whig party throughout the Confederacy 
 generally. The goodness of their cause could not prevail over the 
 distractions engendered by the attempted harmony of the most 
 diverse elements. 
 
 In Virginia a union ticket of Harrison and White was voted at 
 the election. Nevertheless, Virginia cast her vote for Van Buren. 
 She could not, however, be induced to go for Johnson, whose main 
 recommendation was an absurd story, that he had killed the Indian 
 chief, Tecumseh. Her twenty-three electoral votes were, there- 
 
RESULT OF THE ELECTION OF 1836. 54& 
 
 fore, east for William Smith, a Democrat from Alabama. Van 
 Bnren received one hundred and seventy electoral votes to one 
 hundred and twenty-four for all the other candidates for the presi- 
 dency. For vice-president, R. M. Johnson received one hundred 
 and forty-seven votes, Francis Granger seventy-seven, and John 
 Tyler forty-seven. The forty-seven votes for Mr. Tyler com- 
 posed the ten votes of Maryland, the eleven of South Carolina, the 
 eleven of Georgia, and the fifteen of Tennessee. No one of the 
 candidates having received a majority of the electoral college for 
 vice-president, the choice devolved on the Democratic Senate, "who 
 chose, of course, K. M. Johnson. 
 
 Mr. Tyler was defeated, but he was too philosophical a man 
 ever to risk his chances of happiness on any political result. His 
 disappointment, therefore, was not great, and he had, from the 
 first, zealously applied himself to the duties of domestic life and the 
 practice of his profession. Late in 1836, he removed from 
 Gloucester to Williamsburg, where a better opportunity was 
 offered for the practice of the law ; and though his name had long 
 before been placed upon the electoral ticket of some of the 
 States, he mingled very little in political circles. In Williams- 
 burg, the ancient dwelling-place of his forefathers, he received a 
 welcome equal to that which had been given to him in Gloucester 
 county. The old town had grown but little since his father's day; 
 but had it grown more, its hospitality might have grown less. 
 Among the members of the refined society which, then rendered 
 Williamsburg sui generis, was Judge N. Beverley Tucker, half- 
 brother of John Randolph, a man of gifts and acquirements. 
 Then, to say nothing of others, there was Thomas E. Dew, presi- 
 dent of " William and Mary," whose pamphlet on the abolition of 
 slavery was so well known. In such a society, surrounded by the 
 many comforts and enjoyments of home, Mr. Tyler could not fail 
 to pass a happy retirement. There was a genuine feeling in the 
 following lines, written in Washington at the time of his resigna- 
 tion: 
 
 Speed on, my Vessel. 
 
 Am — '*0h no! I'U never mention him." 
 Speed on, my vessel, speed thee fast. 
 
 Swift o'er the briny sea; 
 I am going to my home at last, 
 
 Where there's peace and rest for me. 
 
.544: LETTBKS AND TIMES OF THE TXLEES. 
 
 My bark of life, long tempest tossed, 
 
 Seeks now a place of rest, 
 Where memory of the past is lost, 
 
 And sunshine fills my breast. 
 
 Now, at the harbor's open gate, 
 
 The anxious eyes are strained ; 
 The "wee ones'' all will set up late, 
 
 And sigh for me detained. 
 
 Then on, my vessel, speed thee fast. 
 
 Swift o'er the briny sea ; 
 Home rises on my sight at last. 
 
 And there is rest for me. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's manners were bland, easy, and yet dignified. He 
 loved jest and humor ; played cards and backgammon, but never 
 carried them nor anything else to excess. The polish of his con- 
 versation was remarked upon by the English novelist G. P. E. 
 James, who said that it was superior to that of any American he 
 had met.' His tact was provei-bial. The following anecdote, taking 
 
 ^ The following letter to the author from Col. John S. Cunningham, U. S. Navy 
 Pay Director, to whom, as editor of the Portsmouth Pilot, Mr. Tyler wrote fre- 
 quently, is fully corroborative : 
 
 [Con. J. S. Cunningham to Lton G. Ttlee.]' 
 United States Navy Pat Office, Philadelphia, Dec. 23, 1881. 
 
 My Dear Sir : Yours of 21st is here this morning. I cannot recall the $50,000 
 Ritchie-incident at this moment. In one of the letters I send you there is a refer- 
 <3nce to F. P. Blair's tripod downfall. The letter to W. C. ilives was to introduce 
 me to the legation at Paris, of which Eives was minister, when Governor Floyd 
 commissioned me, on parchment and under the broad seal of Virginia, to the 
 World's Fair at London, in May, 1851, — thirty-one years and eight months ago. 
 It was in London I wrote the letter to the Times, proving, from its own columns, 
 that it was an American steam-vessel (Savanna) that first crossed the ocean from 
 westward. The Times had the day before claimed the honor for England in the 
 Sirius. Henry S. Sanford (Florida) was then (1851) secretary of legation at Paris, 
 and J. C. Bancroft Davis (State Department) secretary at London. 
 
 I have found twenty-eight letters of your father, and I think I had better send 
 them to Memphis by Adams Express ; for if they should go by mail and be lost, I 
 could never forgive myself. I value your father's letters beyond price. I knew 
 him so well and famiharly that a perusal of his letters brings him always in my 
 presence. God bless him in his rest ! He was the most charming man in conver- 
 sation, and the most bewitching in his hospitality, and winning in his eloquence 
 that I ever had the good fortune to meet. 
 
 Accept my best wishes for your health, happiness, and prosperity in the new 
 ys^- J. S. Cunningham. 
 
 I have had to write this letter very hurriedly amid official calls and papers this 
 morning. 
 
ANECDOTE OF ME. TYLER. 545 
 
 its origin at the banquet given him in April, 1833, is aptly illus- 
 trative of this. 
 
 The democracy of Jackson was the rule of an unrestricted ma- 
 jority; that of the State-rights men, the rule of a constitutional 
 one. At this dinner, when the Force bill, which implied the for- 
 mer idea, was the object of such hearty condemnation, Mr. W. E.. 
 C. Douglas, then a very young man, proposed the toast, "Absolute 
 acquiescence to the will of the majority." The party, which had 
 been warmly unanimous, experienced a sudden embarrassment. A 
 ■dead silence ensued for a moment, when Mr. Coke, who was pre- 
 sent, arose and declared his opposition to the toast, expressing sur- 
 prise at its proposal, and saying he did not think his friend ought 
 to insist upon it. Mr. Douglas, in his turn, replied that he was 
 (equally surprised at the gentleman; the toast embodied a senti- 
 ment that lay at the bottom of Democratic principles, and the 
 gentleman who was a Democrat should not hesitate to endorse it. 
 Matters looked as if the harmony of the dinner would be disturbed, 
 -when Mr. Tyler arose and said that, "while he could not endorse 
 the full sentiments of the toast without some qualification, yet he 
 begged the company to pass that by, and, out of si?nple respect to 
 his young friend, to drink it all the same." Applause greeted 
 these conciliatory remarks, the best understanding was immediate- 
 ly restored, and the toast di-ank with acclamation. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's personal appearance was impressive. His hair was 
 silky brown ; his eyes blue ; his nose large, and after the Roman 
 order ; his mouth firm set ; and his brow lofty and expanded. He 
 -was thin and tall, — six feet in height, and capable of enduring 
 great labor and fatigue despite his rather uncertain state of health. 
 I have been told an anecdote of his nose, and give it here for the 
 amusement of the reader. This organ was unquestionably very 
 prominent, but not so prominent as I have seen it described in 
 Tarious magazines and books. Certain it is, that Mr. Tyler him- 
 :BeK had no absurd sensitiveness on the subject, and often jested 
 pleasantly about its dimensions. 
 
 Before railroads, the stage-coach was the great means of travel. 
 Journeying thus on one occasion to Washington to perform his 
 duties as congressman, Mr. Tyler observed, in the same convey- 
 :ance with himself, among other occupants, a little man of an ap- 
 pearance entirely in contrast with his own, and sufficient to attract 
 35 
 
546 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 any one's attention. He was short and dumpy, and had a nose; 
 small, stumpy, and very much turned up toward the zenith — what 
 the French would call a "nez retrousse." When a few miles 
 from their destination, some one remarked that they must be near 
 Washington. "Yes," said the little man, snuffing facetiously at 
 the air, " I can smell it." 
 
 " Sir," said Mr. Tyler, rising from his seat, and speaking with' 
 awful solemnity, while with one hand he rubbed his nose, 
 "Why, sir, if you can smell Washington with your nose, my 
 nose must be there already." 
 
 A general laugh ensued, which entirely squelched the little man, 
 
 Mr. Tyler remained in public life until two years after his res- 
 ignation. Of the grace and happiness of that life, and of the 
 tenderness that dwelt around his home, some idea may be formed^ 
 from the letters to his children, which, though written while in 
 public service, are all the more calculated to teach us what the^ 
 sunshine must have been when his presence daily honored the. 
 family circle: 
 
 [To Mart Tyleb.J 
 
 Washington, March. 4, 1830. 
 
 My Dear Daughter: I owe you a letter for yours of the 18th Fehruary,. 
 and pay it witb the more pleasure, as I perceive an obvious improvement in. 
 your writing in all respects. A little attention will bring you to write very 
 well, but without that nothing can be done. Your style is also more flowing 
 than formerly. To write anything well, it is necessary to overcome all re- 
 straint, to feel perfectly at ease, and to give the mind full play. By reading 
 Pope, Addison, Johnson, and especially the Spectator, you will acquire an 
 easy and happy diction. Nothing can surpass their epistolary style. 
 
 You do the Duke of Marlborough injustice, by comparing him to Charles 
 the XII. The Duke was a man of the most exalted endowments, both of 
 mind and person, — a soldier and a gentleman. He possessed all the courage 
 of Charles without his rashness, — the able minister and accomplished soldier. 
 It was nevertheless said of him that he was the creature of avarice, and this 
 overshadowed all his good qualities. The lines which were said to be true in 
 regard to the celebrated Lord Verulam, who was Francis Bacon, that he was 
 " the brightest, greatest, meanest of mankind," are said to have been in some 
 measure true in regard to the Duke. He was charged with prolonging the 
 war merely to secure his pay, and as being the first man in England who sold 
 commissions in the army, pocketing himself the proceeds. (Now, all com-- 
 missions in the army in England are bought and sold — not so here.) These 
 charges were made by his enemies, and no doubt were carried further than 
 they deserved. 
 
 Charles XII. vras possessed of the most invincible courage, but after all he- 
 
HOME LETTEES. 547 
 
 was little better than a madman. The Duke of Marlborough, after being 
 idolized by England, was turned adrift, hated and despised. This teaches us 
 not to place our hopes of happiness on others, and least of all, to rest it upon 
 popular favor. The purest and the best of men have been neglected and 
 abused. Aristides was banished, and Socrates was poisoned. We should 
 rather rely upon ourselves, and howsoever the world may deal with us, we 
 shall, by having secured our own innocence and virtue, learn to be happy 'and 
 contented even in poverty and obscurity. Our Creator will then be our friend, 
 as He is always our great and good benefactor. It will be a safe rule of ac- 
 tion through all your life, before you do any act, to enquire of yourself 
 whether it be proper and virtuous that it should be done. If your heart and 
 judgment do not concur in approving it, do not do it, for you may then rest 
 assured that it is wrong to move. 
 
 I could not hold up to you a better pattern for your imitation than is con- 
 stantly presented to you by your dear mother. You never see her course 
 marked with percipitation ; but on the contrary, everything is brought be- 
 fore the tribunal of her judgment, and her actions are all founded in pru- 
 dence. Follow her example, my dear daughter, and you will be, as you al- 
 ways have been, a great source of comfort to me. The course you have 
 marked out for your future reading, I am satisfied with ; reflection on what 
 you have read is as necessary — nay, more necessary — than mere reading. 
 Learn to discriminate between the characters with which history presents 
 you. The newspapers are the history of the present day; read them as you 
 would any other history, and remember what you read 
 
 Write to me often, and assist your mother in all that you can. Your Aunt 
 Waggaman and all are well, except Mr. W., who has been confined, by im- 
 prudent use of medicine, but is recovering. 
 
 God bless you and all the children. Y'our father, J. Tyleb. 
 
 [To Maut Tyler.] 
 
 March 18, 1830. 
 
 My Deae Daughteb: You would scarcely forgive me if I did not write to 
 you by this mail, as I have written to John, and yet three letters by the same 
 mail are pretty <;lose labor forme; however, I take so much pleasure in talking 
 to you all even at this distance from you, that I must have something to say 
 to you, if it is but little. Why do you draw a distinction between an English- 
 man and a Swede, in speaking of the Duke of Marlborough and Charles XII. ? 
 When you come to be more thoroughly acquainted with the history of 
 Sweden, you will learn that even in that frozen region genius has put forth 
 its most beautiful and precious blossoms. We are more familiar with the 
 history of England than that of any other country, and it is moreover our 
 parent country, hence our admiration of its great men ; but all climes and 
 countries have produced those who have reflected honor on human nature. 
 
 Addison is considered the best writer in the English language. Steele is 
 also an excellent writer, but Addison's mind was of a different caste. Steele 
 ridiculed the follies ef mankind, while Addison, indulging in the inspirations 
 of philosophy, sought to reason men out of their errors. Both are excellent 
 
548 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 in their way, and each attained his end most admirably. Addison was more 
 filled with the Deity ; hence some of his numbers urge upon us the most 
 elevated precepts of religion. At one time he walks among the tombs of 
 Westminster Abbey, and deals with the dead ; at another, he walks among 
 stars, and unveils the beauties and magnificence of creation. He paints virtue 
 in her most lovely colors, and makes each sensitive mind her lover and ad- 
 mirer. The country gentleman finds a pattern for his imitation in Sir Roger 
 de Coverley, whose portrait is most admirably drawn. You can read nothing 
 better or more instructive than the Spectator. 
 
 I will be at home, if I can, on Sunday week, but you must not expect me 
 too much, and write as if you did not expect me. My movements are uncer- 
 tain. With best love. Yours, J. Tylek. 
 
 [To Mary Tyler.J 
 
 April 28, 1830. 
 
 My Dear Daughter: Your letter of the 23d instant is now before me, and, 
 although it is somewhat short, yet it certainly deserves an answer. Before I 
 proceed to express to you the pleasure it gave me, I must point out to you 
 two errors into which you have fallen. The river Rhone is spelt with an h, 
 but not so with James Roane. You turned him into a river by your mode of 
 spelling his name. And you say that " this is a great letter to be sent a 150 
 miles." Thus you conclude your letter. Now the a is out of place, and can- 
 not be the antecedent to " miles." You would say a mile, but not a miles. I 
 mention this to make you more attentive to your grammar. The mistake 
 occurring with me makes no odds, but if you had been writing to any one else 
 it would be terrible. 
 
 To write with facility requires practice. You should, therefore, write every 
 week whilst I am here. You can never be at a loss for a subject if you will 
 but get rid of the idea that you are to look out for news. Incidents which 
 arise in the neighborhood do very well to communicate ; but then your own 
 reflections on what you read and on what you converse about would always 
 afford you matter enough for a letter to me. 
 
 The character of Sir Roger de Coverley is one of the best ever drawn of a 
 real country gentleman. Might you not have touched off the finest traits of 
 his character? So in regard to anything that you read. Learn, my dear 
 daughter, to criticize the style, manner, and subject of the author, and you 
 will read to great advantage. In reading the history of England, notice par- 
 ticularly the advance made to liberty, both of action and of conscience. The 
 king was once supreme, and his will was law. The people were considered 
 his vassals, and their liberties were next to nothing until King John was made 
 to sign Magna Carta [the great charter.) The Bill of Rights was afterwards 
 obtained. From these two sources flow the liberty of England as enjoyed at 
 the present day ; and from them, too, came our freedom, for we have incorpo- 
 rated their principles with our laws. The representation of the people in 
 parliament furnished our forefathers with their notions of free government. 
 The king, you know, can get no money but through parliament. Thus the 
 people are not liable to unjust taxes. The trial by jury is justly considered 
 
HOME UETTERB. 549 
 
 the great bulwark of English and American liberty. In Turkey the subject 
 holds his property and his life at the mere pleasure of the sultan. But not 
 so in England or here. My neighbors have to decide whether I have violated 
 the laws or not, and in their hands I feel myself safe. 
 
 These remarks will enable you to understand the history better. Think of 
 what you read, and you will not forget. You shoiild think as much as you 
 read. Do not neglect your philosophy and chemistry. Look over them, and 
 you can say them to yourself. The " Tatler" is as good a book as you can 
 now read. It is, however, not equal to the " Spectator." Johnson's " Lives 
 of the Poets" are very instructive and amusing. You will find them among 
 " The British Classics." In truth, knowledge is all around you, inviting you 
 to taste of her sweets. Pope, Gray, Goldsmith, Johnson, Addison, Milton, and 
 others are ready to pour upon your mind the rich treasures of knowledge. 
 Profit by them, my daughter, and it will be a source of comfort to you 
 through life. 
 
 I am reading Moore's "Life of Lord Byron." He was, in very truth, the 
 soul of poetry ; but he was a. singular man. I hope you have received your 
 music. Chapman wrote me that it was recovered with the saddle-bags. Do 
 not fail to write very often. 
 
 Your afi'ectionate father, John Tyler. 
 
 Let Robert and John read this. 
 
 [To Mabt Ttlee.J 
 
 Washington, May 13, 1830. 
 
 Mt Daughter : Your letter of Thursday last, which I received on Sunday, 
 makes up in a great degree for the mistakes of that previous to it. Some 
 slight inaccuracies occur, but they are very slight, and you will soon avoid 
 them altogether. With practice, your hand writing will come to be a good 
 one. Its improvement in the last six months should encourage you to pay at- 
 tention to it. You sometimes make a blot, which a young lady should care- 
 fully avoid. She should be neat in everything. 
 
 Charles the second of England would have made a respectable country 
 gentleman. He was a man of some sprightliness of mind, and ought to have 
 been wise, since he was educated in the school of adversity ; but the fault of 
 all the Stuarts was that they thought more of their prerogative than of the 
 good of England. This produced the overthrow of Charles I., who was con- 
 tinually waging war against the rights of his subjects. His reign is filled 
 with accounts of arbitrary exactions in the form of benevolences, etc., etc. 
 The House of Commons has the sole right of granting supplies to the crown, 
 that house being the immediate representative of the people of England. 
 Charles would ask for money, they would refuse, and then he had recourse to 
 exactions in various forms This led to his overthrow, and very properly. 
 In this country the right to declare war, and to do everything almost, which 
 appertains to the public weal, belongs to Congress and the State Legislatures, 
 and even here the President's powers are too great. 
 
 You are right in remarking that although innocent and rational amuse- 
 ments may be indulged in, yet that the pursuit of pleasure to the neglect of 
 
550 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 one's proper pursuits, is altogether reprehensible. It is highly censurable 
 not only in public men, but with all. You are of that age at which the world 
 appears to be a beautiful garden abounding only in the sweetest flowers. All 
 is springtime around you, and everything enchanting ; but bear evermore in 
 mind that some of the most beautiful flowers in the world are possessed of the 
 most poisonous qualities, and that the fairest fruit is often the bitterest. 
 Bring all your feelings and wishes to the standard of a sound judgment ; and 
 never fail to ask yourself before you do anything, " is it right, is it proper, is 
 it becoming?" Reason is the distinguishing attribute of the human family, 
 and is a sentinel set over all our other faculties to control and to govern. 
 By reflection, by reading, and by observation this great sentinel is made more 
 vigilant on its post, and greater security is thereby afforded to these fragile 
 machines of ours. You seem to regard the reading of the classics as a labor. 
 You should, on the contrary, make it a pleasure. Consider that you are con- 
 versing with those great and wise men, and learning wisdom from their lips.' 
 Surely, my daughter, this should afford you great pleasure. 
 
 In your letter you do not tell me one word of the wedding. Your mother 
 had informed me of your going. 
 
 Mrs. Boyall's book is here at last, in the form of letters addressed from Ala- 
 bama. She speaks highly of all of us, particularly of yourself. I will bring 
 the book on with me when I reach home, as you desire it so much. But, 
 mark now, Mrs. Royall's praise is of very little value ; and, therefore, you 
 are not to be rendered vain by it.' 
 
 The life of Lord Byron is amusing, and somewhat instructive, but his char- 
 acter was far from being enviable. You shall, however, form your own 
 opinion of him when I reach home. Do have some of the monthly honey- 
 suckle turned down so as to take root ; and two or three of multa flora and 
 black grapes in the garden. I shall probably be at home in a fortnight, and 
 certainly in three weeks. Do all you can to amuse your mother. 
 
 Your affectionate father, John Tyler. 
 
 [To Maey Tyler.] 
 
 Washington, Dec. 24, 1830. 
 My Dear Daughter: You letter, bearing the postmark of the 19th inst., 
 reached me on yesterday, and furnished me satisfactory evidence of your im- 
 
 ' ' ' Senator Tyler, of Virginia, is a fine looking man. He is very fair, with a high 
 retreating forehead, Koman nose, and features of the best Grecian model. If I 
 was pleased with the appearance of Mr. Tyler, I was charmed with that of Mrs. 
 and Miss Tyler, particularly the latter. The little sylph, she stood behind me 
 when taking notes, the last day of the session, and in her own smooth fascinating 
 way, fairly beguiled me of my senses. Besides her and Mrs. Tyler, there were 
 one or two other ladies in the party, all of whom for beauty of person and elo- 
 quence of manner greatly exceed any females I met in Washington. 
 
 "Senator Tazewell, of Virginia, I have mentioned in the first volume of ' Black 
 Book.' He is denominated a great statesman, and one of the ablest members of 
 Senate. He certainly has a countenance indicative of wisdom and deep thinking. 
 He is staid and study, and has the most profound look of any member present." 
 —"Letters from Alabama,'' by Anne Royall, 1830. 
 
HOME LETTEES. 551 
 
 provement, both in writing and in your orthograpliy. If you have improved 
 as much in other respects as in these particulars I shall be content. I am 
 now convinced that nothing but attention is wanting on your part to cause 
 you to write a good hand ; and there is certainly no accomplishment which 
 ought more to be sought after by a young lady than neatness in writing. A 
 slovenly hand in a girl denotes somewhat of a slovenly disposition, than which 
 nothing can be more abhorrent to corect taste. Blots ought carefully to be 
 avoided, as their presence is apt to manifest carelessness and indifference to 
 cleanliness in person and mind. This I know is not the case with you ; and 
 your handwriting will very shortly do you justice in this particular. 
 
 I return you the sketch which was designed for you. I recognized it as 
 such; but it only resembles you in the general cast of the profile. You did 
 not inform me of the limner; but whoever he is, he cannot be accused of 
 •drawing flattering likenesses. The forehead which is given you is large 
 enough for a continent ; and the nose looks, for all the world, as if it designed 
 to leap into your mouth. I do not, however, intend to discourage the artist ; 
 for, if he is a young beginner, he promises, through diligence, to become a 
 proficient. 
 
 Your resolution to attend to your studies and not to be led away by the 
 •vanities of the world affords me sincere pleasure. Without intellectual im- 
 provement, the most beautiful of the sex is but a figure of wax work. The 
 -world is but a sealed book to such an one ; and to eat, to drink, to dance, to 
 -sleep, to gaze upon objects without seeing them, and to move in creation with- 
 out scarcely a sense of anything, is the poor existence which they pass. The 
 mind has been compared to the marble in the quarry, ere the light of science 
 has shed its rays upon it ; but when instructed and informed, like that same 
 marble formed into a beautiful statue and polished by the hand of the artist. 
 I feel every confidence that you will make the best use of your time. 
 
 Anything that Mrs. Brown shall esteem to be proper, I shall be entirely 
 satisfied with. She is the best judge of the course which you ought to pursue, 
 in regard to your occasional visits in Williamsburg. I am pleased that you 
 have become a favorite with Mr. Anderson, or any one else of as respectable 
 standing ; but limit your deportment to all by the requirements of politeness, 
 without becoming over intimate with any. I received a letter yesterday from 
 your mother, who is improving in her health. She has no doubt informed you 
 of your having another brother, who is now some two weeks old. I have not 
 yet fixed upon a name for him, and incline to drop the family names alto- 
 gether. Inform me of some one which may occur to you. Mrs. Miller spoke 
 of coming on here about the 1st of January, on her way to Kentucky. I shall 
 then see her. She will have a terrible trip of it, if the weather does not abate 
 in severity. The Potomac will be blocked up with ice, if this weather con- 
 tinues two days longer. You may say to Judge Brown that the Senate are 
 now engaged in the trial of Judge Peck, and that we are doing very little else. 
 That he may judge of the prospect before us, from the fact that two whole 
 days have been passed in examining one witness. Ask him whether he re- 
 ceived from me a document from the War Department in manuscript ' All 
 are well at your Aunt Waggaman's. George returned from West Point a 
 
552 LETTERS AIJD TIMES 01' THE TYLERS. 
 
 few days since, more grown than any one I ever saw; and Mr. W. reached' 
 home this day, so that they have literally a house full. I have nothing more 
 worthy of mentioning, unless it he that I received a letter from Robert to-day,, 
 more awkwardly folded and worse written than anything you ever saw. He 
 gives me the important information that himself and John dance every night, 
 and the wonderful intelligence that John actually dances in time. 
 With respects to all around you, I am, dear Mary, 
 
 Your affectionate father, John Ttleb. 
 
 P. S. Should you be in want of anything, let me know it, and I will for- 
 ward you the means of getting it. 
 
 [To Mart Tyler. J 
 
 Washington, February 8, 1831. 
 
 My Dear Daughter: I received your, letter of last week, and am well 
 pleased with the progress you are making in your studies and pursuits. You 
 require nothing but patience and perseverance to make yourself mistress of 
 anything you may undertake. The well of learning is deep, hut patience and 
 persevering industry will enable you to draw its limpid waters from the 
 bottom, and your labors will be rewarded by the delicious beverage of which 
 you will then be enabled copiously to drink. I am making an effort to pro- 
 cure a piano for you, so that it may be in place by the time you quit Mr. 
 Anderson's school. The time of quitting I shall leave to yourself. A few 
 more weeks now will" bring the close of the session, and I propose to get to 
 Grloucester with as little delay thereafter as I can. We shall necessarily pass 
 through Williamsburg, when we shall have the happiness to see you. 
 
 Your mother was, at the date of her last letter, very well, and the little boy 
 quite promising. I have selected for him the name of Tazewell, after my 
 colleague. Letty wrote me a very clever letter, in which she says that Alice 
 is the fattest thing, and the sweetest, and the worst that I ever saw. Doctor 
 Fleming plays the flute for her to dance, but she cannot yet raise her feet 
 from the floor. I am most anxious to see them and you. My children are 
 my principal treasures, and my unceasing prayer is that you may all so con- 
 duct yourselves as to merit the esteem of the good. In that way you will 
 crown my declining years with blessings, and multiply my joys upon earth. 
 I am sure that you, my dear daughter, will fulfil my anticipations, and be a 
 blessing to your parents. 
 
 To do so, keep a constant watch upon yourself. Teach your tongue to use 
 none other than words of kindness to all. Never say an harsh thing of any 
 one if it be possible to avoid it. Recollect the language of Cardinal Wolsey 
 to Cromwell, and " still in your right-hand carry gentle peace to silence 
 envious tongues." Should you find your temper ruffled by some opposite 
 occurrence, remember that maxim of Mr. Jefferson, in which he bids you, 
 "if you are angry count ten, if very angry count an hundred," before you 
 speak. Lay these things to your heart, and act upon them. 
 
 I have nothing new here to tell you. Never have I known so severe a 
 winter. The ground is still covered with snow, and the streets present the 
 
HOME LETTEE8. 653- 
 
 appearance of a solid body of ice. Your Aunt Waggaman has been quite 
 unwell, but is recruiting. She and Mary have opened school, and have the- 
 prospect of many scholars. 
 
 Tour Aunt Martha is still in Williamsburg, I presume ; if so, give her my 
 best respects. Present them also to Judge Brown' and his family. Say to 
 Mrs. Brown that she must hold the reins tight upon you. I received a letter a 
 few days since from Col. Basset, in which he mentioned that you were well.- 
 Is Rebecca Semple and Robert Harrison to make a match or not ? 
 
 Your father, John Tyler. 
 
 [To Mary Tyleb.] 
 
 Washington, Feb. 16, 1831. 
 
 My Dear Mary: The enclosed letter was handed me by John Waggaman, 
 with a request that I would frank it, which I declined doing, but promised to 
 enclose it to you. Your aunt W. has been very unwell for some time, and. is 
 now far from being well. I believe that I have said to you heretofore that 
 she and Mary were about to open a school. This they have done ; but the 
 weather has been so excessively bad that the scholars could not attend. They 
 have the prospect of quite a good school when these clouds vanish and the 
 •now and ice disappear. While they last, we are all the same as in an ice- 
 house. The Potomac is frozen up to its mouth, and is passed without diffi- 
 culty. The inhabitants on its banks attend market in Alexandria and here 
 on the ice, transporting their commodities in sleighs, etc. Unless the weather 
 breaks I scarcely know bow to get home. 
 
 It would be improper for you to answer John's letter, for the world is so 
 censorious that a young lady cannot be too particular in her course of con- 
 duct, The near relationship between you would still leave you liable to the 
 talk of that tribe — or rather swarm — of busybodies, who are found every- 
 where, and whose whole concern and chief delight consist in talking slander 
 and indulging in injurious whispers. You might write to Mary W., and 
 through her acknowledge the receipt of his letter, and send him a message of 
 your progress in the French or music, etc., and thus avoid displeasing him ; 
 but go no farther. 
 
 I am delighted, my dear daughter, to receive assurances from many quar- 
 ters of your attention to your studies and progress in them, as well as enco- 
 miums upon you for correct deportment. I frequently hear of you through 
 others who write to me. I shall purchase you a piano before I leave this, if 
 I can procure a good one, and shall either have made or procure the materials 
 for making for you some dresses. Is there anything that you would desire 
 about your dress which I can procure here ? If so, let me know next week. 
 
 I shall write to the Judge probably by this mail. Have you written lately 
 to Maria Seawell ? You should write to her by private conveyances, as post- 
 age is burdensome to Mr. S. 
 
 Congress adjourns on to-morrow fortnight. 
 
 Your affectionate father, John Tyler. 
 
 Judge Brown was a brother of Mrs. Tyler's mother, Mary Brown Christian. 
 
-554 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 [To Miss Mary TrLER.J 
 
 Washington, Jan. 20, 1832. 
 
 My Dear Daughter: I was sorry to learn from your last letter that you 
 were afflicted with sore eyes. They proceed from the cold under which you 
 have labored, which, I hope, has taken its farewell before now. You should 
 wear over your eyes a green screen, and, until they get better, abstain from 
 reading at night. I am much pleased to learn that Letty makes progress in 
 music, and that both of the young ladies attend somewhat better to their 
 books than heretofore. Tell them that I shall expect to find them both very 
 much advanced on my return, and that Miss Letty will be able to play me 
 several tunes on the piano. 
 
 I really cannot say when I shall be able to visit home, but would have the 
 idea held out that I am shortly to be with you all. Things will go on better 
 if that understanding prevail ; but, in order that it should, keep the fact of 
 the remoteness of the prospect to yourself. I desire very earnestly to see you 
 all, and if an opportunity offers shall avail myself of it ; when, it is impossible 
 to say. I am desirous of procuring for you a fashionable comb to wear on 
 the crown of the head. It is very narrow, and has false hair attached to it, 
 which is raised with wires. I think it is handsome. This cannot be done 
 without a lock of your hair, which you must send me by the next mail. I 
 have written to Maria Seawell to do the same. Should you want any other 
 article of dress let me know what it is. 
 
 Judge Brown has been here for several days, but left yesterday for Ohio and 
 Kentucky. He expressed a strong determination to move to that country, 
 and is very anxious that I should do so ; but I think that I shall hardly be 
 able to do so. Do you propose to go to Williamsburg, and if so, when? 
 Have you no tidings from our New Kent friends yet? The judge told me 
 that your Aunt Douglas would certainly visit you, and I cannot conceive why 
 she should delay it, the weather being so fine. I shall send you, either 
 by this mail or the next, a volume of the Club book. Judge B. bought two 
 volumes, and I shall send one to Mary Brown, so that when you have read 
 that sent you, she must have it, and you can procure hers. Gro on, my dear 
 daughter, in the cultivation of j'our mind, and lay up in your youth a fund 
 on which you may draw in your advanced age. 
 
 Miss Smith, whom you saw at Mr. Tabb's, is here, and is greatly admired. 
 She has enquired after you whenever I have seen her, and proposes to visit 
 you at some future day. She is a very sweet girl. Mr. Dew arrived here 
 yesterday, and has asked me to accompany him to Mr. Swann's, where Miss 
 S. is staying. I should not be surprised if the professor was smitten. He is 
 a member of the Committee on Free Trade, appointed to prepare a memorial 
 to Congress, and is undoubtedly a very clever fellow. 1 was at a wedding 
 the other night at Col. Jones': Hall Nielson, of Richmond, to Miss Page, of 
 Frederick. Nielson is about forty-five and she nineteen. She is the daughter 
 of Wm. B. Page, whom your mother knew, and Everline Nielson that was. 
 They have gone to Richmond. Nothing worthy of note occurred. My friend 
 Pope was with me, and I passed the time quite agreeably. 
 
 Have you noticed in the Whig the account of the comet which the astrono- 
 
HOME LEITEES. 555 
 
 -mers say is to visit this planet the approaching summer ? It will be a most 
 interesting sight when it shall come. They calculate that it will approach 
 -within 60,000 miles, which is much nearer than one has ever come, so far as 
 -science can travel back. In size, it will resemble the full moon, and be fol- 
 lowed by a train of light extending_over half the hemisphere. With the ig- 
 norant it will produce great panic, if the philosophers do not miscalculate, 
 rand will be most wonderful to behold. It may have the effect of retarding 
 insensibly the motion of the earth, and may be designed to correct irregular- 
 ities which may have arisen in the planetary system. While ignorance and 
 superstition will stand in petrified amazement at the grand spectacle, science 
 will regard it as confirmatory of the Newtonian system, and find another cause, 
 -added to the already numberless causes, of adoration to that invisible power 
 which put all things in motion, and sustains them in their respective orbits. 
 He wings the comet's flight and binds it by immutable laws to the fulfillment 
 ■of its destiny, and the person who justly contemplates the wise order of Pro- 
 vidence can alone possess a just idea of the Deity. It is by making ourselves 
 ■acquainted with His works that His boundless wisdom and power come to be 
 manifest. Give my love to all, and write me regularly. 
 
 Your affectionate father, J. Ttlee. 
 
 P. S. Perhaps your mother may want a dress of some sort; if so, she must 
 write to me. Tell Gregory not to let me find things behind hand when I 
 reach home. 
 
 [To Mary Tyler.] 
 
 Washington, March 11, 1832. 
 
 My Dear Daughter : The enclosed is Bnlwer's new novel of Eugene 
 Aram, which I have read with so much interest as not to have abandoned it 
 until twelve o'clock at night. In its incidents, it is deeply and painfully ia- 
 teresting. I loot not so much to the love tale as to the moral which it in- 
 volves. It depicts the effects of guilt on one towards whom all the affections 
 •of the reader are drawn out. It bids us never to resort to reason in a case 
 that nature and feeling decide to be wrong. The heart has been said to be 
 deceitful beyond all things, and this is so true that a person can almost per- 
 suade himself that anything is right. The only way to avoid error is to repel 
 it at its first presentation ; to hold with it no converse ; to flee from it with a 
 more hasty step than from death itself. Tell Robert to read the book, and to 
 mark the end of him who is lead away from the path of moral truth. 
 
 I am sorry that the little incident about the watch-guard should have caused 
 you any uneasiness. I was too hasty perhaps, and should have drawn you 
 aside, and whispered to you that it was not right for your father to be carry- 
 ing presents from you to any young man, however nearly allied in blood. I 
 know so much more of the world than yourself, that my conduct will some- 
 times appear strange to you ; but remember that it can spring but from one 
 source, and that, the affection of a father for a child. I would advise you, 
 my daughter, in future always to consult your mother before you do any- 
 thing, however innocent it may seem to be. Make her your only confidante, 
 
556 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 because to her bosom you may entrust any and everything with the confidence- 
 that you will never, by her, be betrayed into error. 
 
 God bless you, my dear daughter. "Write to me often. J. Ttleb. 
 
 [To KoBEBT Tyler. J 
 
 Washington, March 15, 1832. 
 
 My Son : I have been much mortified by your mother's last letter, in which 
 she complains of both yourself and John. She says that neither of you treat 
 her with becoming respect, or obey her wishes after being informed of them. 
 I could not have believed this of either of you had it come from any other 
 quarter. Surely you must know that she is entitled to your eternal gratitude 
 for her goodness to you from the days of your infancy up to the present 
 moment. Carry back your thoughts to the period of your helpless infancy. 
 Who nursed you and watched over you by night and by day? When you 
 have been sick, who forgot what it was to sleep until you were out of danger ? 
 and who now would almost sacrifice her own life for the preservation of yours ? 
 Next to your God, you owe most to your mother, and the child who can ever 
 forget what belongs to his mother need never hope for the respect of others. 
 I hope, my dear son, that T shall never hear of your disobeying her slightest 
 wish, much less her commands. 
 
 She complains, that notwithstanding she has often requested yourself and 
 John not to intrude into her chamber in the morning before herself and your 
 sister are dressed, you will do so, and that you are rude to Mary. Tour 
 sister is now of an age to require a change of conduct on your part towards 
 her. She should be treated with every respect by you. Your conversation 
 should manifest your respect and brotherly affection. It is the duty of the 
 brother, not only to treat his sister with respect, but to compel all the world 
 to do so. But if you tease and perplex her, and intrnde yourself into her pre- 
 sence at improper hours, how can you expect and require of others the ob- 
 servance of a more respectful line of conduct? In my absence from home, 
 you are her natural protector, and she has a, right to expect of you every at- 
 tention to her wishes. I wish my children to love each other, and by their 
 conduct to show that love and affection. 
 
 In conclu.^ion, you must obey the wishes of your mother, even in the most 
 minute circumstance, and you must teach yourself to regard your sister as a 
 young lady, near and dear to you, and, therefore, requiring a respectful de- 
 portment from you ; and I hope that I shall never have occasion in future to 
 address myself to you upon this subject. Let John read this, and tell him to- 
 take care to observe what I direct. 
 
 Prosecute your studies, and permit yourself to think of nothing else. I 
 sent to Mary, Bulwer's new novel of Eugene Aram, by the last mail. Learn 
 from that what learning can accomplish, but also learn from it that not the 
 most splendid talents or acquirements can gloss over a stain on one's char- 
 acter. The tale is, for the most part, drawn from reality. The circumstances- 
 of the murder are true, and Eugene Aram was actually tried and convicted. 
 The whole trial is given in the new State Trials, a work with which, whe 
 you come to study law, you will be much pleased. 
 
HOME LETTEES. 557 
 
 Hand the enclosed receipt to your mother, and say to her that I got the 
 •cloth of various remnants, supposing that she could get jackets enough for 
 the men out of it ; and that it came cheap. Give my love and respects to all, 
 and write me how things come on on the farm. 
 
 Your father, John Tyler. 
 
 P. S. There is a letter in the right-hand book-press in the parlor, written 
 by Mr. Segar to me ; let it be enclosed to me by next mail, and ask your 
 Aunt Seawell to send my watch seal by Maria, when she comes on. 
 
 [To Robert Tyler. J 
 
 Washington, March 30, 1832. 
 
 My Son : I am glad to learn from you that you still prosecute your studies. 
 Hallam was no doubt tedious to you, but it is a very valuable work, and you 
 will find it so by and by. I yesterday came to the knowledge that there was 
 in the library of Congress a small manuscript history of Bacon's rebellion, 
 and immediately procured it, and have just finished it. It is a copy made by 
 Mr. Jefferson from the original ; but the author's name is not stated, he hav- 
 ing given but the initials, viz., T. M. It was written in 1705, at the request 
 of Lord Oxford, then prime minister of England, and is quite entertaining. 
 The librarian has promised me to copy it for the Richmond library, and if I 
 ■can I will get a copy for myself. 
 
 I have nothing further to add, being pressed for time, except that I shall be 
 at home as soon as I can. Tell G-eorge to rise at day-break, and urge things 
 on at the greatest speed, and you write me a full account of everything. 
 
 With love to all. Your father, J. Tyler. 
 
 [To RoBEET Tyler. J 
 
 Washington, April 20, 1832. 
 
 My Son : I did not express to you all the pleasure I felt upon hearing 
 from you, when at home, that you were employed in making yourself ac- 
 quainted with the armorial bearings contained in the encyclopedia. To many 
 persons, it would seem but a mere waste of time ; but I look upon it in a very 
 different light. There is, in truth, no study which would prove unprofitable. 
 The person designed for a debater, either at the forum or the legislative hall, 
 should have, in the language of Cicero, in his treatise I>e Oratore, universal 
 information. He is thereby enabled to draw his illustrations from the re- 
 motest corners of the earth, and while he enforces, to adorn and beautify his 
 arguments. I derived the greatest pleasure from it, because it gave me the 
 assurance that your mind was inquisitive after knowledge, and so organized 
 as to be capable of prosecuting its inquiries in the most rugged paths of 
 science. This is the only way of attaining distinction and true greatness. 
 
 There are some young persons who think if they read Latin, looking into the 
 dictionary for nearly every other word, and can repeat a few lines of poetry, 
 they are made men. Rely upon it, that these can never rise above medi- 
 ocrity. Those, on the contrary, who are deterred by no difficulties, but resolve 
 to pry into the difficult sciences, are destined to distinction. Mr. Jefferson 
 was a philosopher in the broadest sense, a mathematician, astronomer, etc., 
 
658 LETTEES AITD TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 etc. Now, in order to aooomplish all you desire, consider time as more val- 
 uable than money. Bonaparte, having one day visited a school, said, on de- 
 parting, to the scholars: " My lads, every hour of lost time is a chance of fu- 
 ture misfortune ;" a saying which deserves to be classed among the wise say- 
 ings of the world. 
 
 You have a habit of stooping over your book as you read. This is a bad 
 practice, and may injure your breast. You should have a table on which to- 
 rest your book, if it be heavy ; and if light, hold it up well. 
 
 The House of Representatives are trying Governor Houston of Tennessee,, 
 for a breach of privilege, in beating a, member of Congress in the street for 
 what he said in the House. The Constitution declares that no member shalL 
 be questioned elsewhere, for what he may say in debate ; and the true con- 
 struction of this clause will decide Houston's fate. Large crowds attend daily,, 
 and much interest seems to be felt. The subject will occupy Congress for 
 many weeks; and when we shall adjourn is altogether doubtful. 
 
 I have seen your cousin Maria but once. Yesterday I went to Georgetown, 
 to see her; but she had gone to Alexandria and Mt. Vernon. She is, there- 
 fore, well and happy. So tell your aunt. 
 
 Attend to the wishes of your mother, in all respects, and tell John to do so- 
 too. I hope little Alice is by this time perfectly well. I forgot to say that I 
 have, since my return, purchased Bourienne's account of Bonaparte, with 
 which I am much pleased, and which will afford you delight and information.. 
 It is too large to send by mail. 
 
 Tell your mother tbat I wrote to her last Tuesday. 
 
 With love to all. Your father, John Tyler. 
 
 Mr. John: I received your letter on reaching here. You or Eobert must 
 write by every Tuesday's mail, as your mother will by Friday's. Let me know 
 what you read, and all about the plantation. Have hours for reading and 
 minutes for playing, and you will be a clever fellow. 
 
 Miss Elizabeth : I thank you for your pretty letter. It was written very- 
 well. You and Letitia must write me often. Learn your books and be good 
 girls, and don't give mother occasion to scold at you. 
 
 Your father, J. T. 
 
 Miss Letitia: I have just found out the way to make ice cream in the- 
 shapes : It must be frozen in another vessel, stirred with a spoon until it gets, 
 pretty thick ; then emptied into the shape and set in ice. So tell your mother. 
 A teaspoonful of flour should be sifted through muslin into it. 
 
 Father hopes that dear little Alice has got well. How are you. Miss Alice? 
 and when are you going to write to father? Kiss Tazewell for me, and tell 
 him to be a good boy, and not to forget me. 
 
 [To Mary Tyler.J 
 
 Senate Chamber, April 26, 1832. 
 My Dear Daughter: I regretted to learn of your indisposition, and the 
 more, because of your having passed so long a time as a recluse in Gloucester. 
 I had hoped that you might have found a season of gaiety in Williamsburg. 
 
HOME LETTEES. 559' 
 
 This will furnish you, however, a useful lesson, and serve, in some measure,- 
 to prepare you for the various and numerous disappointments to which you 
 will be subject in your journey through life. You are at a period of life 
 when the world is considered as abounding in flowers of the brightest hues, 
 and as a rich and beautiful garden. As you advance in years this opinion 
 will be changed ; but it does not follow that life is without its blessings or 
 enjoyments, but their number depends very much upon ourselves. Well reg- 
 ulated hopes and expectations, and the cultivation of the high virtues of forti- 
 tude, patience, and perseverance will prove to be fruitful sources of happiness.. 
 
 You should learn to make your enjoyments to depend chiefly on yourself. 
 The improvement of the mind, the cultivation of all the virtues of the heart 
 will furnish you a source of amusement which nothing can deprive you of. 
 You cannot be otherwise than contented under the roof of your excellent 
 friends in Williamsburg. The family seem to me to be destined to be happy 
 under all circumstances of life. Their minds, their passions, their feelings 
 all are under the government of judgment and reason, and are, therefore, kept 
 in a just equipoise. Maria was in this chamber the other day, but no debate 
 of interest arose, and she did not seem to be much amused. Washington- 
 Seawell has been extremely attentive to her. 
 
 For myself, my duties have been so constant in their draft upon me as to- 
 keep me a close prisoner. I have, moreover, been quite unwell, in conse- 
 quence of a bad cold, for several days past. To-day I feel better, and shall 
 give up both eating and drinking until I get well. Heaven only knows when 
 Congress will adjourn. I see no prospect of it at present. I should not he- 
 surprised if the Session ran deeply into July. The House of Representatives 
 is foolishly passing its time in the trial of a case of assault and battery, to 
 the postponement of all other matters. The Tariff, the Bank, and sundry 
 other important bills are yet to be acted on. You asked me if the public 
 debt is all discharged. It is not; but the balance is of no moment. It is 
 reduced to about $22,000,000, which is less than the revenue of one year, and 
 is composed of $13,000,000 bearing an interest of but three per cent., and 
 the residue of five per cent, stock. It will probably all be paid by the first 
 of next March. The debt was once equal to $160,000,000. All other nations 
 are greatly oppressed by their public debts. That of Great Britain is up- 
 wards of two billions of dollars. But the payment of our debt brings up the 
 question whether our taxes shall be continued for the purpose of upholding 
 our manufactures, and this is the question which threatens to destroy the 
 Union. The Southern States pay an unjust proportion of these taxes, and 
 therefore, are not disposed to submit to them, or, in other words, require a re- 
 duction of the tariff of duties. The duties are levied on all articles imported 
 into the United States. On sugar three cents on the pound are levied, and so 
 on other articles. Those who use these articles have to pay the tax without 
 knowing it, for the merchant has to lay the tax on the price of his articles, 
 and the purchaser, of course, has to pay the tax. Do you understand me? 
 and how long will it take you to turn politician ? 
 
 About the time of your return to Gloucester, you must judge for yourself. 
 It would be better, however, that you should not stay too long from home. 
 
560 LETTERS AJSTD TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 Your mother must be lonesome, and if I can get home in time I wish to take 
 -you on a visit to Old Point and Norfolk. Write to me often. 
 
 Your father, John Tyleb. 
 
 [To John Ttlek.J 
 
 May 11, 1832. 
 
 Mt Son : I am indebted to you a letter for your last of the 1st May, but 
 ihave little to say. Your progress in history pleases me. Persevere, and the 
 pursuits of science and of knowledge will become more and more attractive to 
 you every day. You have made a happy selection among the great men of 
 antiquity. Aristides will constitute a model for the imitation of others so 
 long as a knowledge of letters shall continue. His justice was so great and 
 inflexible that he could not be tempted by the highest rewards to disobey its 
 requisitions, so that when Themistocles (I think it was) pointed out the mode 
 (by setting on fire the fleet of the allies) by which Athens might make herself 
 mistress of the seas, the subject was referred to Aristides, who answered, 
 " Nothing could be more to your interest, Athenians, but nothing could be 
 more unjust." Learn from his example, m}' son, to do justice, no matter how 
 much it may injure you ; to court poverty and obloquy before you will con- 
 sent to take that from another which rightfully belongs to him. At the same 
 time, it is equally your duty to yield none of your own rights, but, practising 
 justice to all yourself, you will require of others to be just also unto you. 
 This virtue is placed amongst the most prominent of Christian duties. To do 
 justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly are said to be the fulfillment of the 
 law. 
 
 Epaminondas is equally entitled to your admiration, — not more for his de- 
 votion to his country than for his rigid observance of truth. He is one of my 
 favorite characters in history. Truth should aUvays be uttered, no matter 
 ■what the consequences. Nothing so degrades a man as equivocation and 
 deceit. When I am in company with a double-dealing man — one who has 
 ■one language on his tongue and another in his heart — I am involuntarily 
 made to desire to avoid him as I would a poisonous reptile. Trust such a 
 person with not even the slightest circumstance on earth ; for he will deceive 
 you, if it be to his interest to do so. Learn then, my son, to speak the truth 
 always. By doing so in trifling matters, it will grow into a habit from which 
 you will not afterwards separate yourself. 
 
 I have received no letter this week from your mother. I hope she is not 
 unwell. Probably her letter miscarried, or she lost the mail. Tell Gregory 
 to press on. I hope he has finished planting corn. Let me know how all 
 things come on. Your father, J. Tyler. 
 
 [To Robert Tyler. j 
 
 Washington, January 26, 1834. 
 My Son : Your letter of the 22nd reached me in due season. Your anxiety 
 on the subject of attending Mr. Rogers' senior class, as a mere spectator and 
 auditor, is without just foundation. This is a privilege which I have no 
 doubt he would readily grant, not only to every student at college, but to the 
 whole town. You manifest, however, a very becoming delicacy on the subject, 
 
HOME LETTEES. 661 
 
 «nd to put you at rest, I have writtea to Mr. Rogers, as the enclosed lette, 
 ■will show. Whether he charges a fee or not is, and ought to be so con- 
 sidered by you, perfectly immaterial. You impose upon him no additional 
 ttrouble, and I hope you will continue to attend him throughout the year. 
 He and myself will fully adjust the whole matter. If, however, you are 
 willing to assume the labor of being a regular student in his senior class, I 
 ■have no objection to your becoming so, although I think that when you shall 
 have joined Mr. Dew's half-course, you will have your hands full, and I do 
 not think that much good will arise from overburthening yourself. What- 
 -ever you undertake you should learu thoroughly. 
 
 In your letter you say nothing of a remittance of fifty dollars I made you 
 for Mr. Brown. I hope it came safely to hand. Enclosed you will receive 
 teu dollars, half of which I wish you to give to your sister, the other half is 
 for yourself; make yours go as far as you can. You should always so manage 
 as to keep a dollar or two by you, and this can only be done by never spend- 
 ing a cent uselessly. It gives me the greatest pleasure to learn that you still 
 prosecute your studies with zeal and assiduity. Doctor Garnett is here, and 
 -gives me this account of you ; recreation at your age is necessary, but I am 
 -sure you will not carry it too far. Your lectures first, and then you are ready 
 for genteel society. Avoid the idle as you would a pestilence. 
 
 I suppose that Albert is by this time married, and that the frolicking will 
 soon be over. Present my congratulations to him, and wish him and his wife 
 ■every possible happiness. Your sister will hardly be able, I suppose, to tear 
 berself from Williamsburg. When she returns she should send for John to 
 -accompany her, unless you could get a conveyance to York, in which case 
 you could see her safe over the ferry, and John could meet her on the op- 
 jjosite side. I have some idea of bringing her on with me when I go home, 
 which, however, cannot be until the weather becomes milder. I should have 
 been highly pleased could you have heard Mr. Preston speak the other day in 
 ■the Senate. He is a son of General Preston, of Virginia, and a great-nephew 
 •of Patrick Henry, and may be justly considered one of the most eloquent men 
 •in America. He is one of the senators from South Carolina. 
 
 My love to your sister. Your father, J. Tyler. 
 
 My health is better, although I still have a very bad cold. 
 
 [To Mart Tylee.J 
 
 Washington, June 15, 1832. 
 Mt Deab Daitghtbb: I suppose by this time you have settled down in 
 solitude after your late extensive frolicking. So comes the calm after the 
 -Storm. These alternations in life constitute its real zest. Who could be con- 
 tent to be always engaged in dissipation ? The highest enjoyments of life 
 pall upon the appetite when indulged in for too long a time. The opposite 
 of this will likewise only do for a season. Solitude brings with it real plea- 
 sure, if its hours be properly improved, as reflection, meditation and study 
 It is calculated also to heighten the pleasures of society when we return to it. 
 The person who is a stranger to sickness is equally a stranger to the highest 
 enjoyments of health. So that I have brought myself to believe that the 
 
562 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 variableness in the things of the world are designed by the Creator for the- 
 happiness of His creatures. 
 
 In truth, what exists but for some wise purpose ? All our crosses and the- 
 numerous vexations which assail us are designed to improve our moral con- 
 dition. But I am running into a lecture, when I design merely to write a' 
 short letter. I was concerned to learn from your mother that she had suf- 
 fered from a severe headache the day after you had company. This proceeds- 
 from over anxiety on her part, aided by a pre-disposition to disease. Tell her- 
 that Doctor Graither says that a free use of the pills I gave her would serve 
 to keep off those attacks, and that she would derive great benefit by using' 
 the bath. I have no doubt of this 
 
 Mrs. Minge and Mr. Boiling and his wife reached here yesterday. He- 
 brought me a letter of introduction, and I have to play the gallant. I per- 
 ceive that they have been pleased at my having mentioned Sandy Point in my- 
 speech on the tariff. I shall call on them to-day. Everybody, male and fe-- 
 male, coming from Virginia, brings letters of introduction to me, or become 
 acquainted after reaching here. This gives me a good opinion of my popu-- 
 larity at home. Washington Irving is now here. He stands at the head of 
 our literati. His productions are numerous, and well spoken of in Europe.- 
 His face is a pretty good one, although it does not blaze with the fire of genius. 
 It is deeply marked with the traces of hard study, and although sometimes ■ 
 lighted up with a smile, is for the most part serious and contemplative. There - 
 is a late work of his, now offered for sale in the book-stores, which I wilL 
 bring on when I come, if Congress ever will adjourn. We cannot get away 
 sooner than the 1st of July, and possibly not until the 15th. Harvest will in, 
 the meantime be over ; tell John to take good care of the harvest whiskey. 
 
 With my love to all. Your father, J. Ttiee. 
 
 Mr. Waggaman is very low ; in fact, I do not expect him to recover. Mary- 
 leaves this to-day for Charles City. 
 
 [To Robert Tylbk.J 
 
 Washington, February 6, 1834. 
 
 My Son: Your last letter brought me intelligence of your being sick, and' 
 a letter received to-day from your sister states that on Sunday last you were- 
 still unwell. This I am concerned to learn, and I must urge you to be very 
 particular not to do anything which will retard your recovery. I hope you 
 are greatly better by this; but do not expose yourself, or indulge too- 
 much in anything until you thoroughly recover. Your letter, making known 
 that you wanted a pair of boots, reached me to-day, and where do you think 
 it came from ? — even from Gloucester. It seems that you sent it to your- 
 mother, and John sent it to me. You did right to supply yourself, although 
 you would have done better to have got laced shoes, for two pair would only 
 have cost a pair of boots. However, 1 am satisfied if you are. 
 
 I would not have you forego the party on the 22d, nor the associations and' 
 parties in the city. They give a polish and shape to manners which consti- 
 tute one-half the concern in our journey through life. I have known persons - 
 possessing only ordinary capacities getting on better than others who were in.- 
 
HOME LETfEKS. 563 
 
 intellect greatly superior, simply by force of manners. Learn to be at perfect 
 ease in all companies, but always respectful ; and when you express an 
 opinion in conversation, do it with great modesty, and with perfect respect 
 for others. 
 
 Let me snow what your boots cost, and when you will want five dollars to 
 pay your subscription to the ball. Your father, J. Ttleb. 
 
 P. S. Let me know what Mr. Rogers will say to you about his senior class. 
 
 [To John Tyler Jr.] 
 
 Washington, Feh. 19, 1834. 
 
 Mt Son : I wish that you had been more particular in your last as to the 
 extent of land covered by the farm-pen manure. I have no positive idea of 
 the extent to which it should reach. Miller ought at once to haul 'the manure 
 from the store ; this he should by no means neglect, as we may not get all if 
 he waits for the spring to come. Jo. Seawell might wish to use as much as 
 he can get for the field at the Ordinary, if he cultivates it. Tell Miller not to 
 be mealy-mouthed about it, but to get all he can. I am sorry that the sheep 
 have turned out so badly. The farm is not suited to them, or they are an in- 
 different race. If, however, we can raise clover, we can soon improve them. 
 T hope the clover seed have been brought home. They are at Mr. Robins' if 
 not at home. Had he not better borrow from Mrs. Taylor the machine with 
 which the seed are sown at Belle-farm. It would save labor and seed. If 
 Burwell goes for it, tell him to enquire of the seedsman all about it. It will 
 be time to sow them next week. 
 
 I am glad to find that you have resolved to let nothing interfere with your 
 studies ; resort to other things as a recreation merely ; but let your mind run 
 on your books. That is your only chance in this life. With knowledge and 
 information you may get along through the world after a respectable manner ; 
 but without it you can be nothing. You can learn anything at home if you 
 apply yourself. Maria Seawell, you see, acquires a knowledge of Spanish or 
 French without difficulty, and why not you of Latin ? 
 
 Give yourself lessons in grammar and reading as if you were at school ; 
 and be sure to learn the grammar by heart. Things have taken such a turn 
 here that I can't fix upon any day for leaving for home; but I shall pop in 
 upon you all one of these times when you least expect me. 
 
 I hope Miller will be able to cast out some marl. Tell him that corn is 
 rising, and to be getting it ready at all leisure times. 
 
 Your father, J. Tyler. 
 
 [To Robert Tyler.] 
 
 Washington, Jan. 24, 1835. 
 Mt Son : I learn for the first time to-day that you have recently been en- 
 gaged in a dispute with young Mr. Murdaugh, and I write now to express my 
 approbation of all that you did in the matter, and more especially in regard 
 to your reply to his intimation of sending you a challenge. Nothing can be 
 more ridiculous and absolutely absurd than for a youth at college to enter 
 into any such affair. By your veiy act of matriculation you are bound, mo- 
 
564 LETTEKS AJS-D TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 rally and conventionally, to observe and obey the rules of the collfige ; and to 
 violate an obligation, thus voluntarily entered into, is not only ridiculous and 
 censurable, but highly immoral. I am certain that you would not wound 
 causelessly the feelings of any one; and while I would not have you submit 
 to an insult, yet, in resenting it, I would deeply regret and censure j violation 
 on your part of a promise made by the act of matriculation or a violation of 
 the laws. Treat, therefore, such as may wrong you collectedly and firmly, but 
 with calmness and temper. Pursuing this course, if you meet with censure 
 on the part of the thoughtless, you will secure the approbation of the just 
 and wise. 
 
 You should., above all things, study the temper of your associates, and, 
 while you are on terms of respectful intercourse with all your fellow students, 
 make intimates of none who are either easy to take offence or are more dis- 
 posed to be on the qui vive for offence than to put a proper construction on 
 things. In advanced life, very few occurrences can justify a resort to pistols 
 or duels ; but at college nothing short of absolute disgrace can do so. I re- 
 peat, therefore, that I entirely approve what you did, and trust that you will 
 preserve the same line of conduct throughout and towards all. At all events, 
 if you should unfortunately be involved in a serious quarrel, let me know the 
 ■circumstances connected with it before things are pushed to any extremity. 
 Tour honor will always be safe in my hands. 
 
 Tell your sister that I received her letter this morning ; that I shall expect 
 her at the time proposed, but will write to her in a day or two. 
 
 Your father, J. Tyler. 
 
 [To Robert Tyler.] 
 
 GrLotJCESTBR Placb, November 28, 1836. 
 
 My Son : I have understood that you had a design to prepare forthwith 
 for the press the first volume of the Rebellion, and that you intended to abide 
 by the fate of that before the second is prepared. I think that this course 
 would be decidedly hazardous. The work should be complete before any part 
 of it is given to the public. The finale often determines the fate of the entire 
 work. In fact, it will be impossible to pass judgment on its merits without 
 a view of the whole. My advice, therefore, would be to go on at your leisure 
 hours with it more as an amusement than a labor. You should by no means 
 suffer it it to interfere with your college studies, nor should any more time be 
 devoted to it than cannot be otherwise more usefully employed. I wish to see 
 the entire work, so as to judge of the fitness of the different parts. Should 
 you, after having finished it, conclude to go to press, I shall be willing to pay 
 the expense of publication. A few copies only need be struck off at first, 
 unless some skillful critic shall think well of it. 
 
 I hope that both yourself and John will weigh well what I have said to you, 
 since your memorial to the visitors. T regard you as lying under the strongest 
 obligations of honor to abide rigidly by the college laws. Surely it is no great 
 matter to acknowledge their restraint for the few months you have to remain 
 at college. Remember always that I am a visitor, and that the late enact- 
 ments have emanated chiefly from me. Surely, if my own sons cannot con- 
 
HOME LETTEES. 565 
 
 form, obedience should not be expected from others. Make it a point of honor, 
 and I am sure that you will win the approbation of all. There is one thing 
 about which I must caution you both, and that is, never to allude to what 
 has passed. Let it be forgotten, or if remembered, let it be so only for your 
 own government. Be affable and polite to all the students, without cultivating 
 extreme intimacy with any. Do not be too captious or prone to take offense. 
 Eely upon it that no gentleman need fear insult, for he will never give offense 
 himself, and should not expect it from others. And after all, a suavity of man- 
 ners — a constant respect for the feelings of others, is indispensably necessary 
 for success in life. These remarks are designed for you both, and I trust that 
 you will give them full weight. We are all well, and join in love. 
 
 Your father, J. Tyler. 
 
 P. S. Tour mother says that you must write to her about your aunts and 
 cousins, — are they still in Williamsburg? — etc., etc. 
 
CHAPTEK XIX. 
 
 1836—1839. 
 
 "It is also true that a oommon party designation (Whig) was applied to the opposition in 
 the agirregate, .... 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; thejNational Republican party, and the portion of the State- 
 rights party which had separated from the administration on the ground that it had de- 
 parted from the true principle of the original party."— John C. Calhoun, ."Works, iii. p. 871.) 
 
 Van Buken's Administration. — Seventh Anniveesakt of the Virginia Coloni- 
 zation Society. — Me. Ttlee Elected President. — His Cofese on the 
 Slaveet Question. — His Clause in the District Code foe the Abolition of 
 
 THE SlAVE-TeADE. — SpEECH ON THE PeNAL CodE FOE THE DiSTEICT. — SlAVEET 
 
 Agitation in 1835. — Mr. Tyler's Speech at Gloucester Couethouse. — Op- 
 poses Calhoun's Motion to Eeject the Abolition Petitions. — His Resolu- 
 tions ON Slaveey in the Disteict of Columbia. — "Report as Chairman of 
 THE District Committee. — Addeess at Yoektown. — Address before the 
 Literary Societies op Randolph Macon College. — Takes His Seat in the 
 House of Delegates, January, 1839. — Review of Van Bueen's Administea- 
 TioN. — Crisis OF 1837. — Extea Session. — Independent Treasury. — Calhoun 
 Leaves the Opposition. — Preston's Letter. — Contest Between Me. Tyler 
 AND Rives. — Clay's Treachery. — Haeeisbueg Convention. — Harrison and 
 Tylee Nominated. — Clay, the State-Rights Candidate. — Bank, Tariff, and 
 Internal Improvements Obsolete Questions. — Clay's Commitments to White, 
 to Tyler, to Wise, and to Tucker. — Clay's Letter to Tucker. 
 
 THE seventh anniversary of the Yirginia Colonization Society 
 was held in the capitol at Richmond, on Wednesday evening, 
 the 10th of January, 1838. The hall of the House of Delegates 
 was crowded to overflowing at an early hour, by an audience of 
 the first respectability and intelligence in Kichmond, including 
 many members of the Legislature. 
 
 The following persons were elected officers of the Society for 
 the ensuing year : President, Hon. John Tyler ; Vice-Presidents, 
 His Excellency Governor Campbell, "William Maxwell, Abel P. 
 Upshur, John H. Cocke, Edward Colston, Lewis Summers, S. S. 
 Baxter, Hon. Chas. F. Mercer, James M. Garnett, Hon. William 
 C. Eives, James McDowell, John F. May, Dr. Thomas Massie, 
 Henry A. Wise ; Corresponding Secretary, Joseph Mayo ; Record- 
 
^iDDEESS AS PEESIDENT OF THE VIRGINIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 567 
 
 ing Secretary, David I. Burr ; Treasurer, Benjamin Brand ; Man- 
 agers, Nicholas Mills, James E. Heath, Jolm E. Eustace, Fleming 
 James, Dr. E. H. Deane, Wm. H. McFarland, Gustavus A. Myers, 
 Hall Neilson, James C. Crane, Peachy K. Grattan. 
 
 Mr. Tyler, who had long been one of the vice-presidents of the 
 Society, made the following speech on taking the chair: 
 
 Mr. Tyler, on taking the chair, said he could not permit this, the first oc- 
 -casion on which it had been in his power to attend a meeting of the Society 
 since he had been elected its president, to pass by, without expressing his 
 grateful sense of the honor conferred upon him. You have appointed me, 
 said he, the successor of one whose name is destined to reach a remote pos- 
 terity—of one who, in his private character and conduct, furnished an ex- 
 ■■emplification of all the virtues. John Marshall was among us as one of us, 
 — plain, unostentatious and unassuming, he left us in doubt which most to ad- 
 jnire, his unaffected simplicity of character, or his extraordinary talents. 
 JFilling the highest judicial station, — followed by the admiration of his 
 countrymen, — exerting an extensive influence by mere force of his genius 
 over public opinion, — his name familiar to the lips of the highest and most 
 iumble of a people inhabiting a continent, he seemed alone to be uncon- 
 scious of his exalted worth. To be appointed successor of such a man, bow- 
 ever great my unworthiness, is an honor of which I have cause to be proud. 
 The very origin of the Colonization Society is in my memory identified with 
 him. At its first meeting in Washington curiosity led me to be present; 
 notice had been given through the newspapers of the proposed meeting at 
 Brown's hotel, and I was attracted thither by the desire to hear what could 
 be said in favor of a scheme which I was short sighted enough to regard 
 as altogether Utopian. I did consider it in its incipiency as but a dream of 
 philanthropy, visiting men's pillows in their sleep, to cheat them on their 
 waking. Chief-Justice Marshall, with some fifteen others, were present ; but 
 that small number exhibited a constellation of talent. Henry Clay presided, 
 John Eandolph addressed the meeting, and William H. Crawford was the first 
 president of the Colonization Society. Such was the beginning of a society 
 which now embraces thousands of the most talented and patriotic men in the 
 country. 
 
 We have been peculiarly fortunate, gentlemen, in having to preside over 
 J3ur deliberations in this hall one so distinguished for all that can adorn a 
 man as Chief-Justice Marshall, and at the same time the privilege of acting 
 in close communion with another of those men given by God in his especial 
 goodness as a blessing to mankind — I mean James Madison, so lately one of 
 ■our vice-presidents. I am not given much to that idolatry which too often 
 puts fetters on the mind, leading it to consecrate errors in opinion because 
 .advanced and sunstained by men of exalted standing ; but surely I may be 
 permitted to say, that the opinions of two such men concurring bear strong 
 .evidence of truth. Their minds were of too substantial an order to indulge 
 vision. Their judgments were too profound to have been misled by 
 
 4n a mere 
 
568 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 the deceptive lights of a mistaken philanthropy. While the horizon of the- 
 future was clouded so that my own limited vision could not penetrate it, they 
 stood, as it were, on a lofty mountain's top, and a beautiful prospect was pre- 
 sented to their sight. They saw the first landing of the pilgrims on the desert 
 shores of Africa — the busy and the thriving towns rose up before their sight ; the 
 hammer of the artisan sounded in their ears ; the hum of industry floated on 
 the breeze ; songs of praise and thanksgiving came over the distant waves ;. 
 the genius of civilization had penetrated the wilderness, overthrowing in its. 
 progress the idol and the altar, and rearing on their ruins temples to the true- 
 and only Grod. All this they saw, and all this we now see. For myself, after- 
 learning the successful landing of the first emigrants, and that they were- 
 speedily to be followed by others, all my doubts vanished. The reality was 
 before me. The seed was planted ; springtime came, and it vegetated ; bar 
 vest-time, and the crop was abundant. But a few years since and no voice 
 nf civilization proceeded from Africa. Now thousands of civilized beings- 
 have made it their home, and the wilderness may be considered as reolaimed.- 
 The exhibits annually made to the public of the state and condition of the- 
 colony are calculated to relieve the mind of all doubt. The colony is planted! 
 — advances with rapid strides — and Monrovia will be to Africa what James- 
 town and Plymouth have been to America. Happily its success is equally 
 beneficial to all the States. Nothing sectional enters into it. The same 
 spirit actuates all. The same policy governs all. The free black man is 
 found in Maine as well as in Louisiana. What, then, shall retard the onward 
 march of this great cause ? Heretofore it has looked for success to private 
 individuals and to the State legislatures. My opinion is that it should still 
 look to them. To appeal to Congress for aid is to appeal to a body having 
 no power to grant it — a body of restricted and limited powers, and fettered 
 by the terms of its own creation. From that source it may get money, but 
 it will lose friends, and friends are more valuable to it than money. I would 
 not have it successful without the concurrence of the States. Our own State 
 may be considered the pioneer in this great work. On this subject she stands 
 proudly pre-eminent. She will doubtless do her duty. Policy and humanity 
 go hand and hand in this great work ; united in the accomplishment of the 
 same object, they cannot fail to succeed. Philanthropy, when separated 
 from policy, is the most dangerous agent in human affairs. It is no way dis- 
 tinguishable from fanaticism. It hears not, sees not, understands not. It is- 
 deaf, and hears not the admonitions of truth and wisdom. It is blind, and 
 walks over prostrate victims, and amid the ashes of desolation, without per- 
 ceiving that its feet are stained in blood, and that its garments are discolored. 
 It understands not, until the voice of sorrow and lamentation, proceeding 
 from the sepulchre of man's fondest hopes and brightest expectations, arouses- 
 it to consciousness. And is there not a spirit of that sort now at work in our 
 own fair land ? It is the antagonist of that which we cherish. It invades 
 our hearth, assails our domestic circles, preaches up sedition, and encourages 
 insurrection. It would pull down the pillars of the Constitution, and even 
 now shakes them most terribly ; would violate the most sacred guaranties ; 
 would attain its object by sundering bonds which bind, and only have power 
 
PEESIDENT OF THE VIRGINIA COLONIZATION SOCIETY. 569~ 
 
 to bind, these States together — the bonds of affection and brotherly love. It 
 seeks to excite inextinguishable prejudices in the minds of one-half of our peo- 
 ple against the other half. It acts in league with foreign missionaries, and 
 gives open countenance to the people of another hemisphere to interfere in 
 our domestic affairs. It is sectional, altogether sectional ; in a word, it is the 
 spirit of abolition. Prom this place I denounce it, and this Society denounces 
 it. The weapons which it uses are the weapons of slander and abuse ; not as 
 to one sex or condition of existence only, but all — all are abused and slandered 
 by it. It labors to induce the usurpation of a power by government which 
 would be attended by the destruction of the government itself, in the substi- 
 tution (if a work so disastrous to the liberties of mankind could be effected) 
 of a consolidated government — a mere majority machine — in place of the 
 happy Federal system under which we live. The opinion already prevails 
 with many that the government is a unit, and the people a unit I I care not 
 from whence they derive sanction for this ; but this I will say, that whether 
 such sanction comes from the living or the dead, from men in power or men 
 out of power, it is false in theory and destructive in practice. Each State, as 
 to all matters not ceded by compact, is as sovereign as before the adoption of 
 the Constitution. What right, then, have the people of one State to interfere 
 with the domestic relations of any other State? What right to agitate in 
 order to affect their neighbors ? The reverend clergy, too, they whose doc- 
 trine shouU evermore be peace on earth and good will to men, are lending 
 themselves to this pernicious work. They seek to enlist woman, she who was 
 placed upon the earth, as the rainbow is in the heavens, as a sign that the 
 tempest of the passions should subside. Woman is made an instrument to- 
 expel us from the paradise of union in which we dwell. What will satisfy 
 these ministers of a Gospel which alone abounds in love ? Do they wish to 
 christianize the heathen ? — to spread the light of the Gospel over the benighted 
 places of the earth through the instrumentality of this Society, that light may 
 be brought to shine where no ray of the Gospel sun has ever yet penetrated ? 
 Do they want a, more extended theatre for their labors than that they now 
 enjoy? We present them one entire quarter of the earth. We invite them 
 to go with us into the wilds of Africa, to sit down by the side of the black 
 man, to teach him to raise his eyes from the earth, on which they are bent, to 
 look up to the heavens and to ascend " through nature unto nature's God." 
 He works most inscrutably to the understandings of men ; — the negro is torn 
 from Africa, a barbarian, ignorant and idolatrous; he is restored civilized, 
 enlightened, and a Christian. The Colonization Society is the great African 
 missionary society. In my humble judgment it is worth more, twice told, 
 than all foreign missionary societies combined. Already it has planted the 
 cross among the heathen, and kindled the fires of civilization in the desert ; and 
 that .cross will stand and that light be spread until a continent be redeemed. 
 All this is done quietly and peaceably, and with the acquiescence of society. 
 Charity dictates and policy adopts. Can any messenger of the Savior— can 
 any lover of His race, look upon this picture without delight ? Will nothing 
 content him which is not done in violence ? Has he fallen in love with 
 anarchy, that he woos her so assiduously? Are envy, malice,_and all un- 
 
570 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 ■ charitableness become assistants in the ministrations of the altar? Are fra- 
 ternal feeling and family peace become odious in his eyes? But I will dwell 
 no longer on these things. Our course, gentlemen, lies plainly before us; we 
 will steadily pursue it ; we interfere with no relation in society. In what we 
 .seek to do we are justified alike by the wisdom of the living and the dead, and 
 success, full, ample and entire, must crown the enterprise. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's course on the slavery question, which for several 
 jears past had terribly shaken the pillars of the government, vras 
 singularly interesting. Mr. Tyler had always the happy faculty 
 of appearing conspicuous at the right moment, on all the great na- 
 tional questions. In 1832, when the movement was made in the 
 Virginia Legislature, looking to a prospective emancipation of the 
 slaves, he availed himself of the opportunity to introduce into 
 the new code for the District of Columbia, prepared chiefly 
 through his own indefatigable labors, as a member of the District 
 Committee, a bill drawn with his own hand, proliibiting the slave 
 trade in the District.' Other provisions of the law did away with 
 the rigorous penal laws against the colored population resident there. 
 
 ' " Chaptee Iv., § 1. It shall not be lawful for any person to bring into this Dis- 
 trict, or to hold therein, any slave or slaves bom or resident out of the limits of 
 the United States, or any slave or slaves that shall have been convicted of any of- 
 fense, and been therefor transported by the laws either of this District or of any 
 State or Territory ; and if any person shall bring into this District any such slave 
 or slaves, contrary to the provisions of this act, or shall sell, purchase, or hold in 
 this District, any such slave or slaves, knowing such slave or slaves to have been 
 introduced contrary to the provisions of this act, every such offender shall forfeit 
 and pay the sum of one thousand dollars for every such offence, to be recovered 
 by action of debt, or information, in the Superior Court of the county where such 
 offender may be found ; and shall be committed to jail, without bail or main prize, 
 until he shall have paid such fine, or shall otherwise be discharged according to 
 law. 
 
 " § 2. No person or persons shall be permitted to bring into, assemble or collect 
 in this District, from any of the States of this Union, any slave or slaves, with a 
 view to sell, or transport for sale elsewhere, such slave or slaves. And for every 
 slave introduced into this District contrary to this act, who shall be suffered to re- 
 main therein for a longer time than twelve hours, the person or persons so offend- 
 ing shall be arrested by a warrant from any justice of the peace ; and upon proof 
 of the fact, shall be fined by such justice fifty dollars for each and every slave so 
 unlawfully introduced ; and shall, moreover, enter into bond with good security, 
 to be of good behavior for twelve months thereafter, in the sum not exceeding five 
 hundred dollars, and shall be committed to prison until sach bond and security be 
 given and fine paid ; one-half of which fine shall inure to the informer, and the 
 other half to the poor of the county where such judgment may have been ren- 
 dered." — (Senate Documents, Second session, Twenty-second Congress, Document 
 Ko. 85, pp. 267-'68,) 
 
CODE FOE THE DISTEICT OF COLUMBIA. 571 
 
 At the session of 1834-'5, Mr. Tyler was elected cliairman of 
 tlie District Committee. The office-holders were opposed to the 
 i-eforms proposed by the code, and for two years it had lingered 
 without effect before the Senate. On tlie 10th of January, 1835, 
 Mr. Tyler brought in a bill to adopt the penal part of the code, 
 -and on the 10th of February, he pressed the subject most earnestly 
 upon the attention of Congress : 
 
 Mr. Tyler stated that, two years ago, the code to which this bill referred 
 had been submitted to Congress. It was almost inconceivable, the utter 
 ■confusion of the laws of this District. The cession of the District of Columbia 
 was made above thirty years ago, when it came into the hands of the general 
 government, with the laws of the States from which it had been detached. 
 Whatever had been the subsequent modifications in the laws of those States, 
 ■they were refused to the people of this District. He should be too prolix were 
 he to go into an enumeration of all these laws. Some of them had been for 
 more than a, century in operation ; while others, which had reference to a 
 particular class of the community, and which would malse a Christian man 
 blush, had been suffered to sleep from motives of humanity. These, it was 
 -true, were dormant, but they might be resorted to. There were laws in 
 reference to that class of population (colored people) to which his own objec- 
 tions were as strong as those of any individual, whether a resident of the north 
 -or the south bank of the Potomac. He had a decided objection to the District 
 of Columbia being made a slave mart, a depot for the slaves brought from the 
 ■two neighboring States. This code went to reform that part of the system of 
 laws under which the District had been made a depot for these slaves, and 
 abolishes this practice. The punishments to which the black population had 
 been subjected, were, in no degree, to be justified. There were great amelio- 
 lations of the law in this respect. In reference to the judicial system of the 
 District, nothing could be in a worse condition than that in which it was 
 found to be by the committee. Time would not permit a full development of 
 its evils, but it appeared to him that the injuries it had inflicted on the people 
 of the District were sufficient to break down the energies of the people of any 
 State in the Union. The system, as to the magistracy, was such as would be 
 n curse on any people. In passing through the streets, you were struck with 
 the notices placed conspicuously over the doors, " Magistrate's Office " a notice 
 which sounded in his ears very much like "justice bought and sold here." 
 At these offices the laws were administered by single justices. Armies of 
 constables were affiliated by these justices; and the justice favored the con- 
 ■stable and the constable favored the justice ; for in proportion to the multitude 
 <)f suits were the profits increased, both of the justice and the constable. 
 And where the system was to make the justice dependent upon his fees for his 
 subsistence, the efi'ect was to make the official preserver of peace, in effect, a 
 peace disturber — a promoter of discord and ill-feeling among the community. 
 He desired it to be understood that, in these remarks, he did not speak of any 
 individual, but of the system. 
 
5Y2 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 It was proposed to modify the prevailing system so as to save to the people- 
 of this District, in fees alone, at least forty thousand dollars per annum. 
 While engaged with the committee in the investigation of this subject he had 
 heard of very great abuses. Nothing was found to be a more abundant 
 source of profit than to get up suits of assault and battery — nothing was more 
 profitable to magistrate, officers, jurors, and witnesses. If there was a loose 
 population about the offices of the justices, they were always ready to act as- 
 jurors and receive the compensation allowed by law. He had heard much in 
 the form of accusation on this subject, but there was nothing which had come 
 under his personal observation. Still, if there was but a whisper of wrong, 
 it was sufficient cause to press on the work of reform. The scheme which- 
 had been reported by the committee would, at the lowest estimate, save to 
 the people of the District forty thousand dollars annually in judicial fees. 
 
 He then made some observations on the tardy operation of the courts, and 
 the consequent procrastination of suits, in consequence of there being but one- 
 set of courts to try all offences — petty larceny, grand larceny, homicide in all 
 its varieties, and every other offence. It was unavoidable, under such a sys- 
 tem, that the progress of the courts should be tardy ; and this was an evil 
 which called loudly for reform. 
 
 Mr. Tyler said he would not at this time go further into the subject. The 
 bill had come up unexpectedly this morning, but he had thought it right to- 
 throw out the few remarks he had made for the purpose of arresting the at- 
 tention of the Senate, and of the citizens of the District, to the manner in 
 which the laws were administered. 
 
 The question had now come up in the form in which it was presented in 
 this bill. He would himself have preferred that Congress should have taken- 
 up the code and considered its provisions seriatim, until they had succeeded 
 in giving the District a good code of laws. If the Senate should be indisposed 
 to act on the form now presented to it, he was willing to let the subject sleep- 
 until the next session. His object had been to call the attention of the people 
 of the District to the subject. The scheme of the committee had not found 
 favor among the office-holders. They were always the last persons to favor 
 anything like reform. But if the people, oppressed, as they had been, under 
 the evils of the old system, desired that reform, they should have his hearty- 
 co-operation so long as he held a seat on this floor. 
 
 On motion of Mr. Calhoun, the bill was then laid on the table for the pur- 
 pose of taking up the special order of the day.' 
 
 The merits of this speech are seen in a stronger light when it 
 is remembered that it was made at a time of great political ex- 
 acerbation in Virginia against the abolitionists, who soon after 
 1832 had entered into a regular crusade against the South and its 
 institutions, by flooding the mails with incendiary documents and 
 pictures, intended to create revolt and insurrection among the 
 
 ' Cong. Debates, xi.. pp. 456-7. 
 
mCENDIAEY DOCDMENTS. 573 
 
 ■colored people. In an instant the forces of philanthropy which 
 -were at work in the South slowly but surely disintegrating slavery, 
 -were arrested. The Southern people were a proud race, and they 
 •could not endure to be reproached with what they regarded as 
 their misfortune, superinduced by an overpowering necessity. 
 They could not see why, if let alone, they might not in time im- 
 itate the example of the Is orth, who had taken their convenience in 
 .abolishing slavery. "Were the Northern people naturally better than 
 the Southern ? If they were, the history of the slave-trade offered 
 poor evidence in their favor. 
 
 Several petitions reached Congress from the abolition societies 
 during the session of lS3i-'5, praying the exclusion of slavery 
 and the slave-trade from the District of Columbia. Mr. Tyler 
 prepared a report against them, — " a temperate report, and one ad- 
 dressed to the sober senses of the country, which he was anxious 
 to make, but which he was dissuaded by others from making lest 
 greater agitation should be produced." 
 
 During the summer of 1835, the mails groaned with the works 
 of the abolitionists. The exaggerated illustrations and libelous 
 stories they contained provoked the Southern people beyond en- 
 durance. Meetings were held in all the counties and cities of the 
 South denouncing these attempts to fill the Northern mind witli 
 horrible ideas of Southern humanity. In James City county, 
 "V^irginia, a mass-meeting was held which Mr. Tyler, who was at- 
 tending court in Williamsburg, addressed. Soon after, on returning 
 to Gloucester, he was once moi'e pressed into service by a meeting 
 of the people at Gloucester Court-house. Mr. Tyler expressed him- 
 self in this speech in favor of decided but prudent measures. A 
 newspaper account of the proceedings lies before me: 
 
 Meeting in Gloucester. 
 
 At a large meeting of the people of Gloucester county, held at the Court- 
 house, on Saturday, the 22d day of August, 1835, to take into consideration 
 the movements of the abolitionists and their distribution of pamphlets calcu- 
 lated to disturb the peace and endanger the property of the people of this 
 State, Colonel Robert C. Curtis was called to the chair, and Thomas C. Amory 
 appointed secretary. 
 
 The Honorable John Tyler was invited to attend the meeting, as a resident 
 of the county, and to address it, which he accordingly did, and concluded by 
 -offering for the adoption of the meeting the following resolutions, which, upon 
 •being severally put from the chair, were unanimously adopted, viz.: 
 
574 LUTTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 Resolved, That we have noticed with the greatest indignatioa, the uncalled- 
 for and unjustifiable interference by a portion of the people of other States-- 
 in our domestic affairs ; that Virginia has never, in any manner whatever, 
 conferred upon any other State or people the authority so to interfere. 
 Her compact with her confederates she is not only willing, but anxious to- 
 abide by and maintain. But her power over all things having relation to her- 
 own condition or interest, lying out of that compact, is supreme and final, 
 and no people, State or government on earth have rightful claim to intermed- 
 dle therewith. 
 
 Resolved, That for the people of any foreign government, unrestrainedly to- 
 adopt and persevere in a systematic course of measures calculated to place in 
 jeopardy the peace and tranquillity of any State of this Union, would furnish^ 
 not only to the State thus threatened, but to the United States, cause of the- 
 most serious complaint. And this remark loses none of its force as between, 
 the several States of this Union in regard to each other. On the contrary, 
 the fact of their union renders it imperative on each and all to secure against 
 the machinations of any portion of their citizens, the undisturbed tranquillity of ' 
 each and all. 
 
 Resolved, therefore, That this State has a, right to demand and require- 
 prompt and efficient legislation by her co-States to restrain, as far as may be,, 
 and to punish all such of their inhabitants as shall be found seeking to dis- 
 turb her tranquillity by printing and circulating, through the post-office and 
 otherwise, seditious and incendiary publications ; and that it behooves the 
 constituted authorities of this State to make known to those of the other- 
 States this existing cause of grievance and complaint. 
 
 Resolved, That the District of Columbia was accepted by cession from 
 Maryland and Virginia by the United States, without objection to the caste- 
 and character of its population — that a similar cession was tendered by Vir- 
 ginia, of Williamsburg, and by Maryland, of Annapolis: That each State- 
 was anxious to make a similar grant with a view to the supposed benefit to- 
 arise from it. That for the grantee to convert the thing granted into an in- 
 strument of mischief and serious injury to the grantor, would be the height of 
 iniquity and injustice. That such an act by Congress would be a gross viola- 
 tion of good faith, which could not fail to lessen our confidence in the Govern- 
 ment, and in no small degree our attachment to the Union. 
 
 Resolved, That the condition of things in which we are placed requires the- 
 adoption of efficient measures by the people, to protect themselves against the- 
 machinations of the abolitionists and their emissaries ; and that one hundred 
 persons be appointed a Committee of Vigilance and Safety, in and for this- 
 country ; and that it be enjoined upon them to search out and to apprehend 
 all persons suspected of seditious practices; so that they may be brought to- 
 condign punishment under the law, and to see that the police laws of the- 
 State be properly enforced. ' 
 
 Speech of Governor Tyler. 
 Mr. Tyler said that he had promptly and unhesitatingly attended the- 
 present meeting upon being invited to do so. He would be frank, and declare. 
 
SPEECH IN GLOUCESTEE COTJNTT. 576- 
 
 that as a resident of the county, he had resolved to attend before their invita- 
 tion reached him, and from the moment he had heard that the people were in 
 motion. He had, however, had no hand in putting them in motion. These- 
 were times in which no man who was attached to the Union of the States, 
 (and he could solemnly declare that no one was more sincerely so than him- 
 self,) and the peace and tranquillity of the country, could properly remain at 
 home an inattentive and passive spectator of what was passing. After the- 
 lapse of more than half a century, during which time all had acquiesced in 
 the undisturbed condition of things as they were, and the most unexampled' 
 prosperity had blessed us and the land bequeathed to us as an inheritance 
 by our forefathers, a new sect has arisen, possessed pretendedly of nicer sensi- 
 bilities, a more refined moral sense, and greater love of the human race, 
 than those who had gone before them : who were disposed to manifest the- 
 superiority in all these particulars, bj' setting the people of these States by 
 the ears, and threatening the overthrow of political institutions which have 
 been the source of unmeasured happiness, and which we had fondly hoped to 
 hand over to our posterity as the richest legacy we could leave them. Nor 
 are their pretensions and their movements confined to native born citizens of 
 the several States, who may have been misled into the belief that it was suf- 
 ficient for a mere majority to will in order to enforce, but a foreign emissary 
 had dared to venture across the broad Atlantic to aid in this work. 
 
 I confess, Mr. Chairman, that I regard it as not among the least portentous 
 signs of the times, that native born citizens should gather themselves together 
 to listen to anathemas uttered against their own brethren, by a feed and 
 paid emissary, who comes here to teach them the principles of civil liberty 
 and the rights of humanity. When was it before that this would have been- 
 tolerated? The day has been when every man's hand would have fallen in 
 weight to crush a reptile who had crawled from some of the sinks of Europe, 
 with the reward of an emissary in his hand, to sow the seeds of discord 
 among us. For my own part, I cannot think of this with patience. Are the 
 sons of revolutionary sires so much degenerated as to be dependent on 
 foreigners to teach them lessons of political ethics? — or is it come to this, that 
 every plotter of mischief from abroad is to be received into our households, to 
 instruct us in our duties as citizens? Mr. Tyler expressed the fear that the 
 toleration which had been practised towards Thompson manifested a condi- 
 tion of feeling at war with the perpetuity of our institutions. 
 
 He said that it had sometimes happened, that political parties on this side 
 of Mason and Dixon's line had attempted to strengthen their cause by an 
 apprehension that our domestic institutions were in danger. For himself, so 
 far as his limited influence had extended, he had sought to quiet all appre- 
 hensions on the subject among his fellow-citizens. He had always regarded 
 it as altogether too vital a question to he used as an instrument of party. It 
 was a question on which there could be but one party on this side of the line 
 alluded to ; and he was happy to find that all hearts and all hands was cor- 
 dially united as those of one man. He had never, until lately, believed that 
 any serious head could be made in the United States upon the subject— much 
 less had he feared that the spirit of incendiarism would be permitted by the 
 
576 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 States to walk abroad in the face of the day, unrestrained and unchecked. 
 These feelings and sentiments had been forced to give place to others. The 
 unexpected evil is now upon us ; it has invaded our firesides, and under our 
 own roofs is sharpening the dagger for midnight assassination, and exciting 
 cruelty and bloodshed. The post-office department, which was established for 
 the purpose of commercial interchange, or to transport from remote places 
 the friendly greetings of those of kindred blood, has been converted into a 
 vehicle for distributing incendiary pamphlets, with which our land is at this 
 moment deluged. 
 
 A society has sprung up whose avowed object it is to despoil us of our pro- 
 perty at the hazard of all and every consequence. It had been his duty, oc- 
 cupying as he did a, public station which devolved on him the obligations of 
 a sentinel to watch over the rights and interests of Virginia, to make himself 
 acquainted as far as practicable with the rise and progress of that society, 
 and with its means to do mischief; and his opinion was, tbat it was now 
 powerful, and if not speedily checked in its mad career, was destined to at- 
 tain much greater power. He had seen it in its origin, some two years ago, 
 consisting of a mere handful of obscure persons, who were the subjects of 
 ridicule from one end of the Union to the other. That small association, thus 
 despised and thus contemned, had already established two hundred and fifty 
 auxiliaries, and at a single meeting contributed $30,000 towards the furtherance 
 of its scheme, — some half of which was paid down promptly. It has established 
 numerous presses, four of which circulated from the city of New York with 
 copies of three of which they had been so extremely kind as to favor me through 
 the mail. These papers were circulated gratuitously among us, and at mere 
 nominal prices to actual subscribers. He had then in his possession one of 
 those publications, and he would exhibit it for the inspection of those present. 
 (He here drew from his pocket the Anti-Slavery Record.) Here, said he, 
 is a picture upon the external covering, designed to represent each of you, 
 gentlemen. A scourge is in your hand, and three victims bound and kneel- 
 ing at your feet. You are represented as demons in the shape of men; and 
 by way of contrast, here stands Arthur Tappan, Mr. Somebody Garrison, or 
 Mr. Foreigner Thompson, patting the greasy little fellows on their cheeks and 
 
 giving them most lovely kisses. They are the exclusive philanthropists the 
 
 only lovers of the human race — the only legitimate defenders of the religion of 
 Christ. But I propose to show you the cheap rate at which these papers are 
 delivered out to actual subscribers. [He read from the external sheet: 
 "Human Eights, twenty-five cents per annum; Anti-Slavery Record, one 
 dollar-and-a-half per AMMdrgrf ; Emancipator (a paper larger than the Whig 
 or Enquirer), fifty-cents per annum; Slave's Friend, single number, one 
 cent.J He had not seen the Slave's Friend; judging, however, from the other 
 papers, he concluded it to be a misnomer. It should rather be called the 
 slave's enemy, since its circulation among us, in company with its three ad- 
 juncts, had produced a curtailment of privileges heretofore willingly, nay, 
 gladly granted by the master to his slaves, and which, before these fanatical 
 teachers had arisen in the land, were gradually and daily becoming greater 
 and greater. In addition to these, there was a numerous tribe of tracts, and 
 
SPEECH ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 577 
 
 he believed, prints, designed to make impression on the minds of children. 
 Here, then, Mr, Chairman, are the evidences of a powerful combination ; here 
 some of the means relied upon. Look into the contents of this little pam^ 
 phlet; you will find it full of stories of the white man's cruelty and the 
 negro's suffering; garbled statements are herein contained to stir up the feel- 
 ings of the Northern brethren against us. Let me read to you one statement 
 made by a reverend or irreverend divine, a Mr. Boardman, of New York. 
 He read, " I remember in my boyhood of seeing a colored man driving a cart, 
 and by some accident, he was precipitated from his seat and crushed to death ; 
 but when the alarm began to spread, I heard it said, ' Oh 1 it is only a poor 
 negro who is killed,' but oh! thought I, it is a man." Most sympathetic 
 Mr- Boardman, what a tender hearted little boy you were 1 But, gentlemen, 
 what say you, is this picture true or false, as to the sensibility or feeling of a 
 Southern man in behalf of a suffering human being, whether black or white ? 
 (False, false, was unitediy echoed.) And yet, said Mr. Tyler, by such and 
 kindred means, do these libelers of the South seek to attain their nefarious 
 ends. 
 
 When he came to be informed that numbers of the reverend clergy in the 
 North were lending themselves to this work, he could not doubt but that it 
 would grow into greater magnitude. All felt and acknowledged their influ- 
 ence. Standing as pastors at the head of their flocks, teaching the divine 
 truths of religion, they were entitled to all respect and reverence ; but when, 
 abandoning their proper sphere, they rushed into the troubled waters of poli- 
 tics — when, instead of a mild and meek observance of their religious rites and 
 ceremonies, they sought to overturn systems — when, instead of being the min- 
 isters of peace and good will, they officiated at the altar of discord, and con- 
 tributed their influence to excite general disturbance and discontent, they 
 deserved the scorn and contempt of mankind. Did their and our Divine 
 Master commission them upon such an errand ? When He bade His followers 
 to " render unto Cajsar the things that were Cajsar's," He taught a lesson to 
 rebuke the present agitators. But these men wear the cloak of religion, and 
 they mean that their influence shall be felt. 
 
 Woman is to be made one of the instruments to accomplish their mis- 
 chievous purposes. The same Mr. Boardman has declared that he appeals 
 "to woman's sympathies, woman's efforts, woman's prayers." Yes, woman 
 is to be made the instrument of destroying our political paradise, the Union 
 of these States ; she is to be made the presiding genius over the councils of 
 insurrection and civil discord ; she is to be converted into a fiend, to rejoice 
 over the conflagration of our dwellings and the murder of our people. Most 
 admirable divine — most excellent Christian ! Under such counsels and such 
 counselors she is already lending herself to these fanatical schemes. I state 
 a fact which my situation as chairman of the District of Columbia Committee 
 of the Senate the last winter brought to my knowledge. A petition was pre- 
 sented to the Senate and referred to that Committee, praying the abolition of 
 slavery in that District, signed by fifteen hundred women. Several other 
 petitions on the same subject were presented, and I stood prepared to report 
 at'ainst them. I had prepared a temperate report, addressed to the sober 
 37 
 
578 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 reason of the country, whicii I was anxious to make ; but it was tlioughfc 
 better by otliers that the subject should not be touched, lest greater agitation 
 should be produced. I thought then, and still think, that the sooner the- 
 matter was met the better. When the cloud is visible, charged with lightning, 
 which is designed to break upon my head, let me not hear the thunder roll- 
 ing at a distance ; the sooner it comes, if come it must, the better. 
 
 Such, then, are the means which are now invoked by the abolitionists — 
 such their growth, and such their resources. I am told that they are also, 
 addressing themselves to the growing generation through horn-books and 
 primers — that the youthful imagination is filled with horror against us and' 
 our children by images and pictures exhibited in the nursery. How are they 
 to be met and overthrown ? I believe that they can only be met sucoessfully- 
 by a firm and decided course on our part. Timid counsels but too frequently 
 betray. The attention of the whole people of the North must be awakened 
 to a knowledge of the true state of things, and I am pleased to see that the- 
 good old town of Boston is already in motion. A meeting has been called by 
 means of her most distinguished citizens. It behooved her to take the lead. 
 It is to be hoped that she will give back from Fanueil Hall, as in former times, 
 the voice which has reached her from Virginia. Her example, I trust, will 
 be followed in quick succession by other towns and cities. These proceedings- 
 would do much towards allaying the excited feeling of the day. 
 
 But mere declarations of public meetings in the North will not sufSce. We- 
 have a right to call for measures of coercion on the part of our sister States ;. 
 Virginia and the other Southern States should make a demand for legislation. 
 Her peace is daily threatened through the actions of the fanatics; the lives of" 
 her people are placed in jeopardy ; nothing short of penal enactments willl 
 do. For when did fanaticism ever listen to reason ? The curse of the world,,, 
 it is possessed of its own vain imaginings, to the exclusion of everything else.. 
 It hath no eyes to see, no ears to hear. It drives onward, reckless of conse- 
 quences, and its efforts at reform terminate only with the destruction of humaai 
 hopes. We have a right to ask that it shall he restrained by laws. If there 
 existed a combination in our State to affect the lives and property of the peo- 
 ple of any other State, should we hesitate to restrain and punish all who 
 might be concerned? I answer, unhesitatingly, in the negative. Unless 
 there be immediate and active co-operation on the part of our co-States. I 
 know not what is to be done. 
 
 Are we for ever to remain in the state of insecurity in which we now are? 
 Is the post-office, emanating from a common centre, and pervading every 
 part of our country, to be made continually the channel through which their 
 incendiary and seditious pamphlets are to flow in upon us? This cannot be 
 tolerated. I have seen this Union twice in great danger. One of those occa- 
 sions teaches me to fear the present. When opposition was first made to 
 admit Missouri into the Union, unless her people would submit to have a Con- 
 stitution in part made for them by Congress ; and the eft'ort was made to ex- 
 clude the Southern man from carrying his domestics with him on lands- 
 which had been purchased out of a common treasury ; but few were found 
 bold enough to maintain so extravagant a claim to power. But one yean- 
 
SPEECH ON THE SLAVERY QUESTION. 579 
 
 elapsed, and a majority of Congress were found to be against us. I was an 
 actor on the theatre of public affairs at that time ; and insignificant as that 
 question was, in comparison with the present, it produced the most fearful 
 agitations. But the darkness was not impenetrable, and the patriotism of 
 the country was not appealed to in vain. I believe the signs now to be alarm- 
 ing and portentous, and requiring the most energetic action. Let us address 
 ourselves in plain and emphatic terms to the people of our sister States. I 
 trust that the recollections of the past — the days of glory we have seen together 
 — the memory of our god-like ancestors — but above all, our mutual and re- 
 ciprocal interests, will induce them to co-operate in quieting the disturbances 
 which now so extensively prevail amongst us. 
 
 Come what may, I am a citizen of Virginia, united with her in destiny and 
 sealed to her by fate. Her sovereignty remains to her, and the allegiance of 
 all her citizens is due to her. She will claim, I doubt not, the fulfillment of 
 constitutional guarantees. Upon the subject of her domestic institutions, I 
 trust she will hold parley with none. They are hers, for good or for evil, — 
 hers and hers alone, — for her to continue, and for her alone to change. No 
 power on earth has a right to interfere with them without her consent; and! 
 she has full and perfect right to expect that her citizens shall be protected, as 
 well from the approaches of the incendiary as from open assault by force. 
 
 When Congress met in December, 1835, Jackson's message was 
 very full on the subject of the abolition societies. Accustomed to 
 act more than to think, Jackson recommended the passage of laws 
 directly repressing the attempt to address, through tlie mails, in- 
 flammatory appeals to the slaves. But Calhoun, in a report from 
 a select committee to which that part of the message was referred,, 
 plainly showed that the government, while it might aid the police 
 regulations of the State, could not add to or alter them itself. In 
 view, therefore, of the president's project, Calhoun proposed a bill, 
 drawn up in conformity with the views of his report, and which,, 
 he maintained, was in entire consonance with the State-rights 
 doctrine. 
 
 What Mr. Tyler's views were on Calhoun's bill does not appear, 
 as he did not remain in the Senate long enough to see it disposed 
 of; but judging from his speech at Gloucester Court-house, it is 
 more than probable that he looked no further than the local laws 
 of the Northern States to counteract the evil. This would seem 
 confirmed by the position which he took in opposition to Cal- 
 houn on the subject of the petitions, which now commenced to 
 pour in again, with respect to slavery in the District. 
 
 Mr. Morris, on the 7th of January, 1836, presented two peti- 
 tions, signed by a number of the inhabitants of Ohio, praying for 
 
580 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. Their 
 usual course was to the Committee on the District. Mr. Cal- 
 houn, hoM^ever, proposed to reject them in limine, on the ground 
 that the petitions contained a gross, false and malicious slander on 
 eleven States represented on the floor of the Senate. 
 
 The weakness of this proposition of Mr. Calhoun, by mixing up 
 the right of petition with the slavery question, was instantly per- 
 ceived by Mr. Tyler. He rose and stated that, with the most pro- 
 found respect for the senator from South Carolina, he did not 
 think that the proposition met the case in hand. He would not 
 war with these petitions, but would suffer them to go to the Com- 
 mittee for the District of Columbia, as others before had gone. Not 
 that, as chairman of that committee, he courted the labor which it 
 would impose; but because, from the construction of the commit- 
 tee, he believed a resolution would be offered declaring that the 
 Senate had not the power to meddle with the subject. ''The 
 course recommended by the senator from South Carolina gave 
 these petitions too much consequence. Let them go to the lion's 
 den, and the committee would meet them with the declaration that 
 there is no power in Congress to do wliat the petitioners ask." 
 He believed, also, that with the, exception of the Senator from 
 Ohio (Mr. Morris) there would be no dissonance in the tone of the 
 senate on the subject. That Senator had claimed the right to abol- 
 ish slavery as embraced in the power granted in the Constitution, 
 of exclusive legislation for the District. The motion of Mr. Cal- 
 houn did not touch this question. It might be inferred that the 
 petitions were rejected solely on account of the disrespectful lan- 
 guage that they employed. The object of the senator from South 
 Carolina and his was the same: to put an end to the inqui- 
 etude and insecurity which prevailed in the South. His plan was 
 to let the petitions take their proper course, and to get Congress 
 to adopt resolutions pointedly and emphatically disclaiming any 
 power in Congress over the subject of the abolition of slavery in 
 the District. This, from the spirit evidently prevailing in the 
 Senate, he thought could be readily obtained. 
 
 On the 2l8t of January, 1836, Mr. Tyler condensed the views 
 of this speech in three resolutions, submitted by him to the Senate.' 
 
 ' Niles' Register, xlix, p. 357. 
 
ME. TTLEE S EESOLUTIONS ON SLAVERY IN THE DISTEICT. 581 
 
 Resoloed, That to alter, change or abolish the rights of property in the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia, without the consent of the owners, would be unjust and des- 
 potic, and in violation of the Constitution of the United States. 
 
 Resolved further , That, even with such consent, to interfere with the subject 
 of slavery, not only without, but against the consent of the people of Mary- 
 land and Virginia, would be in flagrant violation of the public faith, an abuse 
 of the trust conferred on Congress by the cession, and hazardous of the peace 
 and security of these two States. 
 
 Resolved further, That such proceedings would sap the foundation of our 
 conventional system, which is based on the condition of things at the time of 
 the adoption of the Constitution, and which cannot be altered in so material a 
 point, without disturbing the principle of compromise, out of which it origi- 
 nated. 
 
 The general thought at this time was to repress agitation; and 
 certainly, if this were the end in view, Mr. Tyler's attitude on the 
 abolition petitions was far more sagacious than that of Calhoun's. 
 If the intention was anything more, then Calhoun should have 
 spoken out in 1820, when the contest might have been fought 
 with every advantage by the South. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's resolutions were even denounced by Henry L. 
 Pinckney, Calhoun's representative in the House, as insufficient 
 and inadequate. What he and Calhoun considered as adequate 
 was shown in their proposal of a "gag resolution" against all 
 petitions, memorials, resolutions, and propositions relating in any 
 way to slavery or the abolition of slavery. Such a measure was 
 adopted by the House of Eepresentatives on the 26th of May, 
 1836, and was immediately accompanied by all the dangerous 
 results which Mr. Tyler had anticipated. The right of petition 
 was united to abolition and identified with it. At this session the 
 petitions against slavery numbered only one hundred and seventy- 
 six, with thirty-four thousand signatures. The "Pinckney gag" 
 swelled the signatures the following session to one hundred and 
 ten thousand, and in the session of 1837-8 the number ran up to 
 three hundred thousand. 
 
 Mr. Tyler did not remain in the Senate to vote upon any of the 
 propositions before that body relative to slavery. He resigned, 
 as we have seen, on February 29, 1836. But it remains to 
 mention that, before he did so, he drew up, as chairman of the 
 District Committee, a searching report on the power of Congress 
 over slavery in the District. This was done in anticipation of a 
 
582 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TTLERS. 
 
 reference of the petitions offered by Mr. Morris, but, like the re- 
 port at the previous session, it was not presented to the Senate. 
 That it existed, however, was well known, and on a call for it, in 
 September, 1836, Mr. Tyler had it published in the Eichmond 
 Whiff} In this report Mr. Tyler took the ground of his Glouces- 
 ter resolutions, that the abolition of slavery in the District, without 
 the consent of Virginia and Maryland, would be an act of bad 
 faith to those States, and beyond the constitutional power of Con- 
 gress.^ 
 
 Mr. Tyler's retirement was by no means an uneventful one. 
 Few, very few, of our public men ever delivered as many ad- 
 dresses, and none superior. In October, 1 837, he made an address 
 at Torktown, on the anniversary of the surrender of Cornwallis.' 
 In the spring following he consented to ran for the House of 
 Delegates, and was elected without much serious opposition. In 
 the June following, he delivered a beautiful oration at Eandolph 
 Macon College."' Thus, though out of active public life, he was 
 still a potent factor in the world. 
 
 Mr. Tyler took his seat in the Virginia Legislature in the midst 
 of the excitement over an election for senator to succeed Mr. 
 Kives, who, on Mr. Tyler's resignation in 1836, had been elected 
 to the vacancy by the Democrats; but, to understand the interest- 
 ing events which immediately occurred in the Legislature, it will 
 be necessary to take a brief retrospect of political history during 
 the past two years. 
 
 Scarcely had Van Buren taken his seat in the chair of the chief 
 magistracy, to which he had been elected as the successor of 
 Jackson, than tlie storm which had been threatening so long, from 
 the tinkering of Jackson with the most delicate monetary interests 
 of the country, burst upon society. The public moneys, removed 
 from the custody of the United States Bank, were deposited, as 
 we have observed, in a host of State banks, whose number rapidly 
 ran up to eighty-one. These banks were under instructions from 
 
 1 Mr. Tyler on Slavery in the District, Niles, li. , pp. 44-46. 
 
 ' Von Hoist gives B. W. Leigh, in his speech on the 7th of January, 1836, the 
 credit of being the first to deny the power of Congress over slavery in the Dis- 
 trict. In this he is mistaken. Mr. Tyler preceded Mr. Leigh in the declaration. 
 
 ' See Southern Literary Messenger for the address, iii., p. 747. 
 
 ■• Hid., v., p. 20. A'oell's Tyler, Appendix. 
 
FINANCIAL CRISIS OF 1837. 583 
 
 the government to loan the deposits freely. Falling in with a 
 period of speculative mania, the loans contributed to encourage 
 -the establishment of new banks and vast purchases of the public 
 lands. Great schemes of internal improvements were pushed by 
 the States with the aid of borrowed money, and immense debts 
 accumulated. The compromise tariff, acting only gradually in 
 the descending scale, left, after the payment of the public debt, a 
 yearly increasing surplus, which was loaned out by the deposit banks. 
 Banks sprang up, like mushrooms, all over the country ; were ap- 
 pointed deposit banks, and went into the business of loaning, and 
 issuing notes. Speculators borrowed these notes, bought lands 
 with them, and borrowed them again after they were thus re- 
 turned to the bank. In 1834, $5,000,000 worth was sold; in 
 1835, $11,000,000; and in 1836, $24,800,000. 
 
 The surplus revenue was the great disturbing agent, and Con- 
 ■gress at the session of 1 885-'6 attempted to remove it by ordering 
 it to be deposited with the States. This, however, only changed 
 the mode of speculation, not the degree. Jackson, with a rougher 
 hand, issued a circular to the land receivers, dated July 11, 1836, 
 ordering them to accept nothing but specie in satisfaction of sales. 
 Ey the bill providing for the deposit of the surplus with the States, 
 ^11 the money in excess of $5,000,000 was to be divided among the 
 States in proportion to their representation in the electoral college. 
 Payments to the States were to be made in four equal installments, 
 ■on the first days of January, April, July, and October of 1837. 
 
 These measures only pricked the bubble which the accumulating 
 surplus and the reckless management of the administration had 
 ajjeady blown up to the point of bursting. The anticipated re- 
 moval- of the deposits from the banks, and the demand for specie, 
 struck a mortal blow to paper issues and the credit of the specu- 
 lators. All classes were involved in one way or another. Grain 
 ^nd coal reached high prices in the fall of 1836. A. great flour 
 riot occurred in City Hall Park in New York, in the month of 
 February, 1837. Then, in the beginning of March, 1837, the 
 tornado burst upon the land. In the general prostration of com- 
 merce, the banks, stocks of all kinds, paper money, and exchanges 
 a-esembled so many leaves tossed hither and thither in the sky by 
 the mad fury of the storm, and then dashed, torn into shreds, to 
 the ground. 
 
584: LETTEKS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 The President, Mr. Van Buren, stood aghast at the spectacle, and 
 convoked Congress in extraordinary session. When Congress met 
 three out of the four installments of the distribution had been paid, 
 but the government, to save its own treasury, and preserve the deposit 
 banks from entire ruin, had to order a postponement of the pay- 
 ment of the fourth installment until the 1st of January, 1839 — that 
 meant forever. The government never got any of the deposits 
 back from the States, and years passed before any part of the 
 fourth installment was recovered from the banks. 
 
 President Van Buren's scheme for restoring a healthful cur- 
 rency was the project of the " Independent Treasury." He pro- 
 posed that the government should be its own fiscal agent, and 
 have nothing to do with banks or bank paper. The Whigs had 
 been informed by Jackson of the entire efliciency of the " pet bank" 
 system, but now, when they were told it was a " mere experiment" 
 to get safely to the true fiscal agent, to-wit : the Independent 
 Treasury, it is not surprising, whatever the real merits of the re- 
 commendation, that they were inclined to regard it as of a kind 
 with the cruel bungling of the past — "all humbnggery ! " ' It 
 was remembered that when William F. Gordon, a Whig, proposed 
 the same scheme, in 1834, the Democi'ats turned their noses up at 
 it, and voted to pass it by. 
 
 The extra-session, which witnessed the debut in Van Buren's 
 message of the new system of finance, witnessed also a new schism 
 in the ranks of the Democratic party. There was a class that 
 maintained that the State banks had not been fully tested. Such 
 were Eives, Tallmadge, and Legare. This faction called them- 
 selves " Conservatives," and were in favor of a government system 
 of deposits with State banks under certain restrictions and regula- 
 tions, tending to the better safety of the public funds and the re- 
 pression of speculation. For a time these Conservatives maintained 
 a quasi independent attitude, but eventually they came to con- 
 stitute a genuine element of the great Whig party. 
 
 But if the Whigs acquired new strength by the accession of the 
 Conservatives, it was more than counterbalanced by the defection 
 from their own ranks of a large portion of the State-rights party 
 in recent afliliation with them. Calhoim, Tazewell, Gordon, 
 Troup, and many others of tlie opposition, who had acted with 
 
 1 See Mr. Tyler's letter to the Whig. (Niles, liv., p. 178.) 
 
DEFECTION OF CALHOUN. 585' 
 
 the Whigs in all their late measui-es against Jackson, now went 
 over to the Democrats on the specie platform of the Independent 
 Treasury. This was a real party treason. Calhoun, in fact, had 
 heen as much a Whig as Mr. Tyler. True, he had loved to call, 
 himself a State-rights man, but in his action on the deposits, on 
 the recharter of the Bank, in 1834, and on many other questions- 
 during the past four years, he had shown himself ten times the 
 party man that Mr. Tyler had. 
 
 To say the least of it, it was a remarkably sudden somersault 
 on the part of Calhoun. It did, indeed, seem strange that he,, 
 who of all men had cause to resent the course of Yan Buren, who 
 had as vice-president voted to reject his nomination as minister to 
 England, and who in all things had waged against him an uncom- 
 promising war, should now be found supporting the favorite 
 measures of his administration ! Men said that the presidential 
 bee had again returned to Calhoun's bonnet, and though he ap- 
 peared, in a letter written at this time, to ascribe a change of front 
 to the fear that the victory of the Whigs would enure more to the 
 injury of the State-rights party and the South than that of the 
 Democrats, his own colleague, William C. Preston, interpreted it 
 to mean that he hated and feared Clay more than Van Buren. 
 
 But be that as it may, it admits of no question that Calhoun's- 
 course at this juncture was scarcely less detrimental to the future 
 of the State-rights party than his course on the nullification ques- 
 tion. United, that organization could hold its own against any 
 odds ; but divided between the two great parties, it ran the immi- 
 nent danger of being permanently disrupted. And what a pic- 
 ture Calhoun presented ! There he was playing second fiddle to- 
 Benton in the ranks of the administration, "along side of the sup- 
 porters of the ' bloody bill,' the expungers, and all that faithless 
 and atrocious crew of whose treachery he was the most conspicu- 
 ous victim, and whose ferocity had been glutted on his friends."' 
 The " appalling shout " with which the loco focos relieved him in 
 September, found an interpretation in December in "the cold and 
 doubtful regard they already turned upon him."' " We will accept 
 your services," they seemed to say, " but we will never trust you." 
 
 [Pkeston to Tyler. J 
 
 Washington City, December 30, 1837. 
 My Dear Sir: Although the active campaign has not yet commenced,. 
 
586 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEES. 
 
 there are sufficient indications of the mode in which it is to be conducted on 
 either side to enable me to give you some notiou of it. In the first place, the 
 administration intended at the beginning to assume its position of the extra 
 session, but at the same time to permit such a modification of their measures 
 as will permit Rives and his Southern friends to rejoin them. 
 
 As for the Northern conservatives, Tallmadge and his friends, there is no 
 hope of reclaiming them. He is as much in the opposition as any of us, and 
 will probably introduce resolutions denouncing that portion of the message 
 which animadverts on the New York elections, which will be the occasion of 
 our first regular assault. You will see at a. glance how difficult it will be for 
 the administration party to vindicate the interference of the President in a 
 State election, and especially his assertion that the result of the election was 
 corruptly controlled. If Tallmadge will not introduce these resolutions (he 
 is now in New York to see about it), some one else will. 
 
 Whether Rives will avail himself of the permission to return to the admin- 
 istration by a compromise on special deposits, I cannot say. I think he will 
 be compelled by his weakness, which is pitiable. The Tallmadge men have 
 left him and gone over to the Whigs, and Calhoun has joined the administra- 
 tion against him in the South, which cuts off some of the State-rights Whigs, 
 who join the admioistration, but retain their hatred to poor Rives. Hatred 
 to Rives, and admiration of Mr. Calhoun, have come near ruining our State- 
 rights opposition party in the South. Many are not willing to go with Rives, 
 even though he were right, and more are willing to go with Calhoun, though 
 he be manifestly wrong. Mr. Calhoun's own course was decided, as he states 
 in his Edgefield letter, by the fact that he hated and feared Clay more than 
 Vau Buren, and his miserable minions here have taken the grouud that they 
 prefer Webster to Clay, denouncing the latter as an abolitionist and every 
 thing that is base. Tbe3r are about to establish a paper here, a branch of the 
 Olobe, for the purpose of writing down Clay and sustaining Mr. Van Buren. 
 
 The course of my colleague has been disastrous to his frieods, and his own 
 position is most mournful. He has carried our State against Hayne, Hamil- 
 ton, McDuffie, Cheves — in short, against every man whose name has ever 
 been heard of out of it. This is, of course, the commencement of a long and 
 ardent struggle/ in which Mr. C. will see in opposing ranks the familiar faces 
 ■of those gallant gentlemen who for ten years past have fought under his ban- 
 ner, while he now surrounds himself by supporters of the bloody bill, by the 
 -expungers, by all that faithless and atrocious crew of whose treachery he was 
 the most conspicuous victim, and whose ferocity has been glutted upon his 
 friends. His enemies received him in September with a shout that must have 
 been appalling enough to him ; but already they turn upon him a cold and 
 doubtful regard. General Jackson writes that they must not trust him. 
 BentoQ says he fears Mr. Calhoun will do him more harm than good in carry- 
 ing out his projects ; that he should have come over earlier ; but that he will 
 not reject his services. 
 
 Mr. Calhoun has supposed that he could carry North Carolina and Georgia 
 as well as our own State. In this he has been vastly mistaken. The State- 
 rights party of North Carolina stands firm, and in Georgia we have not lost a 
 
LETl'EK FEOM WILLIAM 0. PEESTON. 587 
 
 man from our friend Gilmer down, and he writes oheeringly that the Whigs 
 will carry that State at the next election. What effect his course has pro- 
 •duced in Virginia you know better than I. In Alabama it has had a very 
 deleterious effect, and will prevent it from joining the opposition. You see 
 i;hat Clay's friends have put him before the public as a candidate for the 
 presidency. My respect and admiration for him have increased with my 
 knowledge of him. I believe him a great man and a good patriot ; but I do 
 not think that the South should involve itself in a presidential canvass. We 
 ■may be allowed, however, to take some interest in the second officer ; and if 
 the choice of the opposition falls on you, as I hope it may, that will rouse our 
 •enthusiasm. You and Troup of Georgia are spoken of. My name was ob- 
 scurely mentioned, but without any authority; and though the pretext 
 seemed slight for my interference, I availed myself of it, and at once put ab 
 end to the probability of the intimation being received. 
 
 Can you not take a few days with us here ? It would be the occasion of 
 .much feasting among us, for you will find the city yet abounding with cor- 
 dial friends, — amongst whom is proud to be numbered. 
 
 Your very obedient servant, Wm. 0. Preston. 
 
 The Conservatives were the latest revolters from the Democratic 
 ranks, and when the Legislature of Virginia assembled, something 
 more than a year after the date of this letter, the attitude of Mr. 
 Eives and his friends remained still equivocal. Mr. Hives was 
 -against Van Buren, but not heartily with the Whigs. The effort 
 to make him a "Whig occasioned a scene in the General Assembly 
 the most remarkable in some respects in the annals of the country. 
 
 By the result of the spring elections, in 1838, no one party had 
 ■a clear majority. The strength of the parties in the Legislature 
 was estimated at eighty-one Whigs, sixty-eight administration 
 Democrats, and seventeen Conservatives, — supportersof Mr. Kives. 
 The House was organized on the Yth of January, 1839. Mr- 
 Tyler appeared and took his seat, and Thomas W. Gilmer was 
 ■elected speaker. Instantly the interest of the members turned 
 upon the election of senator. 
 
 Up to within a late period the unanimous opinion of the Whig 
 party had fixed upon Mr. Tyler as the proper successor to Mr. 
 Eives, whose term of oflBce was destined to expire on the 4th of 
 March, 1839.^ It seemed altogether proper that the martyr to the 
 expunging resolution should be promptly vindicated by a return to 
 
 ' In December, 1836, when the Democrats elected B. E. Parker as successor to 
 3. W. Leigh, who, making a pretext of his private affairs, resigned before the 
 year was out, the Whigs in the Legislature complimented Mr. Tyler with their vote. 
 
588 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 the place from which he had been expunged in the interest of the- 
 Whig party. Notwithstanding this, in a short time before the^ 
 meeting of the Legislature a new spirit seized upon the mass of 
 the Whigs. They soon began to praise Mr. Kives for his opposi- 
 tion to the Independent Treasury, and finally to extol him to the 
 skies for his very many really amiable qualities, and recommenda- 
 tions as a statesman and a gentleman. No one would have ob- 
 jected to this, if the matter had stopped here ; but when the court- 
 ship was carried to the extent of systematic hypocrisy and treachery 
 to Mr. Tyler, the affair came to be viewed in another light than 
 the voluntary offering of truth at tlie shrine of patriotism and 
 and talents, — qualities whose possession Mr. Tyler would have 
 been the first to ascribe to William C. Kives. Nine days after 
 the opening of the Legislature, Mr. Tyler wrote as follows tO' 
 Thomas E. Dew, President of William and Mary College : 
 
 [To Thomas R. Dew.] 
 (President William and Mary College.) 
 
 Richmond, January 16, 1836. 
 
 My Dear Sir : .... As to politics, everything here seems to be at odds- 
 and ends. Strong efforts were made, and are making, to induce the Whig 
 party to go for Rives. How far they have been attended with success, I can- 
 not say. My own opinion, however, is that an ultimate rally will be made 
 upon me, and that a fair battle will be fought with a Sub-Treasury man. If 
 so, the contest is very doubtful. If, however, I am disappointed in this cal- 
 culation, and Rives should be run, his election will be rendered more than 
 probable by the defection of enough Whigs to carry him in and throw me- 
 out upon the second ballot, in which event he would be returned. They ha^e 
 a stupid rule here that the lowest on the ballot is to be dropped, by which it 
 may happen, that under a system of jugglery, the strongest man may be- 
 beaten. For myself, I take but little interest in what is going on, having 
 been engaged for some days past in preparing a report on the subject of the- 
 public lands, which will be submitted to the Committee to-day, and if ap- 
 proved by them, will be handed in to the House. I think the Legislature willi 
 go for a distribution of the proceeds of sales. 
 
 Wishing you health and happiness, I am, truly yours, John Tylkr. 
 
 On the 16th of January, a resolution 'was offered by Colonel 
 Watkins, who led the Democrats, to go into an election of senator.. 
 The vote upon the resolution developed a curious result. While the- 
 strong personal fi-iends of Mr. Tyler voted with the Democrats 
 for an early election, the mass of the Whig members voted with 
 the Conservatives to effect a postponement. The election was- 
 
CONTEST BETWEEN MR. TYLER AND MR. EIVES. 589 
 
 finally set for the 15th of February, a week later than the Demo- 
 ■crats proposed. What did that mean ? 
 
 In the interim a vast deal was done in the way of intrigue, 
 whose explanation will appear later. Mr. Tyler kept aloof from 
 •everything but his legislative duties, but he could not help noting 
 some of the many evidences of agitation. When the day ap- 
 pointed for the election came around, the whisper, the wink, and 
 the innuendo were still frequent in the Whig ranks. Mr. Thomas 
 H. Willcox, of Charles City, nominated for senator John Tyler, 
 3)rououncing him the only man the Whigs could, with decency, 
 support. A Democrat nominated in his party's name John Y. 
 Mason. A Conservative next arose and nominated Mr. William 
 ■C. Rives. The ballot was then taken, but it was found that in- 
 stead of all the Whigs voting for Mr. Tyler, a portion had voted 
 for Mr. Hives. Thus the count stood : Tyler, sixty-two ; Mason, 
 sixty-six; Hives, twenty-nine; scattering seven. 
 
 Another ballot was taken. The i-esult was: Tyler, sixty -five; 
 Mason, sixty-seven; Rives, twenty-eight; scattering four. Mr. 
 Rives was each time dropped, and each time renominated. 
 
 Again the count was made. The third ballot stood: Tyler, 
 sixty-one; Mason, sixty-seven; Rives, thirty-two. A portion of 
 the Whigs still stubbornly supported Mr. Rives. 
 
 The fourth ballot developed the strength of the candidates as 
 follows: Tyler, forty-seven; Madison, sixty-eight; Rives, forty- 
 three ; and James Barbour, two. " It is obvious," said Mr. Ritchie 
 in the Enquirer, " that Mr. Rives is increasing his strength by the 
 Whig vote at the expense of Mr. Tyler; and it is well understood 
 that the great mass of them is determined to go over to him — 
 Rives." The meaning of the postponenent of the election now 
 stood revealed to the dullest mind. The majority of the Whigs 
 had coldly calculated to elect Mr. Rives, and thus identify him 
 with the party ; and they had combined with the Conservatives in 
 order to give more time to the intrigues in favor of Mr. Rives. 
 The Democrats, on the other hand, wanted an early election, so as 
 to prevent the maturing of the breach in their party ranks. 
 
 Mr. Tyler's friends were indignant. It was emphatically as- 
 serted by three of them (Botts, Bayly, and Goode) that his elec- 
 tion was certain, if the Whigs would cease encouraging Mr. Rives, 
 and concentrate upon the regular candidate. In that event, three 
 
690 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLKES. 
 
 of the Conservatives would vote for Mr. Tyler, and thus give him 
 the necessary majority. 
 
 Nevertheless, a fifth ballot showed the operation of the same in- 
 fluences as before: Tyler, forty-seven; Mason, sixty-eight; Rives,, 
 forty-five, scattering one. 
 
 On the sixth ballot Mr. Tyler received forty-two. Mason sixty- 
 eight, Eives fifty-one. By the rule of the House, Mr. Tyler was 
 now dropped, and coiild only appear as a candidate again on a re- 
 nomination. 
 
 This, indeed, it was eas_y enough to get. Mr. Samuel E. Ser- 
 vant, of Elizabeth City, arose and notified the House that he- 
 should to-morrow again place the name of Mr. Tyler before the- 
 House. He denounced the action of the Whigs. He never wished 
 again to be called a Whig if proclamation and protests and ex- 
 punging resolutions and Force bills formed any portion of their 
 principles ; and yet half the Whig members were voting for a man 
 who represented in his person all these usurpations on the Consti- 
 tution of the land. If a thorough Whig was not nominated and 
 supported, he preferred to vote at once for John T. Mason, the- 
 Democratic candidate. 
 
 On this Mr. Tyler arose. He announced that it was his inten- 
 tion not to suffer his name again to be used. By the rule of the- 
 House he had been dropped, and although, by the construction of 
 the Speaker in the case of the individual whom he (Mr. Tyler) 
 had the honor of leading in five several ballots, it was in order for- 
 him to be again presented to the suffrages of the House, he did 
 not desire the extension of the privilege in his case. His friends 
 had the power to keep the House balloting till the end of the- 
 session; "but," said Mr. Tyler, "if my Whig brethren will pre- 
 sent a thorough-going Whig to the Senate, I will support him 
 with the utmost cheerfulness." 
 
 The balloting continued. Instead of absenting himself, as hith- 
 erto, Mr. Tyler now kept his seat, and on the next ballot cast his 
 vote for Thomas Walker Gilmer, the Speaker of the House. This 
 ballot was very suggestive. Mr. Tyler being out of the way, the- 
 Whig vote was nearly all cast for Mr. Eives. From fifty-one- 
 votes he now leaped to seventy-eight. But the Whigs caught 
 themselves with their own trumps. Eighty-two votes were ne- 
 cessary to elect, and Mr. Eives could never get more than. 
 
TREACHERY OF HENRY CLAY. 591 
 
 seventy-eight. About sixteen Whigs, including Mr. Tyler and 
 Mr. Gilmer, stood firm for some genuine Whig, and nothing could, 
 prevail upon them to go for Mr. Rives. Mr. V. W. Southall, Mr. 
 Gilmer's colleague, vehemently denounced the majority for the 
 betrayal of every Whig sentiment and principle. 
 
 Thus the contest continued for days of stubborn debate and 
 balloting. It was pronounced by the Enquirer "the most arduous 
 that had ever occurred in Yirginia." The roll was called twenty- 
 eight different times, and each time the end seemed no nearer 
 than the time before. All the papers in the Union were absorbed 
 in speculations upon the issue. Who could be at the bottom of 
 this infamous scheme to destroy Mr. Tyler ? 
 
 It was no less remarkable than true that all the Clay papers,, 
 from Boston to Richmond, seemed to exult in Mr. Rives' for- 
 tunes. Here was a clue. Judge Christian acted upon it, and. 
 immediately wrote to Henry A. Wise, in Washington, to bring 
 the Kentuckian to an explanation. In his fiery way, Wise saw 
 Clay and accused him of treachery to Mr. Tyler. Mr. Wise him- 
 self explains the interview. Clay was covered with confusion of 
 shame at the detection, admitted a knowledge of the attempt to 
 elect Mr. Rives, avowed the most kindly feeling for Mr. Tyler, 
 and promised that " if Mr. Tyler's friends, who withheld Mr. 
 Rives^ election 'by the Legislature, would yield his re-election, Mr. 
 Tyler should be nominated on the Whig ticket for the vice-presi- 
 dency." ^ 
 
 1 That Mr. Clay instigated the election of Mr. Rives, and thus repeated hi& 
 treacherous conduct to Mr. Tyler at Columbus, Ohio, in 1836, is fuUy corroborated 
 by Clay's own letters. Thus, in his letter to Judge Brooke, of December 26 
 1838, he uses this language : 
 
 "Those out of your State are struck by the fact that a co-operation between the 
 Whigs and Conservatives will secure a majority against the administration, and 
 that without it the majority may be the other way. The object, therefore, to be 
 accomplished, if it be practicable, is to secure that majority co-operation ; and to 
 those at a distance Mr. Eives' re-election appears to be a probable means. If it be 
 not,— if a hearty co-operation cannot be produced by it- -if nothing is to be gained 
 but Mr. Rives himself ,— quite a different view of the question would be entertained. 
 Mr. Eives has himself no claim upon the Whigs but those which arise from his 
 recent course, and, confining the question to him alone, his expunging vote and 
 former course would more than neutralize his recent claims. But a more extended 
 view should be taken of the matter. If he can be used as an instrument to acquire 
 an accession of strength that would array Virginia against the administration, the 
 inquiry then would be whether sound policy does not demand that we should 
 
.592 LETTBES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 The material points of Mr. Wise's account are undoubtedly 
 •correct, but when he goes on and intimates that the offer was ac- 
 •cepted, and that, while Mr. Tyler's friends could not be induced to 
 vote for Mr. flives, they stood aside and allowed his nomination 
 to be consummated with the understanding that Mr. Tyler should 
 ireceive Mr. Clay's support in the Whig nominating convention, 
 he manifestly, though unintentionally, does injustice to Mr. 
 Tyler. On the contrary, Mr. Kives was not elected until after 
 the nomination of Mr. Tyler for the vice-presidency. Mr. Tyler 
 .and his friends scorned all advances of the kind, and the election 
 ,of Mr. Rives was postponed until the next session, when Mr. 
 Kives was voted for by Mr. Gilmer and others of the " imprac- 
 .ticables," and elected as a Whig:^ Thus the Eiiqxdrer wrote: 
 
 The curtain has dropped for the present, and the election of senator has 
 .heen indefinitely postponed. Eight days were wasted in the unavailing effort to 
 elect, and the struggle sometimes extended into the night. All in vain! . . . 
 It was determined by the majority of the Whig party not to elect a Whig, 
 but, if possible, Mr. Bives, from calculations of "policy," — and they, the 
 .larger party in the Legislature, were determined to abandon their own man, 
 and form a coalition with the smallest party for the purpose of electing Mr. 
 Bives 1 As we stated in our last paper, no effort was spared on Friday last 
 to prepare their troops for action on Saturday. At one moment they gave 
 out that they should succeed. Every consideration was addressed to the 
 "impracticable" Whigs to withdraw from their position. One of the most 
 distinguished Whig orators in the Senate of the United States was upon the 
 ground, and exerting the witchery of his eloquence upon the refractory mem- 
 bers. Among other arguments we have heard it said that the splendors of 
 the vice-presidential chair was held up to dazzle the imagination of one of the 
 
 most celebrated Whigs in the Legislature.' Every effort was exerted to win 
 1 
 
 sacrifice all feelimgs excited by a highly exceptionable vote in consideration of a 
 great object to be gained for the good of our country. I appreciate and feel sen- 
 sibly all the difficulties in making such a saerifice, but I think I could submit to it 
 if I had a reasonable certainty of that object being secured. It is manifest that if 
 we repel the advances of all the former members of the -Jackson party to unite 
 with us, under whatever name they may adopt, we must remain in a perpetual and 
 Jiopeless minority." (Clay's Corresp., p. 435.) 
 
 Again, on January 28, 1839, be wrote : "I believe myself that the current in my 
 favor, which for the moment appeared to be impeded, wiU again burst forth with 
 .accumulated Btreugth. The movement which you suppose will take place at Kich- 
 mond, if made, would give great impulse to that current." (Jbid., pp. 439-440.) 
 
 1 This was after a speech of Mr. Eives at a dinner in November, 1839. Mr. 
 Bayly and two of the other "impracticable" Whigs voted to the last against Mr. 
 Kives. (See Mr. Bayly's speech. Enquirer, March 7, 1840.) 
 
 ' Mr. Tyler. 
 
SENATOEIAL ELECTION POSTPONED. 593 
 
 liim to the support of Mr. Rives, and to carry two or three of his particular 
 friends with him. But every effort failed. The "forlorn hope'' stood firm, — 
 no election was made, and the whole question was indefinitely postponed. 
 
 Mr. Tyler would not vote for Mr. Eives on any of the twenty- 
 two ballots in which he cast his vote. The independent attitude 
 of himself and the " impracticables " during the interval that pre- 
 'vailed between this time and the Harrisburg convention, which 
 met in the following December, was as a sword suspended, not 
 Alone over Mr. Clay's head, but over the whole Whig party. But 
 Mr. Tyler entered into no bargain or intrigue with Clay, or any 
 other man. His position unquestionably gave him new claims 
 upon the "Whig party, but he was already their virtually accepted 
 candidate for the vice-presidency. And, indeed, there was nothing 
 strange in this. He had been run for it three years before, and 
 .so 'far as that goes, Preston, a witness not to be thought lightly of, 
 raised up but one rival against him only two years back. This 
 was George M. Troup, the governor of Georgia, in the times of 
 the Creek difficulties. Troup, however, afterwards went over to 
 Yan Buren, and thus no one remained to compete with Mr. Tyler. 
 The State-rights party were in the same fix that they were in at 
 the last election. They had to look about for an available can- 
 didate for the presidency, and they found him in Clay, whose 
 course on the compromise tariff bill had wiped away many of his 
 former sins. But for the vice-presidency, they were in a position 
 to insist on an out-and-out representative. It was an expression 
 of this feeling that caused Judge White — the Whig candidate of 
 the South in 1836, opposed to a national bank and tariff — to make 
 Mr. Tyler's nomination the condition precedent of his support.' 
 
 On the 4th of December following the fruitless contest in the 
 Tirginia Legislature, the great Whig convention met at Harris- 
 burg, in the State of Pennsylvania. Immediately on its organiza- 
 tion by the election of James Barbour, of Virginia, as president, 
 the names of Clay and Tyler were brought before the convention 
 by one of the Louisiana delegation, speaking in the name of the 
 absent Arkansas delegation. The ballot was taken first for the 
 presidential nominee. Henry Clay was the choice of the Southern 
 Whigs, but the anti-Masons and old National Eepublicans, whom 
 he had off'ended by his course since 1832, went for Harrison and 
 
 ' See the details of this affair in the "Seven Decades," pp. 162-69. 
 
594: LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 Scott. In his seeking after Southern votes his late speech in Con- 
 gress on the slavery question still further injured Clay with his- 
 old friends. Treachery, too, had been at play against him. Wise,^. 
 in his Seven Decades, unfolds the secrets of the game. The cards- 
 were stocked as follows : C of Eochester ; S of Uticair 
 
 and T of the city of New York, each urged the other two 
 
 by letter to do all in their power for Clay in their parts of the- 
 State, since there was no chance for him where the writer resided.. 
 The result was, that districts which had in fact majorities for Clay 
 were made to go for Scott in despair of the former's election.^ 
 
 In the convention the game thus begun in New York was car- 
 ried to a successfnl conclusion. Through the machinations and! 
 intrigues of the high-tariff men and the anti-Masons, Clay came- 
 into the convention with only a plurality vote. There Sprague^. 
 of Massachusetts, who was in the plot, moved that the proceedings- 
 on the nominations should be ordered as follows : The convention! 
 should vote, not by individuals, but by States alone. The work 
 should be done in committee by the appointment of not exceed- 
 ing three delegates from each delegation, who should receive the- 
 views and opinions of their respective delegations and report them 
 to the grand committee composed of all the committees of three.. 
 These should report to the convention whensoever a majority of 
 the States should be found in favor of any person for the presi- 
 dency. To this a man named Penrose moved as an amendment 
 that the vote of a majority of each delegation should be reported 
 as the entire vote of that State, and that each State represented at" 
 all in the convention should cast its entire electoral vote without" 
 reference to the number of delegates in attendance. The conven- 
 tion adopted these suggestions, and its proceedings were ordered 
 accordingly. 
 
 For several days the committees labored hard in their rooms. - 
 The southern Whigs stood nobly by Clay when the North had de- 
 serted him ; but as he had only a plurality vote in the first in- 
 stance, the result was inevitable. The Scott and Harrison men 
 combined against him, and his defeat was announced in the final- 
 report of the grand committee, which pronounced one hundredl 
 and forty-eight votes for William H. Harrison, ninety for Henry- 
 Clay, and sixteen for Scott. 
 
 ' "Seven Decades,'' pp. 165-6; Clay's "Prm.te Correspondence," p. 442. 
 
HAEEISBDEG CONVENTION. 595 
 
 The presidential candidate having been disposed of, the conven- 
 tion began to ballot through the committees for vice-president. 
 Everything pointed to the nomination of a Southern man, and to 
 Mr. Tyler as that man. Mr. Leigh, a member of the grand com- 
 mittee, in a letter very honorable to his own character, says that 
 Mr. Tyler was from the start the choice of a large majority of 
 the convention.^ The fact is, the defeat of Clay rendered Mr. 
 Tyler's nomination all the more urgent as a concession to State- 
 rights.'' 
 
 Mr. Tyler employed neither intrigue nor solicitation in obtain- 
 ing the nomination ; was faithful in the support of Mr. Clay, and 
 neither gave nor asked pledges of any kind. To the last he was 
 nothing but an honest State-rights man. 
 
 ' Leigh's letter to the Kichmond Whig. (Niles, Ixi., p. 232.) 
 '' It became afterwards a settled policy with the Federal Whigs, in older the bet- 
 ter to run Mr. Tyler down, to disparage the vice-presidency. That office, however, 
 had been courted before by too many distinguished men to fall in its importance. 
 The line of vice-presidents up to the present day can bear comparison with that of 
 the first office. Calhoun had held it for nearly eight years, and in 1824 Henry 
 Clay would have been very glad to get it. He wrote at that time, " Most un- 
 doubtedly the office of vice-president is one of high respectability and great dig- 
 nity — preferable to any place in the cabinet. If the acceptance of it were offered 
 me (I mean by the pubUc having a right to tender it) I would not decline it ; but 
 I cannot seek it, much less make any sacrifices of honor or duty to obtain it." 
 (Corresp., 103.) The Whigs, however, were not aiming at the office, but the man 
 who occupied it. A story, originating with Botts, was very popular with them, 
 that the "tears" alleged to have been wrung from Mr. Tyler's eyes on the defeat 
 of Mr. Clay alone procured his nomination. The Whigs set up a new character 
 in political parties, to make them subject to such exquisitely sentimental influ- 
 ences. If friendship for Clay induced Mr. Tyler's nomination, how strange that 
 they should have taken a man long opposed to him in principle, and overlooked 
 the superior claims of Clay's numerous henchmen I There were plenty of men in 
 the country who had strikingly shown their devotion to Clay by long years of 
 truckling and pandering. As to the charge of "tear shedding," the treachery of 
 the anti-Masons and old National Republicans at Harrisburg was shameless enough 
 to make any honest man weep ! Tear shedding, however, on the part of illustri- 
 ous characters was no new thing. John Adams wept " womanish " tears, not from 
 grief at the misfortunes of a friend, as Mr. Tyler is alleged to have done, but be- 
 cause of mere personal mortification at the election of Jefferson. (Tucker's Hist, 
 tr. S., ii., p. 137.) Webster and "Old Hickory" wept, and Clay is recorded to 
 have cried and sworn like a trooper on his defeat at Harrisburg. The great 
 trouble with the " tear shedding " story is, that there is not a particle of truth in 
 it. Mrs. Tyler says that she once remarked on this charge to her husband, and 
 that he laughed heartily, and said "that he wished that it was the greatest of the 
 falsehoods propagated concerning him." 
 
596 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 With the nominations of Harrison and Tyler, the convention 
 concluded its proceedings. Wiser than the Charleston convention 
 of 1860, it did not proceed to dig its own grave by attempting to 
 publish to the world a platform of principles} The National 
 Eepublicans and anti-Masons, much as they had committed them- 
 selves to the State-rights principles, would have started back in 
 alarm from the deliberate promulgation of them. And who can 
 doubt, from after developments, that they were even now schem- 
 ing, in case of success, to flaunt the Federal banner on the outer 
 wall ? After all, the defeat of the Democrats was the main point, 
 and this could as well be done without a platform as with one. 
 
 We have represented Clay as the State-rights candidate, and 
 we come now to trace the several steps in his metamorphosis from 
 a Federalist, dyed-in the-wool. 
 
 The service that Clay did the South, in 1833, was no light one. 
 In the very teeth of the vaunted Democracy of Andrew Jackson, 
 which stood prepared to crush South Carolina, he had proved him- 
 self the friend of peace and State-rights. The hand-shake of 
 Tyler and Clay on the floor of the American Senate, on his an- 
 nouncing the compromise tarifi' bill, was a declaration before the 
 world that henceforth Clay and the South were to be friends.^ 
 That measure remained the great tie between them until after the 
 
 1 Concerning the Charleston convention Mr. Tyler wrote : 
 
 Sheewood foEEST, Jan. 19, 1860. 
 
 To-day the General Assembly give a complimentary dinner to Governor Wise, 
 and I have been invited to it, but decline attending. My letter is full of profes- 
 sions of friendship to the Governor, which I sincerely feel, but I say nothiag 
 politically. If you ask me whether I approve of the Governor's political views in 
 toto, my answer would be in the negative. I have regretted his opposition in the 
 main to Mr. Buchanan. I think, on the contrary, that the president has acquitted 
 himself well in his high oflice, and if renominated, I should go to the polls and 
 vote for him with alacrity. But my friendship for Wise is almost indestructible. 
 It had its beginning in times of great trouble, and he was faithful. His election 
 to the presidency is equivalent to an endorsement of my administration by the 
 country ; and, therefore, as well as for my confidence in him, his election would 
 be gratifying to me. I think he will carry the electoral vote of Virginia in the 
 convention. But even if he and Douglas should be inclined to break up the con- 
 vention, of which I should entirely disapprove, my belief is that neither would be 
 permitted to do it, even by their supporters. The condition of the country is alto- 
 gether too critical for this. Some man will be nominated without a platform, 
 which at most is a useless thing. We had, in 1839, far greater disensions at 
 Harrisburg, and a platform woirld have scattered us to the winds. 
 
 ' See Mr. Tyler's address at the Clay banquet, p. 467. 
 
CLAY AGAINST A UNITED STATES BANK. 597 
 
 election of Harrison. New relations caused the old issues to be- 
 come necessarily obsolete. Henceforth a national bank, tariff, 
 and internal improvements were to be entirely "obsolete ques- 
 tions." 
 
 Even in 1834, Clay had agreed with Tyler on the propriety of 
 requiring an amendment of the Constitution in the case of the 
 Bank.^ But three years after he took a step a long way in ad- 
 vance of this. On the meeting of the extra session in Septem- 
 ber, 1837, in reply to memorials in favor of a national bank, 
 Clay moved that it would be expedient to establish a Bank 
 of the United States whenever it shall be manifest that a clear 
 majority of the people of the United States desire such an institu- 
 tion.^ What this meant is explained in the details of Clay's agree- 
 ment with Judge Hugh Lawson White, at the session of 1838-9, 
 as given us by Henry A. Wise. Wise says, that upon a full discus- 
 sion and exchange of visits, Clay agreed to stand by the compro- 
 mise tariff, abandon internal improvements, and treat the Bank 
 question as of no yres&at practical value. The Memoir of White 
 is entirely corroborative. In the month of August, 1838, Judge 
 White avowed in a speech at Knoxville, that if he supported Mr. 
 Clay, it would be only "as a choice of evils."' But in January, 
 1840, at the great dinner given in his honor, on resigning his seat 
 in Congress, Judge White no longer spoke of a choice of evils, but 
 of the "cordial support" which he would have yielded Mr. Clay, 
 if he, and not Harrison, had received the nomination. He said 
 that there had been many points of disagreement between him 
 and Clay, but most of these had ceased to be practical. " Upon 
 the great subjects, now practical, I coincide heartily with that 
 gentleman, and disagree with the present incumbent (Mr. Yan 
 Buren)."^ Mr. Wise remarks: "Mr. Clay (who was present) 
 knew to what Judge White alluded in these remarks, and so did 
 we, as already explained. Practically, he himself, if he had been 
 nominated, would have been anti-Bank and Democratic."^ 
 
 But these were not all the commitments of Mr. Clay on the 
 national bank question. Mr. Tyler himself wrote to Mr. Clay, to 
 inquire into his views on political subjects, before he would sup- 
 port him at Harrisburg. The answer of Mr. Clay was full and 
 
 > See letter to TazeweU, p., 498. ' Niles' Register, liii., p., 153. 
 
 a White's Memoir, p., 363. 'Ibid, p., 398-'9. 'Seven Decades, p., 179. 
 
598 LETTEES Airo TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 explicit: "We disagree about obsolete questions of policy, and 
 make that disagreement available to prevent our uniting in wrest- 
 ing the Constitution from the bands of men v^ho have put them 
 into its living vitals." ^ 
 
 In his speech on the Treasury bill, January 20, 1840, Mr. Clay 
 emphatically said that "he had no thought of proposing a national 
 bank, and no wish of seeing it proposed by another, until it was 
 demanded by a majority of the people of the United States."^ In 
 the same speech he declared that, notwithstanding his objections 
 to the State banks, he greatly preferred the employment of them 
 to the use of the Independent Treasury. Let the reader bear in 
 mind that this speech was made while Mr. Rives' election to the 
 Senate was still pending before the Virginia Legislature. In his 
 "Castle Hill" letter of February 15, following Mr. Clay's speech, 
 Mr. Hives having in the meantime been elected Whig senator, 
 with the aid of a part of the "impracticable "Whigs," defended 
 Harrison against the imputation of being for a Bank, as alleged by 
 the Democrats, and reiterated his old preference for the State 
 banks with special limitations.' 
 
 But even more conclusive as to the attitude of Clay against 
 the Bank, as a practical political question, is the account given by 
 Mr. Wise of the circumstances attending Clay's speech at Taylors- 
 ville on the 27th of June, 1840. It seems that the speech was 
 written out by Clay and read in MS. to Wise, who was so well 
 pleased with it that he wrote a letter on the occasion replete with 
 the praises of Mr. Clay. Wise himself was personally in favor of 
 a Bank after the example of Madison ; but he regarded the voice 
 of the people as having been given against it, and it is memorable 
 that when Clay, in 1837, moved in the Senate in reply to the Bank 
 petitioners, that it was inexpedient to charter a Bank "until it 
 should be manifest that a clear majority of the people should be in 
 
 " Quoted in the address of Joha Tyler, Jr. , Washington Madisonian, April 25, 1845 
 (in the Capitol library at Washington.) The original letter of Clay to Mr. Tyler 
 is understood to have been lost in the Kiohmond fire, in 1865. 
 
 ^OoTig. Globe, 1839-'40, Append., p. 728. 
 
 ^ The same sort of combination that led to Mr. Kives' election occurred in New- 
 York, in the case of N. P. Tallmadge. He had been a Jackson zealot until 1837, 
 yet two years afterwards was nominated by anti-Masons and National Republicans, 
 calling themselves Whigs. In 1837, Tallmadge voted that a Bank was inexpedient ; 
 In 1841 be voted for an old-fashioned Bank ! 
 
clay's hanotee speech. 599 
 
 favor of such an institution," Wise made the same move in the 
 House, and in the same language. 
 
 In his letter to his constituents, in September, 1842, Mr. Wise 
 •wrote as follows: 
 
 Not only this, but Clay himself, at Taylorsville, Hano7er county, Vir- 
 ginia, on the 27th of June 1840, uttered the following declaration in a speech 
 which he intended as an expose of his Whig opinions, both as to the funda- 
 mental and administrative principles of policy to be pushed. He said : " There 
 rare others of an administrative nature which require^rompt and careful con- 
 sideration. 
 
 " 1st. The currency of the country, its stability and uniform value, and as 
 intimately and indissolubly connected with it, the insurance of the faithful 
 performance of the fiscal services necessary to the government, should be 
 maintained and secured by exercising all the powers requisite to those objects 
 with which Congress is constitutionally invested. These are the great ends to 
 be aimed at, the means are of subordinate importance. Whether these ends, 
 indispensable to the well-being of both the people and the government, are to 
 be attained by sound and safe State banks, carefully selected and properly dis- 
 tributed, or by a new Back of the United States, with such limitations, con- 
 ditions, and restrictions as have been indicated by experience, should he left 
 io the arbitrament of enlightened public opinion."'^ 
 
 And as if to show that he did not mean that " enlightened public opinion " 
 •on this question was to be expressed at the then approaching presidential elec- 
 tion, but that the issue was then to be postponed, he afterwards added : 
 
 " Candor and truth require me to say that, in my judgment, whilst banks 
 ■continue to exist in the country, the services of a Bank of the United States 
 cannot be dispensed with. I think that the power to establish such a Bank 
 is a settled question. Iknow and respect the contrary opinion which is enter- 
 iained in this Slate. [He was then speaking in Virginia.] But in my de- 
 liberate view of the matter, the power to establish such a Bank being settled, 
 .and being a necessary and proper power, the only question is as to the expe- 
 diency of its exercise, and on questions of mere expediency public opinion ought 
 to have a controlling influence. Without banks, I believe we cannot have a 
 .sufficient currency ; without a Bank of the United States, I fear we cannot 
 have a sound currency. But it is the end, that of a sound and sufficient 
 ■currency, and a faithful execution of the fiscal duties of the government, that 
 should engage the dispassionate and candid consideration of the whole com- 
 munity. There is nothing in the name of a Bank of the United States which 
 lias any magical charm, or to which any one need be wedded. It is to secure 
 ■certain great objects, without which society cannot prosper ; and if, contrary 
 io my apprehension, these objects can be accomplished by dispensing with the 
 
 ' This language of Clay is, in substance, his amendment to the resolution of the 
 ■Committee of Finance, in 1837, over again. In 1841, Mr. Eives, in his speech 
 ■on the Fiscal Bank, in reply to Clay, urged the same conclusions as Wise. 
 <Coiigr. Globe, First Sess. Twenty-seventh Congr., Append., p. 370.) 
 
600 LETTERS AlfD TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 agency of a Banh of the United States, and employing that of State banks, 
 all ought to rejoice and heartily acquiesce, and none would more than I 
 should." 
 
 Now, what does this mean, if not a pledge to try, after the election, first, 
 whether these "great objects could be accomplished by dispensing with the 
 agency of a Bank of the United States," and employing State banks or some 
 other means? How else could this problem ever be solved without first try- 
 ing some other means to accomplish these great objects, and, if they should 
 fail, then to leave the question of the agency of the United States Bank " tO' 
 the arbitrament of enlightened public opinion." It was to the dinner at 
 which this speech was delivered that I addressed my so oft repeated Taylors- 
 ville letter. This speech was elaborately prepared ; my attention was called 
 particularly to this part of it by its author before he went ou. I knew what 
 was to be said on this subject by him, and therefore it was that I eulogized 
 what was to be said so unstintingly. I approve every word of it yet on this- 
 question . 
 
 Yet, instead of keeping this pledge, which speaks for itself, or respecting^ 
 the "contrary opinions" entertained by Virginia, the first salutation I met 
 from Mr. Clay, after the election in 1840, and when we met in Congress in 
 December of that year, fiushed with victory and all rejoicing, was, " Well, sir,- 
 it is not to be lamented that old Virginia has gone for Mr. Van Buren, for we 
 will not now be embarrassed by her peculiar opinions"! And, instead of 
 waiting for "enlightened public opinion" to try whether some other means- 
 could not " accomplish the great objects," the precipitation of a called session 
 was immediately literally dictated, contrary to the soundest judgment of a 
 large majority of the party, with no other view, I know, than to prostrate en- 
 lightened public opinion — to snatch a United States Bank charter from Con- 
 gress before the people could have time to decide for themselves. They were 
 not to be trusted with the issue. 
 
 The muster-roll of members was called over, all counted who would go for 
 a charter of the United States Bank, -a, majority was found ready, and they 
 were to act before the people could move to arrest or to prevent their action I 
 I could not have part or lot in this transaction ; I denounced its dictation, its- 
 perfidy, and its distrust of the people; and I was given the spirit of prophecy 
 to foretell, to the letter, what would be the results of the fatal measure of the 
 called session. I have lived to see my whole prophecy fulfilled. God inter- 
 posed his divine providence. The Almighty is now often arraigned, as well as- 
 John Tyler, by the disappointed usurpers. They preface every attack upon- 
 Mr. Tyler by a jeremiad over the death of the lamented Harrison, and by com- 
 plaining of the ways of Providence to man, when I know that these very 
 "harpies of detraction" would, had General Harrison been spared, have been, 
 now denouncing him for being guided by his own Secretary of State, who had' 
 been placed, more than I know, not by him alone in " the line of precedents " 
 made "unsafe" by a certain gentleman, instead of being controlled by the- 
 policy of " one man " over whom he had been preferred by the people 1 Hadi 
 he lived, the war in the Whig party, divided much more than it is now by 
 the jealousies of two rival factions, would have been not one o{ principle, as it 
 
ME. CLAY AGAINST PEOTECTION. 601 
 
 is now, but one of mere patronage and spoils. Heaven took the good old 
 patriot from such scenes, worse than scenes of bloody strife 1' 
 
 What Mr. Clay thought of the other two questions, — the tariff 
 and internal improvements, — will best appear from his own letter 
 to Judge N. Beverly Tucker, written from Ashland, October 10th, 
 1839. These questions, like the Bank, had ceased to be practical. 
 A tariff of his own proposing was in operation, — a compromise 
 tariff intended to be perpetual! In the origin of the protective 
 policy it was never supposed by him or by others of its friends, as 
 far as he knew their views, that it was to be permanent ! He re- 
 quired no protection beyond the year 1843 ! As to internal im- 
 provements, all he wanted was "to see a bill pass to distribute 
 among the States the proceeds of sales of the public lands, leaving^ 
 to the States the exclusive care of the general subject of internal 
 improvement." 
 
 {Extract from a letter from Henry Glay to Judge Beverley Tucker, written from 
 Ashland, October 10, 1839] :^ 
 
 Since my return home, I have received the letter which you addressed to- 
 me on the 10th ult. Mr. Wise correctly reported to you the opinion 1 enter- 
 tain on the several public matters mentioned in your letter : 1st, That I think 
 the compromise of the tariff ought to be maintained without violation. I 
 have invariably defended it when assailed in the Senate, and declared my 
 purpose to abide by it. When attacked, it has been by gentlemen from the 
 North, professing to be friendly to Southern interests, or by Col. Benton, or 
 by gentlemen from the South. I have supposed the South much more in- 
 terested than the North in keeping that controversy closed by the compro- 
 mise. Tn the origin of the protective policy, it was never supposed by me 
 or by others of its friends, as far as I know their views, that it was to be per- 
 
 I On the 21st of May, 1838, Clay, in presenting a petition for a national bank, 
 spoke as follows, after giving the outlines of a suitable institution: "But, Mr.. 
 President, strong as my convictions are, I have no intention of formally present- 
 ing any proposition to establish a Bank of the United States. Composed as Con- 
 gress and the Executive now are, it would be an unnecessary waste of time to offer 
 such a proposal I should regret to see a Bank estabhshed, unless it was clearly 
 called for by public opinion. I believe it is now desired by a m a jority of the people 
 of the United States ; but of that there does not exist perhaps any conclusive 
 evidence Let us wait untU demonstrations of their will shall be clearly given, 
 and let us all submit-and for one, I shall most cheerfuUy-to their decision, 
 whatever it may be." Mr. Clay moved that the petition be laid on the table. 
 (Congr. Globe, Second Session, Twenty-fifth Congr., 1837-'8, p. 397.) 
 
 = The rest of the letter is on a matter personal to Tucker and Clay. Judge 
 Tucker's daughter, Mrs. Cynthia Coleman, of Williamsburg, Va., has the original. 
 
■602 LETfEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEKS. 
 
 manent. We intended it to be temporary, so as to enable the American man- 
 ufacturers to get through their infancy, and to maintain something like an 
 •equal competition with foreign. If asked at that period whether we required 
 a longer duration to the policy than the j'ear 1843, when the compromise will 
 •take complete eflfect, I think no one would have demanded it ; 2nd, I have 
 repeatedly stated to the Senate, that considering what had been done by Con- 
 gress for the States in the Distribution bill, and what had been done by the 
 States themselves in the prosecution of their own systems of internal im- 
 provements, I thought it inexpedient that Congress should continue to exer- 
 cise that power by commencing any new work; and that all that I ever 
 wished now to see done by Congress was to pass the bill to distribute the 
 net proceeds of the public lands among all the States, leaving to their ex- 
 clusive care the general subject of internal improvements; 3rd, I have said, 
 again and again, and most sincerely hold, that the patronage of the general 
 government, as exercised by the late and present administration, is fraught 
 with imminent danger to the institutions and libertj'' of the country. I be- 
 lieve that, unless its exercise be restricted and controlled in the hands of the 
 executive, our system will rapidly degenerate into an elective monarchy, or 
 rather, what is a great deal worse, that the incumbent monarch will be able, 
 by means of it, and by other corrupt influences, to designate his successor. I 
 wish that we may not have actually arrived at this point. I believe that the 
 power of removal is a subject of legitimate legislation ; and that the conces- 
 sion of it to the president, by the Congress of 1789, was as unwarranted by 
 the Constitution as it has proved, and is likely still more to be, pernicious in 
 practice. 
 
 What a change from the Clay of 1832 ! — then the lion of the 
 Bank and all the measures of the American System ; but now, like 
 Bottom in the* play, to keep from frightening his gentle State- 
 rights friends, " roaring himself as gentle as any sucking dove or 
 nightingale." No wonder that Tyler, and Preston, and Mangum, 
 and Wise praised him as a "very Pyramus," "a proper man," "a 
 most lovely gentleman-like man." The poisonous shrub had put 
 forth flowers of such exquisite hue that the bees flocked from 
 all sides to sip its sweets; but "all is not gold that glitters," and 
 the State-rights Whigs soon found that nothing but nausea could 
 • come from the honey extracted from the Litter flowers of such an 
 .aloe as Henry Clay. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 1839—1840. 
 
 "All their desperate devices and stratagems have since injured only themselves. Their 
 =abolition political party has done them little (tood at the North ; their anti abolition bug- 
 tears and calumnies have answered no purpose at the South. The TarifT and the Bank in 
 turn have been tried with no better success. The Whigs have spurned the poor trick of 
 ■their playing off against each other their differences of opinion not material to the great 
 object of national reform."— Horace Gheelet, November, 18J0. 
 
 JJecobd akd Sentiment of the Whig Pabtt on the Bank Question. — The Whig 
 Pasty in Vibginia. — Addeesses of 18.35, '36, '39, '40.— The Bank an "Ob- 
 solete Question."— Whig Views Out of Vieginia. — Webstee, Ewing and 
 Othees. — The Newspapees, "National Intelligencek," " Log Cabin," etc. — 
 Views op Whig Congbessmen. — Me. Ttleb in the Canvass. — Lettee to the 
 Whigs of Louisville. — Lettee to the Democrats of Pittsburg, Pa. — To the 
 Demooeats OF Steubenville, Ohio. — To the Democeats of Heneico, Vibginia. 
 — To the Whigs of Noefolk. — Lettee feom Me. Eidgway. — Von Holst 
 Quoted. — Lettee of S. F. Chapman. — Democbatic Contention. — K. M. John- 
 son Nominated foe Vioe-Peesident. — Election op 1840. — Unpeecedented 
 Excitement. — The Geeat Whig Victoey. — The Logo-focos. — Democeatio 
 
 COEEUPTION . EeFOEM. 
 
 THE chapter preceding contains doubtless matter enough to 
 explain why it was that Mr. Clay was supported by such 
 anti-national bank men as Mr. Tyler, Mr. Gilmer, Mr. Upshur, 
 Mr. Bibb, of Kentucky, Mr. Eives, etc. A Southerner by birth 
 and residence, and the so-called author of the compromise of 1833, 
 whereby the protective tariff was overthrown, and State-rights 
 saved from the excesses of the nuUifiers like Calhoun, Mr. Clay was 
 •considered, taking all things into consideration, a safer and sounder 
 candidate than General Harrison. It was felt that, if elected, he 
 would surround himself with Southern men, and guide his ad- 
 ministration most in the interest of the South. He was not all 
 that the South could wish, but he was better than Van Bur en, 
 who favored the Independent Treasury, a more centralizing agent 
 than a national bank, opposed distribution, and went in for the 
 ■"Eiver and Harbor bill," and wanted to overthrow the compro- 
 
604 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 mise tariff (which, after 1842, contemplated revenue solely), m 
 order to give occasion to a new protective one. 
 
 Harrison leaned, it was known, to the influence of the anti- 
 Masons and old National Eepublicans, and his policy, it was- 
 thought, would be more or less colored by the preferences of the 
 statesman from Massachusetts, who, in all things hitherto, had been 
 more unfavorable to the South than Clay. Harrison, too, had 
 been first put up by the fanatic anti-Masons, and his soundness on 
 slavery was questioned, though it seems from his letter to Mr. 
 Lyons without much reason. 
 
 But in fact, Harrison, Webster, and the whole Whig party were 
 more or less committed to Southern opinions, and on no question 
 more especially than the Bank of the United, States. I shall 
 briefly, but beyond dispute establish this point. 
 
 And first let us glance at the constituent elements of the Whig- 
 party as it went into the election of 1840. We recognize no less 
 than six different factors : (1), The National Kepublicans, like 
 Webster; (2), Tlie anti-Masons, like Thad. Stevens; (3), The anti- 
 bank men, like Tyler, who fell from Jackson on the proclamation 
 in 1833 : (4), The State-rights men, like Henry A. Wise, who fell 
 off from Jackson on the removal of the deposits in 1834 ; (5), The 
 Jackson men, like Judge White, who abandoned Jackson in 1835 
 at the time of the expunging resolution ; (6), The Conservatives,. 
 like Kivcs and Tallmadge, who fell off in 1837 on the question of 
 the Independent Treasury. The last four divisions were, almost 
 without an exception in their number, opposed to a Bank. They 
 were committed against one by their repeated votes in Congress, 
 and repeated utterances out of it. When the first four came to- 
 gether in 1834 in opposition to Jackson, the old issues were 
 ignored, and the battle fought on the removal of the deposits and 
 expunging resolution. While the Whig party was in this state,, 
 the remaining two elements deserted the administration, and stood 
 aloof. The National Republicans, being in the minority, were 
 under the strongest inducements to yield their notions of expedi- 
 ency in favor of measures to the constitutional objections against 
 bank, tariff, and internal improvements of those they wished to con- 
 ciliate. " To repel the advances," wrote Clay concerning Kives and 
 the other Conservatives, in December, 1838, "of all the former 
 members of the Jackson party to unite with us, under whatever 
 
THE WHIG FAMILY. 605 
 
 name they might adopt, would be to remain in a perpetual and 
 hopeless minority." And how far the old nationals were prepared 
 to follow him in this policy was shown in their shameless approval 
 given all over the country to the treacherous plan to elect Mr. 
 Kives over Mr. Tyler in 1839. They reasoned that Mr. Tyler had 
 gone too far to go back to the Democrats, but that Kives might. 
 
 The Democrats eagerly tendered the issue of a Bank, but the 
 Whigs as invariably declined it. In 1836, Judge White, the Whig 
 •candidate in the South, declared himself out-and-out against a 
 Bank.^ In January, 1840, Judge White replied to the resolutions 
 of the Tennessee Legislatm-e, instructing him out of his seat, that 
 his opinion entirely conformed to their resolution against a national 
 bank.'' In the former year he said that " the question of recharter- 
 ing the late Bank of the United States was at an end." In the lat- 
 ter that it had ceased to be a " practical " question. In the same 
 year, of 1836, Harrison, the other candidate, declared that he would 
 approve a Bank onlij " if it were clearly ascertained that the pub- 
 lic interest would materially suffer without one, and there were un- 
 equivocal manifestations of public opinion in its favor." " I 
 think," said Harrison, " that the experiment should be fairly tried, 
 to ascertain whether the financial operations of the government 
 cannot be as well carried on without the aid of a national bank. 
 If it is not necessary for that purpose, it does not appear to me 
 that one can be constitutionally chartered." ' " That and the Bank 
 and Mr. Leigh out of the way," wrote Pleasants to Mr. Tyler, 
 urging his resignation, in 1836, " and I have no fear for the re- 
 sult in April, and a fortiori in November." 
 
 Mr. Webster's bill, in 183i, to recharter the Bank for six years, 
 was avowed as a mere device to take an easy and permanent leave 
 of the Bank; and all the Whig movements after that time were 
 of the same character. " Only when the people shall unequivo- 
 cally declare in favor of one," said Clay to the Bank petitioners 
 in 1837, " win it be expedient to charter a Bank." "Amen !" said 
 Wise in the House. The following is an extract from Preston's 
 letter to Judge N. B. Tucker, in reference to the same subject : * 
 
 > Niles, li., p. 178. ' Memoir, p. 376. ' Niles, li. , p. 24. 
 
 * The original of this letter is in the possession of Mrs. Cynthia Tucker Cole- 
 man, of Williamsburg, Va. 
 
606 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 [Pbeston to Tucker. J 
 
 September 15, 1837. 
 My Dear Sir : If the Senate had adjourned yesterday, as most of us sup- 
 posed it would, I should have had the pleasure of being with you to-day ,- 
 but we go on. Tou are altogether right that our policy is to offer nothing,. 
 hut unfortunately my colleague has permitted himself to be drifted into a. 
 position which compels him to offer a project. He goes for the aurorea and 
 hard metal, and must, therefore, of necessity define or be of the administra- 
 tion. I fear that he and I will hardly vote together this session. 
 
 There was only one construction to be placed upon these decla- 
 rations, and that was, that tlie Bank question should be avoided.. 
 But then the question recurs, how without such agitation in favor- 
 of the Bank Congress would ever have a chance to ascertain 
 the will of the people — the test proposed by both Clay and Har- 
 rison ? 
 
 But the attitude of the party to the Bank could not always be 
 one of silence. The State-rights Whigs, as a body, preferred the 
 State banks under new and effective regulations, and this, together 
 with the odium of the Bank name, forced the Whigs, as a party, 
 to take up a position positively against the Bank. The party, as 
 compared with the Democrats, became the strict construction 
 party; and the best proof of this was that they took as their 
 standard-bearers two Virginians ! 
 
 And history asks what was the Whig record in that State. The 
 answer is to be found as follows : 
 
 The name Whig was recommended, as we have seen, by Mr.. 
 Jefferson — the life-long enemy of the Bank and Federalism. The 
 first formal use of the term in Virginia is to be found in " An Ad- 
 dress to the People of the State," dated March, 1835. This 
 document inculcated some very wise lessons, notably that "expe- 
 rience had taught them the necessity of mutual deference, concilia- 
 tion, and forbearance." How softly the Whigs bleated when in 
 the same document they said "that they were not bound together- 
 by devotion to any party chief, or drilled into the automaton pre- 
 cision of step which is taught in the school of party tacticians, but. 
 that each claimed and exercised for himself freedom of thought in 
 judging, and freedom of action in pursuing the means best suited 
 to accomplish their co^nmon purpose." 
 
 But in reference to the Bank of the United States, mark what: 
 the Whig leaders said : 
 
WHIG EECOED AGAINST THE BAIsTK. 607 
 
 On the subject of a Bank of the United Stafes, we all agree that its re- 
 charter is a question no longer in issue between the contending parties ; that 
 its fate is sealed, its doom irrevocably fixed. We have no expectation, no 
 desire that an effort should be made to save it from its fate, and we wish to 
 see it expire in peace. 
 
 It will be remembered that when, in February, 1834, the Yir- 
 ginia Legislature instructed Kives to vote for a restoration of the 
 deposits, they also passed a resolution denouncing the Bank as un- 
 constitutional. Leigh, in his speech, March 18, 1834, expressed 
 himself as fully in accord with the Legislature, and denied that he 
 wished to recharter the Bank. The Democrats, nevertheless, af- 
 wards impeached his good faith, and against this attack the ad- 
 dress proceeded- to defend him as follows: 
 
 They (the friends of the Administration) have misrepresented his opinions 
 and wantonly impeached the motives of his conduct in relation to a Bank of 
 the United States. To withdraw the attention of the people from the abuses 
 and usurpations of the Federal Executive, they have raised a popular clamor 
 against the Bank Though they knew thai its fate was sealed, its de- 
 struction certain, they have continued to represent the Administration as en- 
 gaged in a fearful contest with the monster, on the issue of which hung the 
 destinies of the nation. Though they knew that Mr. Leigh entirely concurred 
 with the General Assembly in the opinion that the charter of the Bank was 
 unconstitutional, and on the first occasion that offered after he took his seat 
 in the Senate, earnestly opposed a proposition to renew its charter and strongly 
 urged against it the constitutional objection, yet they have represented him as 
 covertly sustaining its interests. 
 
 Governor James Barbour, writing to Mr. Clay, said in his letter 
 of August 2, 1835, that "no candidate could succeed in Yirginia, 
 whatever his popularity, unless he maintained the favorite doctrine 
 of the State against the Bank," and that " opposition to this institu- 
 tion was as fixed a maxim in the political creed of the State as the 
 undi\'ided godhead with a Mohammedan." ' 
 
 And what the character of the Yirginians were at this time the 
 National Intelligencer informs us. Keplying to the Enquirer, 
 Gales and Seaton said in their editorial of July 4, 1834: 
 
 Virginia is one of those States in which public opinion is yet in so health- 
 ful a condition that a certain respect for it is paid by every individual who 
 has any regard for his own reputation. What shall we say of the Enquirer's 
 copying without comment a paragraph from the Olohe of Washington city, 
 
 Clay's Correspondence, p. 397. 
 
•608 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 .denouncing a majority of the Senate as subjects of the United States Bank. 
 The majority of the Senate, who are thus with brazen assurance stigmatized 
 as subjects of the Banli of the United States, comprise, among other pure 
 .and elevated citizens, the, two eminent senators from Virginia — Mr. Tyler and 
 Mr. Leigh. How dares the Enquirer, in the face of the people of Virginia, 
 to utter such foul and false libels upon two citizens whose character the editor 
 of that- journal knows to be beyond reproach? When before was the name 
 of Tyler or Leigh— not to speak of their compatriots in the Senate— coupled 
 ■with implied corruption ? 
 
 By turning now to the Whig address of the year 1836, put forth 
 after the selection of the Wliig candidates for the presidency and 
 T^ice-presidency, we find the same positions assumed as those just 
 exhibited, and Messrs. White and Tyler are especially recom- 
 mended to the people of the United States because of their uni- 
 form opposition to a Bank, and because they sustained General 
 Jackson's veto of the bill for re-chartering the institution in 
 1832. 
 
 Again, in April, 1839, the Whig members of the Virginia 
 Legislature, in solemn council assembled, thus denied this 
 issue : 
 
 We are gravely informed that Mr. Van Buren is opposed to a national 
 bank, to internal improvements by the general government, and to the tariff, 
 and that his hostility to these questions gives him an irresistible claim to the 
 .confidence and suffrages of the people of Virginia. These, fellow-citizens, are 
 the stereotyped phrases by which cunning tacticians hope to mislead and de- 
 ceive you. All candid men of all parties admit that they have ceased to he 
 practical questions. All idea of chartering a national hank has been relin- 
 quished by its former most sanguine advocates as unnecessary and inexpedient 
 in the present and futuke monetary condition of the country. 
 
 This was just after the postponement of the election, contested 
 between Mr. Tyler and Mr. Kives, for the senatorship. Mr. Rives 
 was nominated by Mr. Sherrard, and eulogized for his anti char- 
 acter. Nevertheless, Mr. Clay instigated his election, and the 
 Whigs supported him. 
 
 Passing on to the year 1840, we find Mr. Hives elected senator 
 of the United States by the Whigs, and immediately thereafter 
 read his "Castle Hill" letter of February 15th, defining his posi- 
 tion as anti-Bank, and defending Harrison on the same ground.' 
 A great Clay dinner was celebrated in Richmond on February 25, 
 
 ' Niles, Iviii., pp. 5-10. 
 
"WHIG ADDEES8 OF 1840. 609 
 
 1-840, and contemporaneously with it appeared the celebrated ad- 
 dress of the Whig convention, nominating electors for Virginia, 
 written by James Lyons.^ To quote from this address: 
 
 It is objected to General Harrison by venerable demagogues, as well as by 
 their younger and more innocent dupes, that he is not an oithodox politician 
 in his interpretation of the Constitution, and the reveille is sung by the party 
 who sustain Mr. Van Buren to the old chorus of anti-Bank, anti-tariff, etc., 
 etc. Most of those who raise this cry know that the questions suggested by 
 ihese cabalistic terms are not now before the American people, and, if they 
 were, that Mr. Van Buren is obnoxious to the strongest objections to which 
 they can give rise; yet, with an effrontery nowhere else to be met with, they 
 first insist that these are the true issues, and swear that all who will not sup- 
 port Mr. Van Buren are in favor of the Bank, tariff, and internal improve- 
 ments, and therefore Federalists, while Mr. Van Buren, who favors them all, 
 is a most immaculate Kcpublican ! How stands Mr. Van Buren upon the 
 tariff, internal improvements, and the Bank ? 
 
 As to the Bank, or a Bank, Mr. Van Buren .... proposes to concur in all 
 things with General Jackson, who distinctly said that Congress had power to 
 incorporate a Bank ; and even in Virginia — in this anti-Bank atmosphere of 
 ours— the most distinguished supporters of Mr. Van Buren are avowed Bank 
 men, and the party who supports him supports them. Mr. McDowell said, 
 in a speech in the House of Delegates, that, while he was opposed to the Bank 
 of the United States, he admitted the power of Congress to establish a Bank, 
 upon the ground that it was " necessary and proper," as the " fiscal agent " 
 of the government " in the execution of its duties." Another distinguished 
 member of Mr. Van Buren's party in Virginia, filling now the important and 
 responsible office of president of the Court of Appeals, (H. St. Geo. Tucker,) etc. 
 
 But if opinions upon the tariff, internal improvements, and the Bank, or a 
 Sank, be the true tests of republicanism, how stands General Harrison in 
 comparison with Mr. Van Buren ? We answer that, upon the tariff and in- 
 ternal improvements, he cannot be worse than Mr. Van Buren ; and as to the 
 Bank, his unqualified declaration that it was unconstitutional is before you, 
 .and there is no reason to believe that he is in favor of a Bank in any form, 
 for he is assuredly opposed to a government Bank. As far as loe know or 
 ■believe, General Harrison has but one opinion about the Bank, and that is 
 against it. 
 
 On February 14, 1840, Thomas W. Gilmer was elected governor 
 of Virginia. He had been a Jackson man, like Mr. Tyler, and 
 had fallen off from him on the proclamation in 1833. 
 
 It would be a matter of curiosity to ascertain how many times 
 Mr. Gilmer declared himself an anti-Bank man ; yet he was elected 
 governor by a "Whig and Conservative majority in the JjCgislature 
 
 ' Published in Kichmond Whig, March 6 and 9, 1840. 
 39 
 
610 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 over James McDowell, of the opposition. In April, 184:1, — six: 
 days after the death of Harrison, — Mr. Gilmer was put in nomi- 
 nation for Congress by the Whigs of Louisa county, against James. 
 M. Garland, a Conservative. Mr. Gilmer, in his letter of reply,, 
 unequivocally denounces the Bank, and yet was elected by the 
 Whigs as " every inch a Whig." "■ 
 
 ' Prom the Enquirer : 
 
 "Meeting in Louisa. 
 
 "At a meeting of a portion of the Whigs of Louisa, held at the Court-house, on- 
 Saturday, the 10th of April, 1841, on motion, William M. Ambler was called to 
 the chair and F. W. Jones appointed secretary 
 
 " 1st. Mesolved, That Tbomas Walker Gilmer, Esq., is a fit and suitable person to ■ 
 be voted for by the Whigs of the Albemarle district as their representative in the 
 next Congress of the United States. 
 
 " 2ud. Besolved, That John Slater, Francis W. Jones, Nathaniel Thompson, and 
 Tobias S. Callis be appointed a committee to inform Mr. Gilmer of the nomina- • 
 tion." 
 
 ' ' Gov. Gilmee's Reply. 
 
 " EicHMOND, April 12, 1841. 
 " To Messrs. John Slater, F. W. Jones, Nathaniel Thompson, and Tobias 8. . 
 Callis, committee : 
 
 "Gentlemen : I have received your communication of the 10th inst., covering ■ 
 resolutions of a portion of the "Whigs of Louisa, recommending me as a suitable 
 person to be voted for by the Whigs of the ilbemarle district as a representative 
 in the next Congress of the United States. 
 
 " Previous to the last Albemarle court, I had received many urgent solicitations ■ 
 from every county of the district ; and in a public interview on that day with Mr. 
 Garland, I proposed to him, to obviate all difBculty and embarrassment to, our- 
 selves or our friends, that an equal number of Whigs and Conservatives, selected 
 from any or every part of the district, should decide which of us should be the can- 
 didate. This proposition was twice made by me, and twice rejected by Mr. Garland. 
 .... Since that time I have received numerous evidences of the determination of 
 my friends in various parts of the district to hold a poll for me. . . It is a source 
 of great consolation and encouragement under these circumstances that the execu- 
 tive trust of the Federal government has devolved on one who is well known and 
 justly appreciated in Virginia, and who comes up to the standard prescribed by 
 our Jefferson in honesty, capacity, and fidelity to the Constitution, I venture to 
 say that John Tyler will never disappoint the coufideuce that has been reposed in 
 him ; that he will regard his own and every other office under the government as - 
 a sacred trust, created for the public good, and not for a party or for private 
 
 emolument A union has been effected throughout the United States, among 
 
 men of various shades of political opinion as to the fundamental principles of ' 
 government, which had for its object, on one side, to sustain, and, on the other, 
 to expel the late administration. The late presidential election, while it affords a . 
 strong guaranty that the contemplated reform in the abuses of the Federal gov- 
 ernment must be accomplished, affords also an opportunity— indeed, it creates 
 almost a necessity— for parties to occupy towards one another, and towards the. 
 
ELECTION OF WILLIAM S. ABCHEE. 611 
 
 In March, 1841, a new election for senator took place. William 
 S. Archer was nominated by Mr. Coleman, of Charles City, on anti- 
 Bank grounds.' Every argument was employed by the Whigs 
 and Conservatives to convince the Legislature that Mr. Archer was 
 anti-Bank.^ Thus, on the triumph of the Whigs in 1840, both the 
 gubernsvtorial and two senatorial elections were determined in 
 favor of the Whigs by denying and denouncing the issue of a 
 Bank. 
 
 Abundant other evidence might be produced m the letters of 
 
 great measures of gOTemment, positions at once more natural and more patriotic. 
 For some years past, parties have been acting more in reference to men than to 
 measures, and hence we have found that, on the accession of the last two or three 
 presidents to power, the country has seen one party pledged in advance to sup- 
 port and another to oppose any act of their administration, right or wrong. We 
 have now an administration which must rely on the wisdom and justice of its 
 measures for popular support, and which cannot be opposed unless its measures 
 render it obnoxious to opposition. While every Whig in Virginia is content to 
 subject the present administration to the tests of the Constitution and of fidelity 
 to the public interests, no Democrat, it is hoped, will condemn without a fault, or 
 refuse to give it a fair and impartial trial. Under these circumstances, I am at a 
 loss to perceive the object or propriety of any man occupying towards the present 
 administration the position of a Conservative. It either implies distrust of those 
 responsible for the administration of the government, or a determination to 
 maintain, under any circumstances, a party organization distinct from both the 
 other parties of the day. 
 
 The currency, and the mode of collecting and keeping the Federal revenue, 
 have been subjects of absorbing interest for some years past. . . As a representa- 
 tive and an individual, I have been opposed to the charter of a national bank, be- 
 cause I have seen no sufficient reason to regard it either as a power specifically 
 granted, or as a necessaiy and proper means for carrying into effect the commer- 
 cial, the fiscal, or any other of the powers vested by the Constitution in the Federal 
 government. Neither the power to coin money and regulate the value thereof, or 
 to lay and collect taxes, duties, etc., or to regulate commerce, involves, in my 
 opinion, that of regulating the currency, exchanges, individual or corporate obli- 
 gations, or any other representative of credit which private contracts or the laws 
 
 of States may sanction I was opposed to the removal of the deposits from 
 
 the former Bank of the United States, and to the Sub-Treasury biU, which, though 
 it became a law on the 4th of July last, has never been enforced by its friends or 
 foes. While I think the State banks the safest and most convenient depositories 
 of the public revenue, I regard the former scheme of general deposits, or any 
 scheme which permits those banks to trade on the revenues of the government, 
 as the most obnoxious of all systems yet tried. I regard the principle which 
 contemplates a separation of the revenue of the government from the funds or 
 the Bank as a sound one, and I believe it may be accomplished, as far as it is de- 
 sirable or safe, by depositing the public money specially with the banks." 
 
 > See Richmond Enquirer, March 4, ] 841. 
 
 2 Eichmond Whig, March 10, 1840. 
 
612 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TILEES. 
 
 the Whig: candidates for the Legislature at the spring electi6ns in 
 1840. The anti-Bank letters of Barrett G. Payne and Edmund 
 Fontaine to their constituents might be cited. So also that of 
 John M. Gregory, who, on the resignation of Mr. Gilmer as gov- 
 ernor, March 20, 1841, became, as senior councilor, after John 
 M. Patton and John Rutherfoord, governor of Virginia. Gregory's 
 object in his letter is to prove that James McDowell, the Demo- 
 cratic candidate for governor, was in favor of a Bank, and for his 
 own position declares that he "would go as far as any man, public 
 or private, against the constitutional right in Congress to create a 
 corporation of any sort." ' 
 
 But if anything is to be gained by piling up evidence, the edi- 
 torials in the WAig, the organ of the party in Virginia, would fur- 
 nish many Pelions to stand as an eternal reproach to the after 
 conduct of the Whigs. The Enq^airer noticed these denials, and 
 commented on them as hollow.^ That, however, only made the 
 Whig more positive. Here are only specimens : 
 
 Richmond Whig, January 13, 1840: 
 
 If ever there was a genuine Republican party in this country, it is that 
 party which General Harrison now worthily leads, and leads to victory. 
 What are its objects and ends ? To restore the Constitution, the charter of 
 public liberty, to authority, to reduce the more than monarch's power of the 
 president of the United States, to rid the country of the rogues who have 
 stoleu millions of its money, to arrest the fatal doctrines which have sprung 
 from the proclamation, and been suggested and upheld by the sovereign popu- 
 larity of Greneral Jackson, to check the audacity of trading politicians, who 
 bargain away the offices and power of the American people. Nothing selfish 
 enters into the views of the Whig party. They want no Federal Bank ; they 
 want to reduce the public burthens, and the public expenditures — not to in- 
 crease them. 
 
 JRichmond Whig, February 13, 1840: 
 
 General Harrison's Republioanism. 
 
 We subjoin the letter of General Harrison, written in 1822, which was 
 read in the House by Mr. Southall during the election of Governor. ... He 
 had been charged by them with being a Federalist; here is evidence . . . 
 proving its utter falsity. He has been charged with being a Bank man; 
 the same evidence conclusively refutes it. 
 
 Richmond Whig, February 24, 1841. 
 
 A Bank of the United States. 
 Whether the opinion be right or wrong, we affirm that Virginia, as at 
 
 ' Eiohmond Whig, March 23, 1840. * '&ichmoyidL Enquirer, Feb. 9, 1839. 
 
WEBSTER AND EWING ON THE BANK. 613 
 
 present advised, is in opposition to a Bank of tlie United States — possibly to 
 all Banks — in opposition to the former on constitutional grounds. She cannot 
 then be asked to elect a senator, herself opposed to a Bank, who is in favor of 
 a Bank. It is most unreasonable in its friends, and ridiculous to propose that 
 question .as a test. For ourselves we believe it unconstitutional, and of most 
 doubtful political expediency. 
 
 The reader will obsei-ve that the last foregoing extract was writ- 
 ten just prior to the inauguration of Gen. Harrison, and in view 
 of the impending election of William S. Archer. 
 
 Passing on to the extreme north-east, as represented in the 
 speech of Harrison's Secretary of State, Mr. "Webster, in Wall 
 street, New York, Sept. 28, 1840, we read: 
 
 This brings us, said Mr. Webster, to the point. What we need, and what 
 we must have, is some currency which shall be equally acceptable in the Gulf 
 of Mexico, in the Valfey of the Mississippi, on Canada frontier, on the Atlantic 
 
 ocean, and in every town, village, and hamlet of our extended land 
 
 Now, gentlemen, I do not at all mean to say that there is only one mode or 
 two modes of accomplishing this great national object. I do not say that a 
 national bank is the only means to effect it, but in my judgment it is indis- 
 putably true that the currency should in some degree, or in some portion of it, 
 be nationalized in its character. This is indispensable to the great ends of 
 circulation aud of business in these United States.' 
 
 Mr. Tyler's exchequer of 1841, pronounced by Mr. Webster 
 next in importance to the constitution of the land, was just such 
 an alternative to a national bank as Mr. Webster was prepared to 
 support before the election. 
 
 In the West, Thomas Ewing, Secretary of the Treasury under 
 Gen. Harrison, and as such entitled to high authority on the 
 question of the coming tiscal agent, wrote to L. D. Barker, of Lan- 
 caster, July 18, 1840: 
 
 Mt Dear Sir: On my return from Columbus this evening I received 
 your letter informing me that it was asserted at a public meeting in Washing- 
 ton county, that, in a speech at Philadelphia, I had said the true question be- 
 tween the parties was a Bank of the United States, and that you, from a 
 knowledge of the real question and of me, had contradicted the assertion. In 
 this, of course, you were perfectly safe. I made no such statement; but the 
 very contrary, I avowed that the true question was, and is, the restriction or 
 extension of the executive power. . . ' 
 
 As we go South the opinion is even more positive. I have 
 taken Harrison's Secretary of State, Webster, to speak for the 
 
 1 Webster's Works, vol. ii., pp., 55-79. ' Niles, Ixi., p., 95. 
 
614 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 North and East ; Ewing, his Secretary of the Treasury, to speak 
 for the West ; and I now ask Mr. George E. Badger, his Secretary 
 of the 'N&vj, to give the voice of the South. In North Carolina 
 there was circulated through the State an address signed by Mr. 
 Badger which makes this positive declaration : 
 
 Next, it is said that General Harrison favors a Bank of the Uaited States. 
 The charge is false. His opinions, on the contrary, are against a Bank. He 
 has declared it an institution which, if president, he would not recommend.^ 
 
 After this letter it would seem strange that Badger should re- 
 sign an office because of a certain president happening to veto a 
 Bank bni. 
 
 In Georgia, Messrs. J. Alford, William E. Dawson, K. W. Ha- 
 bersham, Thomas Butler King, E. A. Nesbit, and Lott Warren, 
 the Whig representatives of that State in Congress, sent forth an 
 address to their constituents on the 27th May, 1840, which may 
 be found in the Savannah Republican, of June, 1840. In this 
 paper they vindicated General Harrison from the charge of being 
 in favor of a national bank after this manner : 
 
 Those opposed to General Harrison attempt to show that he is in favor of 
 a national bank, by asserting that his supporters are in favor of such an in- 
 stitutioii. On this question let General Harrison speak for himself. In 1822, 
 being a candidate for Congress, he published the following letter, giving his 
 political opinions. 
 
 [Then followed Harrison's letter to the people of the Cincinnati 
 district.] 
 
 From this letter, say they, It will he perceived that General Harrison's 
 opinions in regard to the establishment of a national bank are similar to 
 those of Mr. Jefferson. ^ 
 
 The Whig Governor of North Carolina took grounds explicitly 
 and directly against a Bank in his message of November, 1840, 
 and the Whig Senate of Georgia passed a resolution denying to 
 Congress the power to grant a national bank charter.' 
 
 No endorsement was made of a Bank in any resolutions adopted 
 by the great meeting of the merchants of New York in September, 
 
 1840, addressed by Mr. Webster, or at the great national meeting 
 of young men at Baltimore, in May, 1840, or at the immense con- 
 
 ' Cited in the address of John Tyler, Jr. Also in the Madisonian, August 26, 
 
 1841. Also in Buchanan's speech against Scott. Curtis' Buchanan, ii. , p. 53. 
 
 ' Cited idem. ^ Cited in the Madisonian, same date. (Niles, lix., p. 275.) 
 
WHIG NEWSPAPEES. 615 
 
 course of people at Columbus, Fort Meigs, Saratoga, Auburn, 
 I^ew York, Richmond, or Dayton. Men loved to talk about 
 "currency," but they put forward in the name of party no fiscal 
 agent. 
 
 The papers show the drift of public sentiment. The National 
 Intelligencer, the great central organ of the Whig party at "Wash- 
 ington, repelled the charge of the Richmond Enquirer, that a 
 Eank was the real object of the Whigs, in the following words : ' 
 
 Though the question of a Bank is not now before the country, and is dragged 
 into the present discussion only to help the Enquirer out in a weak cause, by 
 an appeal to well understood prejudices in its own State, we have no objec- 
 tion to the discussion into which the Enquirer leads the way It is a 
 
 Jortunate circumstance that the name of General Harrison has not been so 
 mixed up with the question of a national bank as to make him obnoxious, on 
 .that ground, to any reasonable, practical man. 
 
 The New York Whig warned the party before the election above 
 ■aU things not to encumber itself with the false issue of a national 
 bank.^ 
 
 Lying before the author is a copy of the Log Cabin, edited by 
 Horace Greeley, and dated November 9, 1840. It contains in it 
 the returns from the presidential elections, and exults over the 
 ^reat victory won by the Whigs. The Log Cabin had an enor- 
 mous circulation as a true campaign paper. I take from it the fol- 
 lowing extract : 
 
 Every proper and necessary step has been taken in due season, and gen- 
 erally well taken ; every preliminary skirmish has been fought as though the 
 issue of the grand battle depended upon the triumph in that. Commencing 
 with the harmonious selection of their candidates for president and vice-presi- 
 •dent, the Whigs have taken the lead and kept it right through, and had in 
 fact beaten the enemy's forces before they suspected they had a serious battle 
 to fight. When the office-holders did awake to their danger, the public mind 
 was made up, and all their desperate devices and stratagems have since in- 
 jured only themselves. Their abolition political party has done them little 
 good at the North ; their anti-abolition bugbears and calumnies have answered 
 no purpose at the South. The tariff and the Bank in turn have been tried 
 <with no better success. The Whigs of the North and South have spurned 
 the poor trick of their playing off against each other their differences of 
 •opinion on questions not material to the great object of national reform ; they 
 iave foiled the cunning which sought to divert them to this side or that, and 
 pushed steadily on in the grand national fox-chase; they have been fooled by 
 
 ' National Intelligencer, August 1st, 1840. ' Madisonian, Aug. 26, 1841. 
 
616 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 no forgeries nor frightened even by the 'last card' conspiracy itself. If ever 
 the members generally of a party did their whole duty to their country, their 
 • cause and each other, the Whigs of the United States have done it throughi 
 1840. They now know how to do it again ! 
 
 The strife is ended, the victory won A single word more on a sub- 
 ject which must be kept emphatically, constantly in view throughout the en- 
 suing presidential term. The pledges made to the whole people — not 
 by the President, for he has made none, but by the Whig party — must be 
 FAITHFULLY REDEEMED. The national expenditures must be reduced below 
 twenty millions a year — the number of Federal oflSce-holders must be greatly 
 reduced— their interference in elections must be discouraged— their banding- 
 to secure the re-election of their presidential chief, or to dictate the choice of 
 a successor, must be utterly at an end. On these and many similar points 
 the judgment of the people has been unequivocally pronounced. Woe to- 
 those who shall affect to misunderstand or dare to disobey it ! 
 
 The speeches of the Whig members of Congress on the Treas- 
 ury Note bill are replete with commitments against a Bank. Thus^ 
 to cite only three: Mr. Bond, of Ohio, said March 18, 1840: 
 
 The people are now enquiring what has brought this calamity on the land'- 
 and I propose to state a few facts which, in my judgment, have had a leading 
 agency in it. But I wish it to be distinctly understood that, in anything I 
 have said or may say, it is not meaot, nor do I design it to be understood, as- 
 proposing to disturb the country with the question of incorporating a Bank of 
 the United States. I am confident it would have been fortunate if that institu- 
 tion had never been destroyed. But it has been put down, and, in my judg- 
 ment, no attempt should be made to incorporate a similar institution, unless the 
 people themselves, in their primary assemblies, so direct their representatives, 
 
 Mr. Kisbet, of Georgia, said, March 24, 1840: 
 
 In relation to a national bank, I will only remark: I have always be- 
 lieved it unconstitutional. So believing, it is neither necessary nor expedient 
 to inquire into its utility, its blessings or its curses. This objection to it stands 
 at the threshold. 
 
 Mr. Goggin,^ of Virginia, said: 
 
 But I well know that the name of a Bank of the United States has been 
 used to alarm and to intimidate, even after it was said to be dead. I am not 
 to be deterred, however, from expressing my individual opinions. While I 
 would desire to see such a Bank established and properly guarded, even now, 
 yet, with the present chief magistrate at the head of the government, who- 
 stands pledged to veto a bill for such an object, it is more than idle to expect 
 it to meet with full success. I have no assurance of the sanction of such a 
 bill by any succeeding administration. I know not the views of others. And 
 no question of the kind is presented now, or is to be, so far as I am advised. 
 
 ' Nisbet and Goggin, nevertheless, both voted for the Fiscal Bank and Corpora^ 
 tion bills of 1841 ! ! 
 
MK. TYLEe's course IN THE CANVASS OF 1840. 61T 
 
 But enough ! It only remains for us to trace Mr. Tyler's course 
 in the canvass. 
 
 And first, I shall give his letter to the Whigs of Louisville, in 
 1839. Mr. Tyler had some lands in Kentucky, and in the sum- 
 mer of the year succeeding his fruitless contest with Mr. Eives,. 
 he paid a visit to the West. He was received everywhere with 
 highest respect. In Louisville, a public dinner was tendered to him^ 
 of which the following is the correspondence. 
 
 IFrom the Louisville Daily Journal, Saturday, July 20, 1839.] 
 Yesterday a portion of the Whigs of Louisville invited Governor Tyler of 
 Virginia, now in this city, to a public dinner. We publish the correspondence- 
 below. The Governor's letter is a noble one. We take peculiar pleasure, at 
 a time like this, in placing the sentiments of that eminent and sternly-virtuous 
 statesman before the community. Let such of our fellow Whigs as are faint- 
 ing by the way-side in this hour of trial, rekindle at the burning altar of his- 
 spirit the expiring torches of their patriotism : 
 
 Louisville, July 19, 1839. 
 The Hon. John Tyler — Sir : The undersigned, a committee in behalf of 
 the Whigs of the city, in consideration of the high estimation in which they 
 hold your public and private character, take leave respectfully to invite you 
 to partake of a public dinner, to be given to-morrovr, at 3 o'clock, P. M., at the- 
 Exchange Hotel. We are, sir, your most obedient servants, 
 
 J. Robertson, 
 John Kearney, 
 John S. Evans, 
 Alfred Theuston, 
 Alex. S. Trotter, 
 
 Oommittee. 
 
 Louisville, July 19, 1839. 
 Gentlemen: I have been honored by your letter of this date inviting mer 
 on behalf of "the Whigs of Louisville," to a dinner, proposed to be given to- 
 morrow at the Exchange Hotel. For the compliment thus tendered me, I 
 pray you to make known to those designing it my warmest thanks, and to 
 assure them, that while I am so situated as to place it out of my power to ac- 
 cept this invitation, I shall nevertheless carry back with me to my native 
 State the liveliest feelings of gratitude for. the honor of the invitation itself. 
 My visit to this State (the first I have ever paid) has been made with reference- 
 to interests of a purely personal character, and has furnished me constant op- 
 portunities of testing the kindness and hospitality of its citizens ; and it is 
 with no ordinary degree of pleasure that I bear testimony both to the one and 
 the other. Wheresoever I have gone, and when at a distance of a thousand 
 miles from my own residence, I have been made almost to forget that I looked 
 upon faces which it had never been my good fortune to behold before. It is- 
 in the exercise of these rites of hospitality, which none more fully understand 
 
'618 LBTTBES AND TIMES OF THE 'J'YLEES. 
 
 or practice than the people of Kentucky, that we are taught most strongly to 
 -appreciate the blessings of political union, and to recognize in all whom we 
 meet friends and brothers. To the pleasure arising from this source you 
 have been pleased to superadd a compliment of a more public character, 
 which has, I doubt not, arisen more from respect to the State of which I am 
 proud to be called a citizen, than from any particular claims of my own. In 
 i;his view I should feel pleased to meet, if circumstances permitted, yourself 
 -and your associates at the hour and place appointed. 
 
 The Whig party had its origin, and finds its cement, in the patriotic desire 
 to arrest and correct the errors on cardinal points of public policy of the 
 late and present administrations, involving in their consequences the fate of 
 our free institutions. While differences of opinion may exist among its mem- 
 bers on certain points, yet the platform of principle is broad enough for each 
 and all to stand upon to do battle in the name of a common country. We 
 seek to dissever that union of the purse and the sword in the same hands 
 which was for the first time asserted by the late President in his cele- 
 brated protest, and which, with the short interval of some six months, has 
 continued ever since. We war against that immense power of patronage 
 which, permitted to sleep during all the time of political history up to 
 the last ten years, was then suddenly awakened, and by its influence 
 has threatened to make the Executive Department supreme and dictato- 
 rial. We do battle in order to restore the Senate of the United States, 
 the immediate representative of the State sovereignties, to the condi- 
 tion from which it was degraded by the expunging resolution, by which it 
 was declared, in substance, to be incapable of guarding and protecting the 
 Constitution and laws even hy a mere resolve. We seek to restore the reign 
 
 ■ of economy in the public expenditures, which have of late years so fearfully 
 increased. These are among the great leading objects of the Whig party, 
 which, being kept continually in view, entitle it to be denominated the great 
 
 ireform party, not in name merely, but in verity and truth. It cannot be 
 other than successful if it shall unitedly worship at the shrine of principle, 
 .and shall regard men as the mere agents to consummate its objects. That 
 -these considerations will be sufficient to induce union and cordial co-operation, 
 I will not permit myself to doubt ; and that union and co-operation will in- 
 
 ■ evitably lead to triumph, the signs of the times sufficiently indicate. 
 
 I pray each of you, gentlemen, to accept my best wishes for your health, 
 'happiness and prosperity, and permit me to subscribe myself 
 
 Truly and faithfully yours, etc., John Ttlee. 
 
 Messrs. J. Robertson, John Kearney, John S. Evans, Alfred Thruston, A. 
 S. Trotter, Esqs. 
 
 The Whigs, in nominating Mr. Tyler, asked him no questions. 
 They put forth no platform of principles at Harrisburg, adopted 
 jio resolutions, no anything. They nominated Mr. Tyler on his 
 record of twenty-eight years. After his nomination, no queries 
 were put to him by Whig politicians. Such as were put came to 
 
ME. TYLER AND THE WHIG LEADEES. 619 
 
 "him from the Democrats, whose game of course was one of trap, 
 and might well have been treated with silence.' 
 
 Still, Mr. Tyler believed that the Democrats had a right to be 
 answered, if the question before the people was the Bank. No 
 ■one could make it an issue but his own party ; and though that 
 party had constantly disclaimed it, he required of them a fresh 
 -disclaimer after his nomination for the vice-presidency in Decem- 
 Tjer, 1S39. The history of this affair is thus given by Mr. Wise 
 to the Intelligencer :'^ 
 
 During the session of 1839 and 1840, Mr. Tyler addressed to me, in Wash- 
 ington, a letter from Williamsburg, Virginia, saying that a meeting of the 
 Democrats of the city of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, had called on him espe- 
 cially to say whether he would, in any event, sanction the incorporation of 
 a United States Bank ; he enclosed me the proceedings of their meeting and 
 ■their resolutions, and sent to me his reply, with instructions to submit it to 
 the leading members of the Whig party, for them to determine whether it 
 should be transmitted to Pittsburg, and be published, or not. The substance 
 of the reply I remember well — it was spirited and explicit. After examining 
 •the right of all citizens to call for his sentiments on all public questions, and 
 stating that the fair object of such calls should always be to enable the elec- 
 -tors to cast their votes intelligibly, according to their own conviction of right, 
 after knowing the true opinions of candidates, he expressed the opinion which 
 he had ever entertained, thai a Bank of the United States ivas unconstitu- 
 tional, and that he could not sanction the incorporation of one without an al- 
 teration of the Constitution. He then emphatically asked those who addressed 
 him, if these were their sentiments, whether they would maintain them at 
 ■the polls, or whether their object was to divide the Whig party by publishing 
 them to the country ' ' This reply, thus given, I did submit to several Whig 
 
 ' On this point Mr. Tyler would have had a scriptural precedent in the famous 
 ■answer of Christ to the chief priests and scribes : 
 
 " Is it lawful, asked they, for us to give tribute unto Ctesar, or no ? But he per- 
 ceived their craftiness, and said unto them, why tempt ye me f Show me a penny. 
 Whose image and superscription hath it ? They ansv/ered and said, Csesar's. And 
 lie answered and said unto them, Render, therefore, unto Csesar the things which 
 be Csesar's, and unto God the things which be God's.'' 
 
 * Cited in AbeU's Tyler, p. 181 ; Seven Decades, p. 177. 
 
 ^ Mr. Biddle was one. Democratic Review, November, 1842. — After the Whig 
 nominations in December, 1839, Harrison was addressed by several individuals 
 as to his opinions on the Bank and other political subjects. Harrison referred the 
 letter for answer to the Committee of the Oswego Union Association, who replied 
 t;hat General Harrison had ceased answering letters of the kind ; that it was im- 
 portant " that no new issue should be made to the public, from the consideration 
 that the National Convention deemed it impohtic at the then crisis to publish any 
 
620 LETTBES AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 members of Congress, whose opinions I thought most entitled to respect and' 
 deference, and they decided it was impolitic to give it publicity; that Mr. 
 Tyler's opinions were already known, and that it was unnecessary to array 
 them directly against those of many who were in favor of a Bank ; and all 
 who made the Bank a test could ascertain his sentiments in the past, which 
 had never been recanted, and no one could plead that they either had been 
 concealed or that any deception was practised. I accordingly returned the 
 papers to Mr. Tyler. This was after the nomination, and before the election^ 
 The leaders here could not pretend that they did not know what he would do- 
 with respect to a Bank. 
 
 It would appear that, after this understanding, Mv. Tyler would 
 have been free from all moral reproach had he ignored the en- 
 deavor of the Democrats to raise an obsolete question into a living 
 issue of the canvass. They had attempted the same game in 1834^ 
 when they tried to make the question of " law or no law " a ques- 
 tion of "Bank or no Bank." But Mr. Tyler did not shield him- 
 self behind this reasoning. In his speeches at the various dinners 
 and meetings during the interval of his nomination and election 
 as vice-president, he, like all the rest of the Whigs, denounced the 
 Independent Treasury, and contended for reform in the currency. 
 But while not specifying the fiscal agent which the Whigs would 
 aim to succeed the Independent Treasury, he never refused, 'when 
 questioned directly as to the foreign subject of the Bank, to return 
 a proper reply. 
 
 The Enquirer had been eager in sowing discord in the ranks of 
 tJie Whigs, by depicting General Harrison as a Federalist, and 
 Mr. Tyler as a Bepublican of the straitest sect.' In his several 
 replies to the Democrats, Mr. Tyler found it absolutely necessary 
 to harmonize the public declarations of the candidate for the first 
 ofiice with his own. In his speech at Dayton, Ohio, General Har- 
 rison had said: 
 
 There is not in the Constitution any express grant of power to charter ai 
 Bank, and it never could be constitutional to exercise that power, save in the 
 event the powers granted to Congress could not be carried into effect without 
 resorting to such an institution. 
 
 general declaration of the views of the great Opposition party ; and certainly the 
 policy at the present remains unaltered." See the correspondence in speech of 
 Watterson, of Tennessee, April 2, 1840, Oongresdonal Olobe, Appendix, p. 372. 
 
 ' See "Beauties of Federal Whiggery," Bichmond Enquirer ; also article ad- 
 dressed "to John Tyler," Enquirer, February 20, 1840. 
 
HAEEISON ON THE BANK. 621 
 
 By this sentence, General Harrison intended to rigorously limit 
 -the expedient of a United States Bank, as a fiscal agent, to the 
 single exigency of a failure of all other experiments. It was given 
 as his interpretation of the provision in the Constitution which 
 •empowers Congress to pass all laws that are "necessary and 
 proper" for carrying the granted powers into execution. It 
 palpably excluded the choice of means, and left to Congress a 
 United States Bank as a last alternative. Such a construction 
 -was directly opposed to that of Judge Marshall in McCulloch vs. 
 State of Maryland, who maintained that the words " necessary 
 and proper" did not import absolute physical necessity, or were 
 confined to those single means without which the end would be 
 entirely unattainable, but admitted a latitude of choice. Every 
 agent, according to Marshall, which ensured the beneficial exe- 
 cution of a granted power came properly within the definition of 
 what was "necessary and proper."* Harrison's view was, then, 
 nothing like this. 
 
 General Harrison, however, did not say whether or not in his 
 opinion the state of affairs had practicdly made a Bank the 
 solitary remaining expedient to rescue the currency from its 
 present disorder. In Virginia and the South, where the State- 
 rights party generally favored the State banks, under new regu- 
 lations, such a construction of General Harrison's future policy 
 seemed impossible. Judge White favored State banks; so did 
 Hives, so did Gilmer, and so did Mr. Tyler, but he with a central 
 board, under national supervision. Harrison was understood by 
 men from the South as practically and in fact opposed to any Bank 
 which admitted the power of national incorporation. Accordingly, 
 when Mr. Tyler was making the campaign with Harrison in Ohio, 
 in the month of October, and was questioned by the Democrats of 
 Steubenville, Ohio, as to a bank, Mr. Tyler harmonized the opinions 
 of General Harrison with his own, and replied: 
 
 My opinion of the power of Congress to charter a, Bank of the United 
 States remains unchanged (from what it was, of course, in 1835). There 
 is not in the Constitution any express grant of power for such a purpose, and 
 it never could be constitutional to exercise that power save in the event the 
 
 1 McCulloch vs. State of Maryland, 4 Curtis' Supreme Court Eeports, p. 
 426. 
 
622 LETTEES AND TIMES OF THE TTLEKS. 
 
 powers granted to Congress could not be carried out without resorting to such? 
 an institution.' 
 
 On his return to Virginia, Mr. Tyler was subjected to a pub- 
 lished letter of enquiry from Democratic citizens of Henrico- 
 county. The hostile spirit which prompted the letter was seen 
 in the fact that though he had remained at home during the- 
 whole year, up to a late day in September, " you (the subscribers) 
 had not deemed it necessary to question me (Mr. Tyler) on any 
 point whatever." The subscribers interrogated Mr. Tyler with' 
 scrutinizing minuteness on ten points, and asked him to say, not 
 only what he would do if he was elected, but what General Harri- 
 son intended to do likewise. Mr. Tyler answered in the fullest,, 
 fairest and freest manner.^ 
 
 The question on the Bank was put in contemplation of General 
 Harrison's death; and the reply of Mr. Tyler, though expressing- 
 firmly and clearly his action in the event of his succession, — a con- 
 tingency, of course, which considerations of delicacy to General. 
 Harrison prompted him not to anticipate, — was worded in terms- 
 of proper respect to the candidate for the first office. It harmon- 
 ized Harrison's utterances with his own, and, to make them en- 
 tirely definite, pointed to his recorded votes in Congress. 
 
 \_Question of the Subscribers.} 
 
 Should General Harrison be elected President, almost at the age of three- 
 score and ten years, there is no extravagance in supposing that the four years' 
 term, to which he has been pledged by himself and friends, may be anticipated 
 by the course of nature, and the executive power be thereby devolved on you.. 
 In contemplation of such a casualty, and yielding to a sincere anxiety to pre- 
 serve our liberty and happiness, we take leave to request of you prompt and 
 explicit answers to the following inquiries : 
 
 5th. Do you believe the Congress of the United States to be vested with 
 power by the Constitution to incorporate a national bank ? Would you not 
 consider such an incorporation, though warranted by the Constitution, as- 
 mischievous in its effects upon the pursuits and habits of our people, and 
 from the influence it would be capable of exerting upon the independence of 
 our elections ? Would you veto a bill chartering a national bank ? 
 
 [_Answer of Mr. Tyler.'] 
 5th. In reply to the first branch of your enquiry, I quote and adopt the- 
 language of General Harrison in his speech delivered at Dayton: " There is 
 
 ' Abell's Tyler, p. 181. 
 
 ' See the correspondence, Abell's Tyler, pp. 176-181. 
 
MR. TYLER INTERBOGATBD. 62 S- 
 
 not in the Constitution any express grant of power for such purpose, and if 
 could never be constitutional to exercise that power, save in the event the powers 
 granted to Congress could not be carried into effect without resorting to such 
 an institution." The latter branch of your inquiry is fully answered by my 
 answer to the first part. The Constitution confers on Congress, in express 
 terms, " all powers which are necessary and proper" to carry into effect th& 
 granted powers. Now, if " the powers granted" could not be carried into- 
 effect without incorporating a Bank, then it becomes "necessary and proper," 
 and, of course, expedient ; a conclusion which I presume no one would deny 
 who desired to see the existence of the government preserved and kept bene- 
 ficially in operation. Whether I would or would not exert the veto, it will 
 be time enough for me to say when I am either a candidate for or an expectant 
 of the presidential office — neither of which I expect ever to be. If your ques- 
 tion had been so varied as to have inquired of me what course I would pursue- 
 if elevated to the vice-presidency, and I should be called upon to vote upon- 
 a bill for the incorporation of a Bank, you should have had a direct and em- 
 phatic answer. As it is, I have only to refer you to my speech, delivered in 
 the Souse of Representatives of the United States, in 1819, on the question of 
 issuing a scire facias against the Bank, and my vote given in the Senate of 
 the United States in 1832, on the question of rechartering the late Bank. 
 
 This answer was copied all over the Union. 
 
 Again, when, on the 24:th of February, the Whig citizens of 
 Norfolk invited him to partake of a public dinner to be given tO' 
 Mr. Clay, Mr. Tyler wrote in reply : 
 
 [Hon. John Ttlek to William G-aenet, J. M. Leigh, and others.]' 
 
 February 26, 1840. 
 
 I thank you, gentlemen, for the flattering manner in which you 
 
 have been pleased to allude to the nominees of the Harrisburg Convention, 
 Of myself, I dare not say more than that my political principles remain 
 wholly and entirely unchanged ; that they are the same now as when I first 
 entered political life, and will continue unchanged to the last moment of my 
 earthly existence. If in aught I have ever departed from the principles of 
 the old Republican party, in word or deed, my political opponents are invited 
 to display to the public eye the evidences of my transgression. I oppose the 
 men in power because they have violated the pledges which brought them 
 into power, trampled into the very dust the great conservative principles of 
 the Republican party, and have, by their measures, threatened entire con- 
 solidation and centralism.' 
 
 How fully Mr. Tyler's reputation was established as one of the 
 very first national characters, and his views familiar to all persons, 
 it needs no other evidence than Clay's own words in reply to 
 Eives on the Fiscal Bank in 1841. Clay then repelled the charge 
 
 1 Kichmond Whig, March 10, 1840. 
 
(624 LETTERS AUD TIMES OF THE TYLEES. 
 
 of "arraigning" the President, "for whom I have cherished an 
 intimate personal friendship of twenty years^ standing." ' " "Where 
 is the man," cried Eives, " whether member or spectator, within 
 these halls to whom his (Mr. Tyler's) political principles and char- 
 acter were not more or less familiar ? Who has forgotten when 
 he stood proudly on this floor in a minority of one (on the occa- 
 sion of the revenue collection bill in 1833) in vindication of what 
 he deemed a vital doctrine of that (Virginia) school?"'' "The 
 opinions of Mr. Tyler on the Bank," wrote Webster to Ketchum, 
 " were as well known as the sentiments of any public man on any 
 subject whatsoever."^ This very fixity of Mr. Tyler's opinions 
 and antecedents was one of the strongest cards employed by the 
 Whigs to win over the Jackson men at the election of 1840. Mr. 
 Eidgway, chairman of the Whig Central .Committee of Ohio, and 
 Whig member of the House in the Twenty-seventh Congress, ad- 
 dressed him the following invitation to visit Ohio in September:* 
 
 Deab Sir : The original Jackson men of the State of Ohio, who are in favor 
 of the election of the Whig candidates for the presidency and vice-presidency 
 •of the United States, propose to hold a convention in the city of Columbus, 
 ■on the 25th day of the present month, for the purpose of organizing their 
 strength and preparing for the approaching election. It is believed that the 
 government are concentrating upon this State their vfhole electioneering 
 strength, and that a mighty effort will be made to carry Ohio by storm. In 
 breaking down this last desperate expedient of a party maddened to almost 
 .superhuman exertion by defeat, we need and we ask your co-operation. Tour 
 name will command the presence of thousands upon thousands of our citizens 
 from all quarters of the State, and will swell our ranks, as we confidently be- 
 lieve, with numbers of those who are only withholding their support in order 
 ■to be fully satisfied that the success of the Whig candidate will secure the 
 triumph of the principles which brought General Jackson into power. We 
 -trust that the importance of this crisis in the campaign will induce you to 
 comply with the invitation which we tender you in the name of the Whig 
 party of Ohio. 
 
 Dr. H. Von Hoist, in his Constitutional History of the United 
 States, thus speaks of Mr. Tyler's antecedents : ^ 
 
 ' Reply of Clay to Kives, Congressional Olobe, First Session, Twenty-seventh 
 Congress, Appendix, p. 368. 
 
 " Kives' Speech on the Fiscal Bank Veto, Congressional Olobe, First Session, 
 Twenty-seventh Congress, Appendix, p. 367. 
 
 3 Curtis Webster, ii., p. 73. 
 
 * See Address of John Tyler, Jr., Madisonian, April 25, 1845, 
 
 ^ Constitutional History, 1828-1846, pp. 384-388, 
 
DE. H. VON HOLST QUOTED. 625 
 
 Tyler had been twenty-eight years in political life, and had repeatedly 
 played so peculiar a part that his name and his views on the most material 
 questions were well enough known to the whole nation. Even as a member 
 of the House of Delegates of the Legislature of Virginia, he had frequently 
 found an opportunity to show that he belonged to the more extreme advo- 
 cates of the State-rights theory. When he was in the House of Representa- 
 tives (1816-1821), the investigation set on foot against the Bank directors, 
 and the Missouri controversy, gave him occasion to break a strong lance in 
 two very important questions. 
 
 In the electoral campaign of 1824-'5, he belonged to the Crawford party. 
 When it was no longer doubtful that the caucus candidate could not be 
 elected, Tyler expressed his acknowledgments to Clay that he had preferred 
 Adams to Jackson. But scarcely had Adams entered on the presidency than 
 Tyler became one of his most decided opponents, because, in his very first 
 message, he saw the cloven foot of Federalism show itself with such frightful 
 distinctness. His election to the Senate afforded him the opportunity to 
 battle for his opposing views in a. more efficient manner, and, if he did it, no 
 dishonorable reproach could be made him on that account, although he owed 
 his election to the alliance of a dissatisfied portion of the reigning party with 
 the friends of the administration. He had not only given assurance that he 
 did not by any means desire to exchange the governorship of Virginia for a 
 seat in the Senate, but he had laid great stress on the fact that, in all national 
 points, he shared the political convictions of his fellow candidate. 
 
 Tyler's perversion from being a conditional friend into a violent (?) enemy 
 of Adams should not, however, be construed as a transformation into an un- 
 conditional partisan of Jackson. In the three great economic questions of 
 the Bank, the tariff, and of internal improvements he supported his adminis- 
 tration to the extert that it remained true to what was to be considered the 
 orthodox Democratic confession of faith according to the school of Virginia. 
 When the President remodeled that confession to suit his own ideas, the rigid 
 doctrinarian believer from Virginia did not follow him, but opposed him with 
 a decision which took no account of consequences. 
 
 Whatever judgment we may pass on Tyler's political views, and on his 
 later action as president, the courage with which he opposed the elevation of 
 Jackson's will to the dignity of a party programme deserves full recognition. 
 He neither lent his hand "to make the press the prominent subject of execu- 
 tive favor as of executive displeasure," nor did he now admit— simply because 
 he had to do, not with Adams and the Panama Congress, but with Jackson 
 and a treaty with Turkey— that the President had the right, without the pre- 
 vious consent of the Senate, to create and employ diplomatic agents. In the 
 nullification controversy he took a bold stand against the proclamation of the 
 President and against the " Force bill." Even if he did not, for reasons of 
 expediency, approve the course of South Carolina entirely, he was in prin- 
 ciple (?) unconditionally (?) on its side. To satisfy the "just" demands of 
 the State and to abolish the " unconstitutional " protective tariff,— that is, the 
 course finally adopted,— was the only one, he was convinced, which the gov- 
 ernment of the Union could or should take. 
 40 
 
626 LETTERS Airo TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 The doctrine of nuUifloation was indeed a heresy, hut no moral stain at- 
 tached to its disciples in the eyes of the party. What made a scabby sheep 
 of Tyler in the pure Democratic flock was his resistance to the new doctrines 
 introduced into the world hy Jackson's supreme pleasure. He complained 
 in 1831 that he had been reviled as an opponent of the administratioD, and 
 that even ordinary courtesy had been refused him, and the full vials of party 
 anger were poured out upon his head when, on the question of the deposits, 
 he made bold to appear against the President, and, as the reporter of the 
 Finance Committee, to absolve the Bank from dishonorable charges which 
 the former had made against it in his official utterances, and represented as 
 demonstrated facts. The turning of the party scales in Virginia finally 
 brought about his downfall. He did not obey the instruction of the Legisla- 
 ture to vote for Benton's " expunging resolution," but, true to the State- 
 rights democratic interpretation of the right of in?tructions, which he always 
 represented, he resigned his place. To the last he held inviolably to that 
 which, up to the time of Jackson's administration, had passed as the distinc- 
 tive principle of the Democratic party, but in opposition to numberless others, 
 he had never denied entirely his original judgment on Jackson, and as years 
 passed away, he reverted to it more and more. 
 
 In another place, speaking of the after quarrel between Mr. Tyler 
 and the Whig leaders, on the Bank question, Dr. Yon Hoist says : ' 
 
 We have already seen that, from a history of the electoral campaign, that 
 Tyler's view was unquestionably the correct one. It suflices, therefore, to 
 bring forward only two other direct witnesses in proof of this, who are of im- 
 portance for the proper understanding of the following events. Ewing had, in 
 July, 1840, declared it to be a shameless and absurd piece of Democratic 
 trickery, to make the people believe that there was question of the Bank con- 
 troversy in the'clection, and Wise — like Tyler, a political hybrid (?) but pre- 
 ponderantly (?) Whig — had in January, 1841, strongly inveighed against the 
 calling of Congress in extraordinary session, and the forcing of the Bank 
 question prematurely, that is, before the people had taken any decided posi- 
 tion in regard to it, to a decision. 
 
 Dr. Von Hoist's testimony is valuable, because he is the very last 
 man vrho would be suspected of doing justice to any Southern 
 man of moderate views, like Mr. Tyler.'' Fortunately, however, 
 
 1 Von Hoist's Const. Hist., 1828-1846, pp. 419-'20. 
 
 ' Von Hoist, after having passed an exquisite eulogy on Mr. Tyler for twenty- 
 eight years of his life, proceeds to represent him during the next four as precisely 
 the opposite of himself. The very safe answer to this is that such a sudden change 
 is an impossibility in human nature. 
 
 Von Hoist is so filled with German absolutism of government and thought that 
 it is impossible for him to see the beauties of the federative system ; and his work, 
 though of the highest abiUty, betrays, only too openly, an intense hatred of the 
 South, 
 
LETTEK OF S. F. CHAPMAiq-. 627 
 
 Mr. Tylers reputation asks him nor any one else any favors. It 
 is too far above reproach. The wonder to the unsophisticated 
 reader must be that Mr. Tyler's attitude on the Bank question was 
 ever brought into question at all. He alone, of the politicians of 
 his day, never swerved from his principles. The explanation lies 
 in the culpability of the Whigs who betrayed him. They sought 
 through loud cries of " Traitor ! traitor !" to drown the voice of 
 justice, which denounced them for their duplicity and political per- 
 fidy. But "it is the fii'st of all gospels that a lie cannot endure 
 forever." 
 
 The "Whig treachery brought its punishment speedily, and though 
 the avenues of history have been filled up with the most false 
 and atrocious charges against Mr. Tyler, truth carries a keen 
 and trenchant blade, and cuts a free and open patliway to the 
 temple ! 
 
 To what lengths men will go in the pursuit of political ends, may 
 be gathered from the following letter, of which I have the orig- 
 inal. Mr. Tyler was free in the expression of his hostiKty to the 
 Bank to all who sought it ; and none knew so well as the conspir- 
 ators themselves his lofty character as a man and opinions as a 
 statesman : 
 
 [To THE President of the United States.] 
 
 Washington, November 20, 1844. 
 
 Dear Sir : I addressed a note to Mr. Botts, requesting the return of your 
 letter to me, about ten days ago, which, having failed to answer, I doubt 
 whether, indeed, I shall ever hear from him again or ever receive the letter. 
 My own opinion is, that after having shown it to Mr. Clay, he destroyed it. 
 Though no proof was wanting to establish your opinions in respect to a Bank 
 of the United States, or the constitutional power of Congress to create such a 
 corporation, or the expediency of exercising such power, yet that letter con- 
 tained so clear and so strong and emphatic a declaration of your opinions, 
 with the main reasons for them, that Botts at once determined, no doubt, 
 that it should never see the light of day again, lest perchance it might finally 
 benefit you. 
 
 I deeply regret, sir, having entrusted him with this letter. It was done, 
 thoughtlesslyrit is true, for a copy only should have been sent to him, but it 
 was "done only in a spirit of the utmost kindness and friendship for you, 
 whilst under the lash, as their subsequent conduct has proved, of one of the 
 most' reckless and accursed parties that ever disgraced the annals of any 
 country. Should, by any means, the letter get into my possession again, 
 you may assure yourself that it will be immediately inclosed or handed to 
 you. 
 
628 LETTSEB and 'TIMJES Ol? the TfLBRS. 
 
 I have not seen the Post-Master-General since Friday last. He then pro- 
 mised rae to see you that evening, but not having heard from him, I suppose 
 he is travelling the same road in which I found him six weeks ago. 
 
 With a grateful sense of your kindness to me, I have the honor to assure 
 you of my constant friendship. S. F. Chapman. 
 
 The Democrats met in convention the 5th of May, 1840. Ac- 
 cord to the regime, well understood at the time and by none better 
 than Benton, who was to be the next beneficiary, " the nomination 
 in convention was a mere matter of form, gone through according 
 to custom, but the result commanded by the party in the different 
 States." According to this programme of endorsation, thus 
 avowed by Benton, Mr. Van Buren was nominated for the presi- 
 dency without opposition. E. M. Johnson did not fare so well. 
 In 1835, on the first nomination of Yan Buren, Johnson met with 
 a strong opposition from William C. Kives. He had one hundred 
 and seventy-eight votes, Bives, eighty-seven. The delegates of 
 Virginia had thereupon protested against the nomination of John- 
 son, and brought charges against his character and his principles. 
 Accordingly, at the ensuing election, the electoral vote of Virginia 
 was cast for William Smith, of Alabama, and Johnson, receiving less 
 than a majority of all the votes, was elected by the Senate. In the 
 winter of 1840, before the second nomination of Mr. Van Buren, the 
 Democrats of Virginia renewed their protest against Mr. Johnson, 
 and put up James K. Polk, of Tennessee. Fear of offending the 
 Virginia and Tennessee influence of Polk induced the nominating 
 convention to relegate the subject to the old way of nomination, 
 namely, by the State legislatures. The result was the same as in 
 the presidential contest of 1824 and that of 1836, in which last 
 part of the Whigs supported Harrison and part White ; Johnson 
 received support in some of the States, while Polk was the favorite 
 in others. But in July, Mr. Polk, finding his chances of election 
 meagre, publicly withdrew his name from the canvass. There- 
 upon the Virginians were compelled to support Col. Johnson. 
 Yet, at the casting of the vote by the electoral college, while Van 
 Buren received sixty votes, Johnson got but forty-eight. South 
 Carolina, which voted for Van Buren, cast its eleven votes for Mr. 
 Tazewell, and one of the Virginia delegation separated from his 
 colleagues and voted for Mr. Polk. The Eichmond Whig, of 
 August 7, 1840, commenting on the vsdthdrawal of Mr. Polk, and 
 
"■ntpECAiJoE AKt) tylEr too !" 629 
 
 the embarrassing situation in which it left the Democrats of Vir- 
 ginia, said : 
 
 They have turned up their noses at the Colonel, and publicly branded him 
 as unworthy the support of the Virginia people. What course will they pur- 
 sue ? We predict that they will adapt themselves to their fallen fortunes. It 
 is written that hungry dogs are not nice in the choice of their victuals ; and 
 however oflFensive Col. Johnson may have been eight months ago to the 
 aristocratic nostrils of our fastidious junto, they will now swallow him with 
 
 a gusto, if they can get the chance It will leak out that the party in 
 
 this State have no candidate for the second office in the government. . . • . 
 At the present juncivre the vice-presidency is Utile less important than the 
 presidency. Mr. Van Buren, in consequence of his course of luxurious living 
 to which he is addicted, may pass off at any day without a moment's warn- 
 ing, and thus devolve the high duties of the office upon the vice-president. 
 
 I shall not detain the reader in describing further the campaign 
 of 1840. Log-cabins, coon-skins, and hard cider were taken as 
 symbols to represent the simplicity of the Whig cause. Immense 
 meetings were gotten together — that at Dayton covered ten acres 
 and comprised one hundred thousand people. The doggerel of 
 " Tippecanoe and Tyler too " had greater effect than the celebrated 
 song of " LillibuUero " of the Eevolution of 1688. The adminis- 
 tration brought its whole force of office-holders into the field. 
 Society was agitated in a way never agitated before. Both parties 
 cast an unprecedented vote. This may be seen by comparing it 
 with the figures of the two previous elections: Democratic (1832) 
 687,502; (1836) 761,549; (1840) 1,128,702. 
 
 National Eepublican and anti-Mason, (1832) 563,297; Whig, 
 (1836) 736,656; (1840) Whig, 1,275,017. 
 
 The majority of the electoral votes for Harrison was fifteen 
 greater than that for Jackson at his great triumph in 1832. 
 
 But, amid all the rush of folly and sentiment that engaged the 
 feelings of the whole population, there was abroad a deep seated 
 conviction of the necessity of reform. Had the Whig party had no 
 positive side whatever, being merely a factor, negative in its char- 
 acter of opposition, it would have deserved well of the country in 
 overthrowing the corrupt organization which the Democratic party 
 had grown to be. On the falling off of the State-rights element, 
 in 1833 and 1834, nothing remained to check the development of 
 that pure democratic spirit which was at once repugnant to the 
 government of the Union, viewed as a league or a constitutional 
 
630 LETTEES Alrt) TJMES OF THE Tf LfiES. 
 
 consolidation. Representative institutions were dragged in the 
 mud and filth of majority rule without checks or balances. The 
 politician of Five Points assumed tlie place once occupied by men 
 like Tyler and Tazewell. A hideous manifestation arose of this 
 equality-spirit in the organization of the " Equal Eights " faction 
 in 1835. These men were absolute socialists and levelers. For 
 a time they stood independent, dubbed by the rest of the party 
 " loco focos " Soon they merged into the mass, which became in- 
 fected with their spirit. The name " loco-foco " passed to the whole 
 Jackson- Van Buren party. Corruptions and peculations in the 
 public oflQces became every-day affairs. The land was filled with 
 defaulters.' The enormous defalcation of Samuel Swartwout, 
 revenue collector at New York, may be instanced. His swindle 
 amounted to 81,225,705, a sum equal in these days, in proportion 
 to our national income, to fifteen millions of dollars. Swartwout 
 had also a large number of accomplices, among whom was the 
 District Attorney, Price, who cheated the government out of §72,- 
 124. The foregoing administration had allowed seven years to 
 elapse before having the collector's bonds at "Washington; and 
 Woodbury, the Secretary of the Treasury, delayed seven months 
 compelling the collector to close and settle his accounts with the 
 government. The books in the comptroller's office were either not 
 kept at all or unintelligible.^ 
 
 Adams, as Secretary of State and as President, had inaugurated 
 the rule of tlie jobbers in promoting the American System; and 
 now Van Buren, another Northern man, taught like Adams to 
 estimate the Constitution by the number of dollars it might bring 
 in the market, had developed the evil to its legitimate extent. 
 The spirit of greed that had preferred the disruption of the Union 
 in 1833, to an abandonment of the "spoils" of the tariff, had in- 
 fected the highest and lowest offices of the government. Just as 
 the laws had been made, instead of looking to the general interest 
 of the country, to look alone to the pecuniary advantage of cer- 
 tain classes and localities, so now office was no loncrer viewed as 
 a sacred trust, but an object of private concern. Expediency was 
 the ruling idea, and Van Buren was its most perfect representa- 
 
 1 Clay said that sixty-four out of sixty-seTen laud receivers -were defaulters, 
 Niles, lix., p. 9. 
 
 -Von Hoist, Con. Hist., 1828-46, p. 352. 
 
THE ETJLE OF EXPEDIENCY. 631 
 
 tive. Any political character whatever might be assigned to him 
 by those who took the trouble to enquire into his record. It 
 could be just as readily demonstrated that he was as good a slavery 
 man as an anti-slavery one, as good a tariff man as an anti-tariff 
 one, and as good a Bank man as an anti-Bank one. The govern- 
 ment officials were assessed in the interest of party, and the Presi- 
 dent himself marshaled them on to the polls. How far the people 
 were willing to follow the politicians in their race to corruption 
 was never better attested than on the eve of the election. Critten- 
 den, in 1S39, introduced a bill to prevent the interference of of- 
 fice-holders in elections. It was known that Judge White of 
 Tennessee was in favor of it. Forthwith the Democratic Legis- 
 lature of his State instructed bim to vote against Crittenden's bill. 
 White declined to obey, and threw up his office. (He died soon 
 after returning home.) 
 
 ■ By the peaceful planters of the South, in the simplicity of their 
 rural life, these new developments in the politics of the country 
 were received at first with horror and surprise. The Whig vic- 
 tory of ISiO was to Conservatives like Mr. Tyler a glorious re- 
 buke for the monstrous indecencies and usurpations of the govern- 
 ment committed since Monroe's day. It was regarded as a blow- 
 to that morbid consolidating spirit of Jacksonism, that sought, in 
 both the Legislative and Executive Departments, to override all 
 constitutional restraints. In this respect, the Democrats and Van 
 Buren were deep in guilt. The Force bill, the removal of the 
 deposits, the expunging resolution, the specie circular, were 
 all encroachments upon the Constitution, which alone pj-ovided 
 any safety for a minority; and every day since they were com- 
 mitted, some new usurpation occurred. 
 
 At the organization of Congress in 1839 the five seats from 
 New Jersey in the House were contested. The clerk, supported 
 by the Democrats, refused to call the regularly certified repre- 
 sentatives, and the organization of the House was only effected by 
 the members taking the matter into their own hands. A few in- 
 dependent Democrats acted with the Whigs, and enabled the latter 
 to elect K. M. T. Hunter, Speaker. 
 
 But apart from the mere State-rights features,^ the business con- 
 
 ' Mr. Webster's speech at the Whig convention in Richmond. October 5, 1840, 
 was an appeal to State-rights. Thus, alluding to the New Jersey seats, he said : 
 
632 LETTERS AND TIMES OF THE TYLERS. 
 
 dition of the country and the government cried loudly for reform. 
 The expenses were treble what they were in Monroe's day. The 
 post-office was in debt $500,000, and the returns required by law 
 of the postmasters flagrantly neglected. The navy was decayed, 
 while the forts throughout the country were in an almost dis- 
 mantled condition. A new commercial crisis had descended upon 
 the Union, almost equaling that of 1837. Banks were every- 
 where suspended, and the rates of exchange between different 
 parts of the Union indicated by their enormous amount the utter 
 worthlessness of the currency. 
 
 The Whig victoi-y of 1840 was, therefore, in its economic re- 
 sults, the grandest in the political annals of the Union. It is true, 
 the party itself exploded almost immediately on the event, not, as 
 I think, because of the absolute inevitableness of collision between 
 its component parts. A bank in the District of Columbia, under the 
 power of Congress to exercise exclusive legislation there, and branch- 
 ing with the consent of the States, would have afforded a compro- 
 mise platform for the whole Whig party, without involving the 
 disputed question of national incorporation within the limits of 
 the States. Tyler and Webster could agree, and so could the 
 whole party, had it not been for the jealous spirit of Henry Clay, 
 who was in fact as much a demagogue as Cleon of old time. But 
 a fig for party, when a man is at the helm who looks to the good 
 of the whole country, and has sagacity and statesmanship enough to 
 secure the passage of wise and wholesome laws. The cry of re- 
 form was not sounded in vain. 
 
 The history of affairs from 1841 to 1845 proves that the people 
 were not deceived in their expectations. The defaulters were ex- 
 pelled, and not a dollar lost in all the disbursements.^ The ex- 
 penses of government were reduced about one-sixth, after a long 
 
 "While speaking of the attacks of this administration on State-rights, I should 
 not do my duty if I omitted to notice the outrage recently perpetrated on the most 
 sacred rights of the State and people of New Jersey." (Webster's Works, ii.,p.99.) 
 Among other alarming moves against the Constitution, the proposition of the ad- 
 ministration to organize the militia of the States as a unit was cited by Mr. Webster. 
 ' But one real default occurred during Mr. Tyler's term, and that for an insignifi- 
 cant amount between $15 and $40. See Mr. Tyler's lecture in 18o6, the Dead of the 
 Cabinet, where the fact is stated ; also Charles Wickliffe's speech in the Kentucky 
 Convention of 1850. See also Mr. Tyler's Special Message of February 21, 1845, 
 Statesman's Manual (Ed. 1848) p. 1392. 
 
A NEW BKOOM SWEEPS CLEAN. 633 
 
 interval of peace, presenting in this respect a solitary exception to 
 all other administrations.^ TKe navy and army were reorganized, 
 and the forts new built.^ The post-office expenses were brought 
 within its revenues.' A sound and stable cni-rency took the 
 place of " shinplasters," and the rates of exchange amounted to 
 little more than the cost of transporting specie from place to 
 place.'' Questions most agitating to the peace of the country were 
 settled.' Yast additions of territory were made." The authority 
 of the Senate was scrupulously respected.' And the government 
 was purged forever of loco-focoism and its crown of " spoils and 
 corruption." * 
 
 ' Tom Corwin, a Whig Seeretaiy of the Treasury, in his report of December, 
 1850, estimated Mr. Tyler's average annual expenditures as president at $22,987,- 
 411.78, — a diminution as compared with the average of Van Buren, of $3,481,- 
 158.95, making a reduction for the four years of fl.'{,924,635.80, and this notwith- 
 standing the improvements made in the army and navy. Contrast this with the 
 net expenditures in 1883,-1206,248,000,29 ! 
 
 - See the reports of Upshur and Spencer. " We remember," wrote Mr. Tyler, 
 "the naked condition of the fortifications at Old Point in the early part of 1841, 
 and quite as well how formidable its defences appeared before the close of the 
 year." The fortifications at New York bristled with 400 guns. To the navy the 
 "Home squadron" and "African squadron" were added. 
 
 ^ " Sir, it wiU be gratifying to you, and no doubt to the country, to be informed, 
 as a preliminary to a detailed report of the operations of this department during 
 the past year, and of its present condition, that for the time it has been under the 
 superintendence of the undersigned, and during the whole of your administration, 
 its current expenses have been met by its current revenue, and the amount of 
 service is now greater than at the commencement of the year 1841." (Charles A. 
 Wickliffe to President Tyler, November 2.5, 1844.) 
 
 '' John Tyler's message, December 3, 1844. 
 
 ' Northeastern Boundary ; Cases of McLeod, The Caroline, Eight of Search, 
 The Creole ; Dorr's Rebellion, Florida War, etc. 
 
 ^ Texas. ' Senate Journals. 
 
 * Defeat of Van Buren and Benton on the Texas question.