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 This book must 
 be taken from 
 Library building. 
 
THE 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 OP 
 
 COLUMBUS; 
 
 ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED 
 
 IN THE 
 
 BOSTON BULLETIN: 
 
 TO WHICH ARE ADDED TWO LETTERS OF 
 
 COL. ORJVE TO GEN. DUFF GREEJV 
 
 '***9%%**^ 
 
 BOSTON : 
 
 PUBLISHED BY PUTNAM & HUNT. 
 
 1839. 
 
COLUMBUS, NO. I. 
 
 A writer in the New Hampshire Patriot, under the signature of 
 Jiiiii-Janus^ has commenced an attack against a portion of Gen. Jack- 
 son's friends, in Boston, which presents some claims to their notice. I 
 do not hazard a conjecture as to his name. The matter of the piece 
 affords sufficient indications that it is a Boston production, and many 
 circumstances satisfy me beyond a doubt that it may be deemed the 
 act of a Boston party. The piece is remarkable for a boldness of as- 
 sertion, for a rancorous spirit of hostility, and for a recklessness of 
 truth, which have usually characterized the writers in the Boston 
 Statesman; but the composition evinces a greater degree of taste than 
 has usually been noticed in that virulent paper. The writer is not,, 
 probably, one of the master spirits of the party. People who have 
 much at stake, do not like to commit themselves too openly in asser- 
 tions which cannot be maintained, and the falsehood of which must re- 
 coil, with fearful energy^ on themselves. They prefer to pour their 
 slander through secret channels, and to leave nothing visible of the 
 assassin but the blow that he strikes. 
 
 I confess I have been much surprised at the appearance of this pa- 
 per. When a party, by the use of secret defamation, has accomplish- 
 ed its object, and obtained, from a deceived government, trusts of such 
 magnitude as must have surpassed their fondest visions of hope, — such 
 trusts as must sometimes make them doubt whether, indeed, it be not 
 the illusions of a happy dream, — when, apparently, the party can have 
 nothing more to hope for, while they have every thing to lose, ther6 
 appears to be a temerity almost approaching to madness, in bringing 
 their intrigues into public discussion, and subjecting their false asser-* 
 tions to the dread talisman of truth. There must, in such a case, be 
 some secret danger to appal them, which is not open to common obser- 
 vation. The government whom they have deceived must, from some 
 cause or other, have been roused to suspicion — some secret thorn 
 must, in the haste, have been covered up in their bed of roses to trou- 
 ble their repose — the hidden recess of their retreat must have been in- 
 vaded by some avenging spirit to disturb their unhallowed revels, by 
 pointing iha fins^er from the wall. Some still small voice must hav6 
 proclaimed in the ear of slumbering security, that the triumphs of th^ 
 1 
 
 
wicked rest on a treacherous foundation, which the slightest shock may 
 cause to tumble from bencatii them. 
 
 The attack is not less remarkable from the quarter whence it pro-, 
 ceeds, than from that against which it is directed. The men who have 
 received every thing from the goverirment, attack those of its friends 
 who have received nothing. The Statesman party is not satisfied that 
 the Jackson republican party has been overthrown. Their success- 
 ful denunciation to the president does not satisfy the victors in the very 
 moment of their triumph. To share in the battle without partaking of 
 the triumph — to conquer with their party, and to be worse off than the 
 conquered — to have their success rendered less beneficial than defeat, 
 * is not considered, by one portion of the Jackson party, sufficient for 
 another portion. These vindictive gentlemen are not satisfied that we 
 suffer, nor that we suffer with humility, ^^e have bowed to the rod of 
 affliction — the blasts of adversity have passed over us, and we have not 
 repined — the '* organs of the government" have denounced us, and 
 we have not replied — calumny has closed against us the fountains of 
 power, and suspicion has rendered deaf to our voice the ear of author- 
 ity, artd yet our enemies are not satisfied. To ruin our political pros- 
 pects is not enough^ — but the last consolation of the good man, that 
 wliich the God of nature has not placed at the mercy of fortune, the 
 value of private reputation, is to be assailed, and the inmost recess to 
 which disappointed virtue can retreat, the bosom of private life, is to 
 i3e entered and violated. 
 
 To accomplish this object the pen o^ Jinti-Jamts is employed. The 
 columns of a distant newspaper arQ selected for the onset, from whence 
 the calumny has been transferred to the Boston Statesman, and will 
 probably be again carried, through the Washington Telegraph, to every 
 quarter of this wide extended empire. Whether inclined, or other- 
 wise, to a public discussion, the alternative is not left us. We are 
 forced into the arena. The glove of the challenger is haughtily 
 thrown down, and we are compelled to take it up. We must meet the 
 slander, or acquiesce in the justice of the denunciation. We must be 
 content with infamy as well as ruin, or we must fight. We will figUt. 
 The glove of the challenger is fastened to our helmet, and the issue 
 must be settled by the sword. The contest is not one of our courting, 
 but we engage in it without reluctance. Tlie calumny which'has been 
 sent forth in secret shall be answered openly. The government shall 
 fiear two parties where^ beibre, it has heard but one. The war, like 
 that which preceded our national combat with England, shall no long- 
 er be a war on one side. The eflx>rt to endure shall be changed to one 
 to defend. The blow shall be returned as well as warded off. And 
 like the chivalry of ojd, when they threw away the scabbard, we call 
 upon the God of armies to give victory and honour to them that de- 
 serve it. « ■ C0LU3IBUS. 
 
 COLUMBUS, NO. II. 
 
 The individuals whom Anti-Janus aims at are too plainly under- 
 stood to be left in doubt, and wc add nothing to the certainty by re- 
 
moving the thin veil which he pretends to throw over his portraits. — 
 He need not fear that we shall aflcct to misunderstand him, from an 
 apprehension that the fidelity of the portrait will be admitted when its 
 object is acknowledged. The sligfitcst occurrence in the history of 
 an individual will sometimes indicate him as distinctly as his name ; 
 and let the outlines of the portrait be shaped as they may, and whether 
 the colouring be drawn from the beams of Heaven's own arch, or from 
 the blackest recesses of the slanderous bosom, the object will stand 
 sufficiently revealed. 
 
 No one, therefore, can entertain a doubt that by Col. Christopher 
 Crafty, Anti-Janus means Col. Orne; and it is equal] v obvious to 
 whom he refers by the parties who were "to furnish a sufficient quan- 
 tity of good society federalism," and '^ a sprinkling of democracy and 
 the balance in cash." The union of these gentlemen as friends of 
 Gen. Jackson, and who established a newspaper for the sole purpose 
 of supporting his election, — their movements in connexion with their 
 party, and their political fate, are facts of general notoriety, and in- 
 applicable to all others. 
 
 To denounce these .gentlemen and their political friends, and the 
 newspaper which defends them, is the object of Anti-Janus, and of the 
 friends of tlie Statesman. But his main attention is, as that of his 
 party has heretofore been, bestowed on Col. Orne. The reason of 
 this distinction will sufficiently appear in the course of these numbers. 
 Our present object is, however, only to notice the fact. "VV hen men 
 are strong in their union, the first step to their overthrow is to effect 
 their division. This has been attempted by every appeal to pride and 
 self-interest which the ingenuity of intrigue could suggest, but has 
 been attempted in vain. The bond between men of honor in pur- 
 suit of an honest object, will baflle the deepest cunning, and set temp- 
 tation at defiance. Duff' Green, with all the means that his supposed 
 influence and want of honor can give him, has been as unfortunate in 
 his numerous attempts, as have his worthy coadjutors of the States- 
 man party. Anti-Janus^ with more address than both, will share their 
 fate. 
 
 Let us now proceed to the matter of his accusation. Col. Orne's 
 figure "is too corpulent" for the taste of Anit-Janus. By St. George, 
 we could almost imagine we had a lady for our adversary. " The ex- 
 pression of his eye has been impaired" by a chronic inflammation of 
 some twenty years standing. What a pity it is that Col. Orne had not 
 consulted Anti-Janus as his apothecary. Who knows but that between 
 his drugs and his lead, (pardon me, Anti-Janus, I believe on my soul 
 you are not the drug and paint seller) some antidote might have been 
 found to allay the inflammation and preserve the lustre. " His locks 
 are thinner than they were in early youth ; alas, that time in his pro- 
 gress, with his pitiless scythe, should assaii the clustering graces of the 
 youthful head. Would that our Anti-Janus were a barber, and Col. 
 Orne's hair had been subjected to his skill some twenty years since — 
 the thin locks might not at this day have off'ended the delicate taste of 
 our adversary. But enough of this trifling — there is graver matter be- 
 
hind. According to Anti-Janus, Col. Orne is a " glutton" ^nd a 
 "sensualist" — is " selfish," " cunning," '' treacherous," and " false." 
 That during three years of the last presidential contest, he adopted the 
 non-committal system, and could nc* decide what course to take. He 
 hesitated while Gov. Clinton lived, lest he might be a candidate: and 
 after his death, turned a doubting eye towards Mr. Crawford. He 
 denied, in the most public manner, that he took any part in the (presi- 
 dential) contest, while at the same time he privately kept up an active 
 communication with the friends of each candidate, professing, in the 
 secrecy of confidential correspondence, to be friendly to each. That 
 he was a.fcncemany until the election of Mr. •Speaker Stevenson warn- 
 ed him to jump off, when he attempted to steal or force himself into 
 the front rank of those who had fought the good fight of Jackson and 
 reform, but his base and selfish conduct caused him to be viewed every 
 where with coldness and distrust. That he headed a new party, se- 
 duced two honest, well meaning, (simple souls!) but somewliat disap- 
 pointed politicians to join him, collected the unprincipled of all parties, 
 and struck for his object — but failed. That, since his failure, the only 
 passion which fin^s entrance to his bosom, is re,venge. For this only 
 he lives, moves and breathes, this employs his thoughts by day, and his 
 dreams by night — to this he devotes his perverted talents, his fiendish ' 
 cunning, and his" exceeding falsehood. He abuses Gen. Jackson in 
 his private familiar conversation in the foulest manner — abuses his 
 constitutional advisers, and the officers he has appointed. He affects 
 to be a friend to Gen. Jackson, that he may effect the mischief he 
 meditates. He ascribes to bribery, the support which disinterested 
 presses give to excellent public officers, (Messrs. Henshaw, Greene 
 and Company!) and, to the same cause, the undivided approbation (of 
 them) of the whole community. He visits the friends of a displaced 
 clerk, fans the embers of discontent, and excites public meetings to 
 denounce the representatives of the government. And, finally, ob- 
 tains the control of an unprincipled press, by the means of some in- 
 strument he has made his dupe! 
 
 This, according to Anti-Janus, is the catalogue of Col. Orne's of- 
 fences, and it must be confessed, that his transgressions, if it be just, 
 exceed all the sins of the decalogue. The addition of a few more 
 -would hardly change the color of the picture, for perjury, theft, and 
 murder are the natural fruits of such concentrated profligacy. The 
 greatest enemy of Col. Orne must admit, that charges of this enormity 
 should be made only by one who was prepared to support them, with 
 proof, when it was called for. Asjiis friend, and on his behalf, I call 
 for proof He denies every charge, the truth of every averment, and 
 the justice of every imputation. To this comprehensive indictment he 
 pleads not guilty, to every part and parcel thereof, and throws himself 
 on his country for trial. C^me forward then, Mr. Prosecutor Anti- 
 Janus, and produce your proof You have made the charges either on 
 the information of others, or on your own knowledge. You are cither 
 the deceived, or the deceiver. If others have informed you, name 
 them, and call upon them for evidence. If they are unable to furnish 
 
it, and you are a man of honor, (for, not knowing you, I will not pre- 
 judge your character,) acknowledge your error, and make atonement 
 to the man you have attempted to injure. If you make the assertion on 
 your own knowledge, come forward with the facts. Draw them from 
 what source you may, friends or enemies, Irom public acts or confiden- 
 tial communications. You are at liberty to use any information, come 
 from what quarter it may — for Col. Orne exonerates every human be- 
 ing who can substantiate your statement, or any part of it, from with- 
 holding his information, under whatever circumstances of confidence 
 it might have been obtained. If he has " kept up an active commu- 
 nication with the friends of each candidate, professing in the sectecy of 
 confidential correspondence to be friendly to each," there must be 
 some, indignant at such villany, whose confidence must have been de- 
 stroyed by his exposed duplicity, and who can have no m.otive to screen 
 him. He removes every injunction that confidence has imposed, and 
 calls upon all, nay dares all who holds the evidence of his duplicity, to 
 bring it forward. Bring one friend of any other candidate to confirm 
 your statement, and he will exonerate you, in part, tiom malignant 
 and wilful defamation. If you shrink from his reasonable demand, 
 withhold all proof, vind skulk behind your anonymous signature, he will 
 hold you, in common, he trusts, with the rest of mankind, as a false, 
 malicious, and malignant slanderer, and a perjured, corrupt, and prof- 
 ligate knave. columbus 
 
 COLUMBUS NO. III. 
 
 The last of tjie charges made by Anti-Janus is the first in the order 
 of our notice, viz : that since the local appointments here. Col. Orne 
 has been actuated by a spirit of revenge, has abused Gen. Jackson and 
 his constitutional advisers, has fanned the embers of discontent, assail- 
 ed his ofiicers through the public press, and been the active mover 
 of every effort in opposition to their conduct. 
 
 There is not one Avord of truth in the whole of this comprehensive 
 denunciation-' — it is gratuitous and unfounded from beginning to end. 
 It has all the character of falsehood which Anti-Janus imputes, to an- 
 other, but practices himself, by way of illustration. The appointments 
 made by the president here, it is true, surprised and astonished the 
 Jackson republican p.arty, and the surprise and astonishment have 
 scarcely diminished to this hour. His best friends have in vain taxed 
 their imaginations to comprehend the policy by which he has beer gov- 
 erned, and a satisfactory solution of the subject is as unattainable now^ 
 as it was when the astonishing appointments were mad*e. It has been 
 the subject of frequent and earnest conferences, but has baffled dvery 
 attempt at a satisfactory elucidation. The course proper for the party 
 to pursue, under such embarrassing circumstances, has also received 
 the full measure of consideration. Although some difference of opinion 
 existed, as might naturally be expected, it was the decision of the ma- 
 jority, that the party should keep still, and suffer the consequences of 
 
8 
 
 • 
 
 the measures to unfold themselves. The general confidence of the 
 Jackson republican party in the rectitude of the president's intentions 
 was not shaken, but a deep conviction was entertained that he had 
 been deceived by artifices, and falsehoods, which would not fail, in the 
 course of time, to become manifest. A conviction was also felt, with 
 equal sinceritv, that the president was not a man to suffer deceit to 
 pass with impunity, or to continue trusts in hands which had obtained 
 them by the grossest artifices, and impositions. For this change in the 
 temper of the administration we have waited v/ith patience and resigna- 
 tion. Our information from Washington, froi:rt the most respectable 
 sources, assured us that the president was by no means pleased with 
 the state of things in Boston, or satisfied that his appointments were of 
 the character he had been led to suppose : — The party who had pressed 
 these appointments upon him he had detected in a foul conspiracy to 
 slander the character of almost the only man, Gen. Boyd, whose ap- 
 pointment answered the expectations of our citizens. This base and 
 proflifrate conspiracy against a maQ who had deserved sp much from 
 his country, made a deep impression on the mind of the president, and 
 awakened a suspicion of the true character of the Statesman party. 
 The first effect was to stop any further appointments on their recom- 
 mendation, and, subsequently, an order to the collector to make no 
 more removals without first receiving the sanction of the treasury de- 
 •partment. The movements of the Boston merchants, in regard to the 
 shameful proscriptions of the Customhouse, were the unbiassed results 
 of the deep disgust felt by business men who regarded alone the inter- 
 ests of the community, uninfluenced by, and indifferent to political con- 
 siderations. So far from being instigated by Col.- Orne, tl>at gentle- 
 man was totally uninformed that a meeting vv^as contemplated, until the 
 evenincr it occurred, when it was incidentally mentioned to him by a 
 gentleman who intended to be present. Col. Orne had no more agen- 
 cy in getting it up^ than Mr. Henshaw, against whose objectionable 
 conduct it was convened to remonstrate. His decided disinclination to 
 be a party to such a movement, was too well known, even to admit of 
 the subject being suggested to him. Col. Orne was equally a stranger 
 to the discussions which have from time to time appeared in the Bulle- 
 tin, upon these subjects. The course the party had adopted, preclud- 
 ed any interference on their part, and the discussions have been the un- 
 biased acts of its senior editor, whose forbearance had been taxed to 
 its utmost limits, by the disgraceful transactioni he was compelled to 
 witness. 
 
 That the principal members of the Jackson republican party have 
 felt tills state of things with deep and undissemblcd regret and mortifi- 
 catioi, it would be useless to deny. Let a brief consideration of the 
 circumstances decide, whether or not this state of feeling was justifia- 
 ble. The election of Gen. Jackson was advocated by a small, but spir- 
 ited portion of our citizens, comprising members of the two ancient 
 great political parties. The dis})Osition of Gciv Jackson to treat all 
 his political friends as standing on the same party ground, whatever 
 might have been the former differences among them, had been so often 
 
9 
 
 proclaimed, and has been since so obviously the princfple of his public 
 measures, that his policy, in this rcsiifjct, has never been the subject 
 of a moment's distrust or uncertainty. For reasons which will be 
 made manifest in the course of this discussion, the Statesman party 
 professed to reject from the Jackson cause all who had not been de- 
 mocrats of th6 old school. T^ie Jackson republican party made it the 
 basis of their measures, that all the advocates of Gen. Jackson who 
 supported the principles of the Jefferson school, let their party appel- 
 lations be what they might, should act together, in good faith and har- 
 monious co-operation. That the president should give his exclusive 
 confidence to the party in opposition to the principle so frequently 
 proclaimed as the basis, and made the guide of the measures of his ad- 
 ministration, was not considered within the bounds of cioral possibility. 
 That federalists who had honestly joined the great national republican 
 party, and been for many years, the sincere and ardent advocates of 
 Gen. Jackson's election, — who had devoted their talents, and expend- 
 ed their monkey, in his cause, — had suffered the proscriptions and per- 
 secutions of their former political associates, and staked all their politi- 
 cal hopes and prospects on this great national question, — should, or. 
 the occurrence of Gen. Jackson's elevation, be denounced and pro- 
 scribed, — be deprived of all favor and shut out from all confidence, — 
 be the victims at once of their friends and their opponents, and reap, in 
 victory, worse consequences than in defeat, — was a result winch never, 
 for one moment, disturbed their tranquility during the animated strug- 
 gle. That this is, however, their present position in this common- 
 wealth, and also that of the democrats who acted with them in the 
 common cause, is a fact of indisputable notoriety. That the president 
 could have intended to place them in this position, is a belief that can 
 gain no efltrance into an honest bosom, which professes a particle of 
 confidence in the president's political integrity. The Jackson repub- 
 lican party do not beiiete it, do not distrust it, do not imagine it. The 
 consciousness of their own existence is scarcely stronger than their 
 deep conviction, that the true state of things was not known to the 
 president when his appointments were made, and is not now beheld by 
 him with any degree of satisfaction. By what means he has been de- 
 ceived, let the infamous Duff Green, and Isaac Hill, and the States- 
 man party declare. The '^ open day and secret night transactions''^ oi 
 these profligate men, would, could They be made manifest, develope the 
 hidden mystery of these perplexing 'events. 
 
 But the apparent hostility of this state of things, to the obvious poli- 
 cy of the present administration, and to the avowed and often repeated 
 principles of the president, is not the only cause of deep mortification 
 to the Jackson republican party. • 
 
 At the period of Gen. Jackson's accession, the prospect of his po- 
 litical friends, in this commonwealth, was full of consolation, and prom- 
 ise, and hope. A large proportion of our citizens were friends of the 
 late administration, not from any attachment to Mr. Adams, but from a 
 patriotic impulse to support, with a just degree of confidence, the con- 
 stituted authorities of this nation. Of the tv/o great political parties, 
 
10 
 
 the mass of ther democrats alone were the devoted partizans of Mr. 
 Adams — it was they who placed him in nomination, wluogaye him their 
 organized party support, who prpclaimed him as their party candidate, 
 and who refused, to federahsts, any participation in their measures. 
 He was emphatically the candidate of the democratic party of this com- 
 monwealth, and as they were his supporters from preference, they 
 would, of course, from the least sentiment of delicacy and honor, be the 
 last to abandon his sinking cause. The federal party, on the contrary, 
 as a body, might rather be considered as acquiescing in Mr. Adams' 
 administration, than as his partizans. His recent denunciation of them 
 as traitors to his country, had still more alienated their sentiments from 
 him, and prepared them for the support of Gen. Jackson's administra- 
 tion. Our population, too, embraced a vast proportion of young men, 
 who had never been classed in either of the great political parties. 
 They had come of age since the federal party had ceased its active 
 efforts, and were required to overcome no prejudices, nor encounter 
 any odium of inconsistency, in becoming members of the^ackson na- 
 tional republican party. At the time of Gen. Jackson's election they 
 v/ere prepared to meet him with an honest confidence, and afford to his 
 measures and his friends a disinterested support. 
 
 The republican party, too, strongly attached as they were to Mr. 
 Adams, necessarily lost the bond of their union in his fall, and, as they 
 were never 'partizans of Mr. Clay, the prospect of their fielding, thougj^ 
 a more protracted, yet a decided support of the new administration, 
 was flattering in the extreme. In truth, the political field was open, 
 and almost abandoned, to the Jackson republican party. Their avow- 
 ed principles, based on the deepest foundation of the Jefferson school, 
 their rejection of former senseless party prejudices, their liberal dis- 
 position to make common cause with Jackson men, who c<5uld. unite 
 with them on principle — prepared the way for their immediate, and 
 scarcely disputed ascendency in this commonw?!alth. A large majori- 
 ty of the netv^spapers iif Boston, avowed their readiness to act in har- 
 mony with our party, and there was not cause for a doubt, that in a 
 few months, Massachusetts would have been added to the states which 
 supported the present administration. The Clay party, now so tri- 
 umphant aiid overwhelming in this commonwealth, scarcely manifest- 
 ed a consciousness of existence, and^vere debatmg whether they should 
 not surrender the ground, without -a struggle. I have not a doubt, but 
 for a state of things I shall presently refei^to, the first local election 
 after the elevation of Gen. Jackson, would have shown the Jackson 
 republican party in this city, at least fifteen hundred strong, at the 
 polls. 
 
 The first* check to these prosperous anticipations was- the declara- 
 tion of Duff Green, soon after the result of the election was under- 
 stood, that Gen. Jackson would receive no support but from the de- 
 mocrats of IMassachusctts, and would compel all others to go into an 
 opposition. Most people, however, felt a perfect contempt for the up- 
 start profligacy of this printer, and treated his threats with derision — 
 but. many, not knowing the sentimentsof the great Icadcrsof the Jack- 
 
11 
 
 son party, waited for a further development before*they would be com- 
 mitted. ' The next act that^startled apprehension, was the prompt ap- 
 pointment of Andrew Dunlap to be district attorney — a man singularly 
 obnoxious to the great body of our citizens, and whose appointment 
 was a heavy blow to the prospects of any Jackson party in this com- 
 monweakh. Wiid-tongued rumor, also, soon followed with its whis- 
 pers of Mr. Green's designation for the Boston Post-office, and a dark 
 heavy cloud settled on the sunny prospects of the Jackson cause. 
 The policy proclaimed by Duff Green, for the first time began to gain 
 entrance into the bosoms of considerate men ; and a determination 
 not to recognise in its party, any but the exclusive democrats of Mas- 
 sachusetts, was apprehended to be the policy of this administration. 
 The incredibility of such a course alone prevented the great body of 
 our people from giving it belief; when, finally, the appointment of 
 Mr. Henshaw to the coUectorship, a seleciion scarcely more fortu- 
 nate, in any respect, than the others, was the overwhelming stroke to 
 the Jackson party. The whole patronage of the administration then, 
 conferred on party grounds, was given to the party who acknowledged 
 Duff Green for their idol, and made the proscription of the federal 
 friends of Gen. Jackson, the basis of their party organization. To 
 the important offices of the district attorney and the post-office, was 
 now added, not only the coUectorship of Boston, but the whole patron- 
 age of the custom-house— a patronage which bestows an influence on 
 the collector, scarcely inferior to that which the president of the U. 
 States, from all other sources, can command in this commonweaUh. 
 Not only were the Jackson republican party excluded from all trusts, 
 but their sentiment^ and views, in regard to removals and appointments, 
 %vere never consulted. But the apparent policy to be persued in re- 
 gard to them was not confined to neglect. Duff" Green openly avowed, 
 that not only should they be excluded from appointments, but that it 
 should be reason enough to deprive any incumbent of his office, that 
 he acted, in support of G^n. Jackson, as a member of the Jackson 
 republican party. Accordingly, one of the earliest acts was the re- 
 moval of William Little— a man much beloved, and popular with our 
 citizens — a relic of the revolutionary army — a Jackson man,. and the 
 head of the most decided Jackson family in New-England— in the 
 midst of his usefulness, and his health. He was removed even with 
 marks of indignity,— as the civility of a notice to him was not regard- 
 ed, and he went tb his office and found another commissioned to dis- 
 charge its duties. He was related hy marriage to Col. Orne. W hile 
 his associate, one of the most violent Adams men in our community, 
 and certainly, I hazard nothing in saying, one who is little beloved, as 
 an officer, by the great body of our merchants, is retained to this hour. 
 Col. Arthur Lithgow, another relic of the revolution, was also dis- 
 placed, for he had been a member of the Jackson republicaH party. 
 And up to this moment, not a single member of that party has been 
 placed in any office, on party grounds— Gen. Boyd, the only success- 
 ful candidate, having claims, altogether, of a public character. 
 2 
 
12 
 
 Notwithstanding .the disposition of the communitj to meet the pres' 
 ident " more than half waif — and in spite <^ all the influence of patron- 
 ace and office, the whole Jackson party is at this time, less numer- 
 ous than it was when the contest was doubtful. Although nearly nine 
 hundred votes were cast for the Jackson electoral ticket, when the 
 candidates were justly exceptionable, and exceedingly unpopular, our 
 best informed friends despair of being able to collect round the Jackson 
 standard in this city, five hundred votes. " Hhic illod lachrymxy 
 This is cause enough, if an honorable Jackson man were to have no 
 rest by day, nor peace by night — why his waking visions, and slum- 
 berino- dreams, should be full of trouble and disquiet. When we think 
 on what we were and might have been, and reflect on what we are, it 
 is enough to sicken the heart, and palsy the energies of the mind, and 
 to cause every friend among us of the present administration to stain 
 the cheeks of manhood with a woman's tear, and bow the head of hu- 
 mility in sack-cloth and ashes. This it is that has exemplified a po- 
 litical problem which was once thought a moral impossibility — it has 
 forced a revolution to go backwards, and brought forward a candidate 
 to contend for the presidency who fell from it when in power. This is 
 the reason why Henry Clay is rising triumphantly in this common- 
 wealth, and, in a nautical phrase, looming large in the contest, when, 
 recently he was politically prostrate and overthrown — and why he is 
 threatening to be a formidable competitor for the presidency, who was 
 recently unable to strengthen the coalition by the addition of a single 
 vote. Is Anti-Janus hunting for secret enemies of the administration ? 
 Let him open his eyes and behold here, among us, in broad day, those 
 who bask in the sunshine of favor, and yet carry ruin and destruction 
 to the cause they hail under. The enemy is in the' citadel — who then 
 can wonder ^hat the fortress is in ruins } columbus. 
 
 COLUMBUS, NO. IV. 
 
 I have said that the policy, which governed the president in his Bos- 
 ton appointments, was incomprehensible at the time, and defies every 
 effort at elucidation now ; and yet I am not unaware that motives have 
 been assigned which may appear to some sufficient to explain it. But 
 little examination H requisite to show that the mystery is not the less 
 dark from any rays they can shed upon it. There are only two which 
 strike with the least plausibility, and them I shall proceed to notice. 
 
 The Jackson contest, it was said, was a democratic contest, and the 
 policy of this administration was to retrace the lines of division between 
 the old parties which had been obscured, and almost effiiced, by the 
 perplexed character of the recent politioal contests. But the asssertion 
 is as destitute of fact, as the policy is of probability or justice. Feder- 
 alists, as such, were no parties to the contest, and were contending 
 with equal vehemence, and with no great disparity of numbers, in the 
 opposing ranks. In some quarters Adams was as incontestibly the 
 candidate of the republican party, as Jackson was in others ; and fed- 
 
13 
 
 eralistg advocated the cause of the one^ in one section of the union 
 with the same earnestness they were opposing it in another. But the 
 Statesman party, it is said, not only pressed this policy on the govern- 
 ment, and reinforced it by the northern Jackson democratic delegation 
 but made magnificent pledges of the effect it would produce on this 
 commonwealth. Massachusetts democrats were to go in a body to the 
 feet of the President, and the administration flag triumphantly to float 
 over the polftical edifices of this ancient metropolis. Under such lead- 
 ers as Messrs. Henshaw, Dunlap, Greene, et id omne genus, the state 
 was to be brought into the true fold. By their appointment,' the great 
 strong hold of Adams was to be wrested from Clay, and the head of the 
 opposition be crushed, before it should have time to g>ather itself up 
 from its prostrate position. Four of the remaining five jV. E. states 
 would follow tlje example, from their democratic sympathies, while a 
 doubtful or federal flag, in this state, would either prevent their acces- 
 sion, or destroy their party ascendency. The importance of such re- 
 sults, it is supposed, induced the administration to swerve a little from 
 their own principles, and allow the sacrifice of a few of their friends for 
 an object of such general interest. 
 
 The absurdity of the idea that any respectable party would rally un- 
 der such men, was no answer to the argument ; because the govern- 
 ment might be deceived as to their character, and the estimation in 
 which they were holden. Nor was the opposite fact, that under the 
 banner of the Jackson republican party alone, any respectable portion 
 of our people would rally, one of greater difficulty. The same errone- 
 ous impression which attributed much weight to the Statesman party, 
 might attribute little to ours. 
 
 But the true objection is of a graver character, and explodes the 
 absurd hypothesis to air. The policy would have been unprincipled 
 and dishonorable, and every sentiment of Gen. Jackson's heart would 
 have risen up against it in rebellion. What, sell his friends to pur- 
 chase his enemies ! Abandon these who had fought for him, to invite to 
 his arms those by whom he had been opposed and denounced ! Punish 
 the soldiers who had gained the battle, to reward those who had dis- 
 puted it ! Talk of his policy at the expense of his principles— of his 
 private advantage in opposition to his public duties — of interest against 
 honor ? He would not have sacrificed a man to have purchased his 
 enemy's camp. The fidelity of a leader to his party is sheltered in the 
 inmost recess of his heart, and before it can be violated in an honora-' 
 ble bosom, the heart must be bared to its last artery. The most preju- 
 diced enemy he has, 3Ir. Clay himself, in the gall of his disappoint- 
 ment, would not dei^ to Gen. Jackson the lofty aspirations of private 
 honor. There is no policy however specious, there is no advantage 
 however substantial, there is no consequence however appalling, thaf 
 could win, or force him, to violate the fidelity of an honorable leader 
 towards his political friends. If I could suspect one moment that the 
 perfidy of so black a heart had fluttered in a single pulsation of his ar- 
 teries, I would tear his badge from my dishonored head, and trample it 
 in the dust. I do not doubt that such specious illusions were spread 
 
14 
 
 out, by this degraded party, to influence politicians of a different sort. 
 They might captivate the fancy of a Duff Green, for they are on a 
 level with his principles and his understanding. They might suit the 
 politics of men around the president, — for jackalls ever follow in the 
 wake of the lion, until they expose themselves to the noble animal, and 
 are trodden down in his path — men whose morality knows no standard 
 but interest, nor any merit but success. They might have seduced 
 such men to second the ambitious objects of our demagogues, and to 
 urge their appointment on grounds, to us indeed inscrutable, but more 
 consistent with notions of elevated honor. But that they influenced 
 the chief himself — nay, that there is a man in the country who dared to 
 insult the head^of this nation with the suggestion of such a policy, can 
 only be credited when the republic is despaired of Whatever did in- 
 fluence the president to so inexplicable a course, it was not any policy 
 to purchase his enemies by the sacrifice of his friends. 
 
 And those who, acting from motives so ineffably execrable, have 
 calculated to buy over the Adams democrats of Massachusetts, by 
 selling the Jackson republican party here, or win them, by the reward of 
 such leaders, have equally mistaken the character of our people, and 
 "the importance of their services — If the democratic statesof New Eng- 
 land are never brought within the fold until the democracy of Massa- 
 chusetts hails under the Statesman banner, the hair that is not yet 
 sprouted shall be first bleached, like snow, in the winters of age. 
 
 The second ground, to which the policy of the government has been 
 attributed, is one of a still more delicate character. Before a success- 
 ful candidate fairly enters on the duties of his oflice, the agitated and 
 unquiet passions of the age, speculate on his successor. — The devo- 
 tion of Duff Green to the elevation of Mr. Calhoun is not only notori- 
 ous but undissembled. Being viewed, by the influence of unhappy cir- 
 cumstances, as the organ of the present administration, the inclination- 
 of his views is supposed to indicate that of the cabinet. The States- 
 man leaders, if such a term can be applicable to the front files of Such 
 a rabble, no doubt, pledged their fidelity to Mr. Calhoun — and such is 
 their dependance on, and obligation to Duff Green, that their ready ac- 
 quiescence in his views, be they what they may, and be they for whom 
 they may, is far from problematical. The certainty of obtaining this 
 party, if their sacred pledge could make it certain, determined the poli- 
 cy of the Telegraph ; while the different materials of which the Jack- 
 son republican party was composed, and the independent characters 
 of the men around whom that party rallied, satisfied the intriguing prin- 
 ter, that they could neither be bought nor driven, to a premature de- 
 cision on the prospective contest. Duff Green could make no calcula- 
 tions on a party which, he had well ascertained, rejected him as a 
 leader. If he could not make f/ion follow, he could strengthen those 
 who did ; and this, and another reason of a more private and interested 
 character, which I shall hereafter refer to, induced him to embrace the 
 Statesman party, and denounce ours. In his policy he had, beyond a 
 doubt, many coadjutors on the spot. It has governed those who have 
 exercised, and might have claims to exercise, much influence with the 
 
15 
 
 president. The friendly disposition towards the Statesman party, mani- 
 fested by so many, at the seat of government, had this for its cause. 
 And yet the fact presents a strange anomaly. 
 
 One of the causes which influenced a portion of the opposition to Mr. 
 Adams in this quarter, was, undoubtedly, a question of national inter- 
 est connected with our manufactures. A part of the mercantile com- 
 munity apprehended danger to their commerce from the system of 
 domestic protection, as it was actually modified. They supported the 
 Jackson cause from their views of national interest. Being deeply en- 
 gaged in commercial pursuits, they were necessarily men of influence 
 and standing in our community. The Statesman party was not re- 
 spectable enough to permit the possibility of a co-operation with thein 
 by men of such a standing. Our merchants, in general, have either 
 no party character, or have been federahsts. Such men the Statesman 
 denounces Self respect would permit, on their part, a connexion only 
 with the Jackson republicans. They would not enlist as the followers 
 of any man in a prospective contest, but their bias must have insensi- 
 bly been towards the policy of a southern candidate. That the partizan 
 printer of such a candidate should denounce these men, excites a deep- 
 er admiration of his boldness than of his wisdom. 
 
 Many have suspected. Mr. Calhoun as the abettor of the hostility 
 towards the Jackson republicans. I cannot agree with them. That 
 his friends have acted so with a view to his benefit is incontestible, but 
 it would require an effort to believe that they were sanctioned by him. 
 He is not the first man who has been injured by the injudicious zeal of 
 his friends. 
 
 But this throws no light upon the poHcy of the president. He is not 
 the partizan of Mr. Calhoun. Let his opinions of Mr. Calhoun's quali- 
 fications and claims be what they may, the wish to influence a future 
 choice of president, has never dictated his slightest measure. On this 
 subject he is as inflexible as he is honest. And whatever influence the 
 injudicious friends of Mr. Calhoun may have exerted for his benefit, the 
 advancement of his cause has not been the motive they have holden 
 out to the president. Whenever his policy in sacrificing us is brought 
 to light, be it what it may, it was not the advancement of Mr. Cal- 
 houn's election. We speak upon this subject with confidence, and we 
 speak with authority. The Jackson republican party may have been 
 sacrificed by the friends of Mr. Calhoun, with a view to advance his 
 cause, and that too, we believe on our souls, without his sanction or 
 desire ; but the fact throws no light on the policy of the executive. It 
 is as inscrutable as it is surprising. It sets reasoning at defiance. Im- 
 agination cannot grasp it. The astonishment it excited when it was 
 first promulgated, continues still, and neither reason, nor sentiment, 
 nor party fidelity, nor the services of the past, nor the interests of the 
 future, throw a ray of light on the darkness of its mysteries. 
 
 COLUMBUS. 
 
16 
 
 COLUMBUS, NO. y. 
 
 The^charo-e of a ^^fenceman,^^ made by Anti- Janus against Col. 
 Orne, is the most remarkable that unblushing impudence, perhaps, 
 ever dared to hazard in the face of an intelligent community. It is almost 
 impossible to treat it with gravity. There is not a man from Maine 
 to the Mississippi — from the Atlantic frontier to the remotest point in 
 our western forests to which the pioneers of civilization have advan- 
 ced, who from the commencement of the contest for the choice of a 
 successor to Mr. 3Ionroe, up to the present hour, has been more free 
 frbm any thing equivocal in his politics, or is less obnoxious to the ap- 
 pellation of a fenceman. I make this assertion in the strongest possi- 
 ble sense in which it can be understood. He is the last man in the 
 community against whom such a charge has any color of foundation, 
 and it is the last of all charges which should be made against him. 
 
 By a fenceman I understand one whose leading object it is to be 
 with the successful party, and who decides to join it, only after its suc- 
 cess, at least to himself, is sufficiently indicated. One who " hur- 
 ras " most vehemently for the triumph, but who is especially careful to 
 be away from the danger. A self-interested man who aims to share 
 in the fruits of victory, but withholds his aid from the struggle. — In 
 this section of the country, where the conduct of political men is un- 
 der the public observation, the notorious falshood of this charge ren- 
 ders its denial apparently an act of supererogation. There is not a 
 man who makes such a charge but a knave, nor one who believes it 
 but a dupe. The intriguing leader of the*Statesman party, w^ho them- 
 selves so well know Its absolute falsity, chuckle in wonder that the 
 effrontery of unblushing assertion can impose so successfully on the 
 ignorance of remote conductors of the press, as to procure it some 
 currency. 
 
 A slio^ht recurrence to the history of the parties formed in this quar- 
 ter; in relation to the controversy for president, is alone requisite to 
 show the wanton malice of its character 
 
 When the election of a successor to Mr. Monroe was first in agita- 
 tion, the great mass of the voters in this commonwealth indicated a 
 preference of Mr. Adams, while the residue, a comparatively small 
 minority, prefered Mr. Crawford. The present Jackson party is 
 composed mainly of the Crawford party, with the addition of some 
 few who would have prefered Mr. Clay, some still fewer who were 
 more particularly in favour of Mr. Calhoun, and, some, who in the 
 course of the contest, after Gen. Jackson had been placed in nomina- 
 tion, manifested their first preference for him. — Long before Gen. 
 Jackson had been named as a candidate. Col. Orne openly announced 
 his determination to support Mr. Crawford, and was the first man, in 
 point of time, in this commonwealth, who took ground against Mr. 
 Adams He commenced the presidential campaign Iicre by advoca- 
 ting, in the columns of the I3oston Statesman, the election of Mr. 
 Crawford. It is impossible to immagine a state of things less invit- 
 
17 
 
 t 
 
 ing to a non-commital, or fenceman. The parties through the United 
 States, at that time, had hardly begun to break ground ; and here, in 
 this state, we had a moral certainty of toiling in a minorify, which, 
 whatever might be the fate of the party at large, could not fail to be 
 proscribed and persecuted at home. . The timid and time serving pol- 
 iticians, consequently, had no hesitation as to their course. What- 
 ever might be their secret preference, they well knew that the coun- 
 sels of prudence led them to Mr. Adams. In any event they were 
 secure of the state government, with all its advantages ; and, if suc- 
 cess crowned their efforts, they would add, to that of the state, the 
 monopoly of the national patronage ; while in the event of failure, 
 they would constitute so powerful a minority that their opposition would 
 be feared, and their support conciliated. No man who was not con- 
 stitutionally, and in principle, bold, resolute, determined, and firm, — 
 who would not adhere to his side through danger and difficulties, 
 and sink or swim by the event of the contest, — would have engaged 
 in the forlorn hope of heading an opposition in this eommonwealth. 
 He who was the first to engage must, by the course of circumstances, 
 be the last to give up. To such a man there was no door to retreat 
 through. The loss of the contest was the loss of every thing, state or 
 national, county, district or municipal. There was no political sup- 
 port to fall back upon, no trust to which he could retreat, in the ex- 
 ecutive, legislative or judicial departments of the national or state gov- 
 ernments. The event of failure was the loss of every thing to which 
 a politician could aspire — was a rout entire and universal, " horse, 
 foot^and dragoons." The contest was to be conducted with immense 
 labor, arrd, for the parties, at an immense expense. Yet in this con- 
 test, so hazardous and so eventful. Col. Orne engaged, and engaged 
 the first; and he knows nothing of the politics of this state, on this oc- 
 casion, who does not know that it was a contest he was the most reso- 
 lute to conduct, and the last to abandon. 
 
 It were now vain to reflect upon the obvious and important errors 
 committed in this state by the Crawford party. The public sentiment, 
 although strongly inclining to Mr. Adams, yet was anxiously bent upon 
 preserving the integrity of the great national republican party. Its 
 preference of Mr. Adams was not, at first, so strong, as to induce it 
 to support him at the hazard of the division and downfall of the party. 
 In the result of a party nomination, our electors were strongly disposed 
 to acquiesce. They still preferred their party to their candidate, or 
 rather they were disposed, in conformity with the established disci- 
 pline of the republican party here, to waive their personal preferences, 
 and support him as their candidate, who should be that of their party. 
 It was the policy of the Crawford party to obtain for him the party 
 nomination ; and while they avowed their willingness to abide by the 
 result, they should have advocated his nomination by the party, with 
 all possible openness and frankness, zeal and solicitude. Such was 
 the policy of Col. Orne. But in this he was opposed, and successful- 
 ly opposed, by the selfishness, caution and timidity of the present 
 Statesman leaders. That they were opposed to Mr. Adams could on- 
 
18 
 
 ]y be smpedcd by their caution to avoid being committed in his favor. 
 The Statesman was filled tor years with solemn asseverations that it was 
 not opposed to Mr. Adams, nor a partizan paper of Mr. Crawford. Its 
 course was timid, hesitating, indirect and deceitful. If it copied an 
 article in tavor of Mr. Crawford, the timid hare does not sooner leap 
 at the approach of the hunter, than this selfish paper did, to defend it- 
 self from an imputation that it supported his election. It was in vain that 
 Col. Orne, and he alone, advocated a cause at once more manly, hon- 
 orable and efficient. The non-committal system prevailed — the cau- 
 tious selfishness of the Statesman leaders controlled him, and secret 
 manoeuvering was substituted for open, manly support. The result 
 was but too obvious. The cause that was too weak to be avowed, 
 was too hefeardous to be supported ; and the fejicemen, the great mass 
 of politicians at the beginning of a contest, all decided against us. 
 The opposite bolder course might have kept a part, and there was a 
 chance of keeping a respectable part, of our voters, uncommitted, un- 
 til the party should make a nomination. But languid efforts and dis- 
 sembled attachment frightened them all away, and " fear admitted into 
 party j^olifics, betrayed, like treason." 
 
 In another important respect the course of the paper departed from 
 his views, and injured the party. However bold, and resolute, and 
 unequivocal were the sentiments of Col. Ojuie, he never failed to urge 
 upon the conductors of that paper, a regard fhr decency and propriety 
 in its language. Coarse and vulgar abuse of the opposing candidates 
 was»not adapted to the intelligence, or taste, of our community ; it 
 might degrade ourselves, but could not advance our object. He wish- 
 ed the opposing candidates might be treated with courtesy and fairness, 
 and the cause placed on the broad ground of its connexion with our 
 political institutions, and our national prosperity. He wished, in one 
 word, the course of the paper to be as dignified, and respectable as 
 the " Jackson Republican" was, in the contest which has just ended. 
 The paper was, however, controlled by different councils, and its tone 
 was lowered to the level of Billingsgate scurrility. The opposing can- 
 didates were, when at length the Statesman was compelled to take its 
 ground, treated in the manner which has since characterized the de- 
 portment of the paper towards Mr. Adams. There was no newspa- 
 per in the country more remarkable for its vindictiveness of temper, 
 and disregard of decency, in its political discussions — and there has 
 scarcely been a paper since which has abused Gen. Jackson in more 
 bold or unqualified terms. The most degrading caricature of Gen. 
 Jackson which has ever been drawn in this quarter, was exhibited by 
 Nathl. Green in his counting rpom on the floor of Merchants Hall, un- 
 til the undissemblcd disgust, even of the friends of Mr, Adams, com- 
 pelled him to remove it. The violent pamphlet of Jesse Benton, in 
 abuse of the General, was encouraged and aj)plauded, and even the 
 muse of scurrility was invoked to defame him in doggerel rhyme. It 
 were a curious employment to turn over the files of that paper if any 
 could be found, during the last contest, to examine a little the tone of 
 its discussions. If an Adams paper can bo found which has treated 
 
Id . 
 
 Gen. Jackson with less decency, it \yo«ld be gratifying to learn what 
 part of the country gave it encouragement. Its attachment to Gen. 
 Jackson, will, however, sufficiently appear by a single sentence pub- 
 lished in that paper Oct. 12 — 1824, at almost the last moment of the 
 contest, in relation to Gen. Jackson, and, I believe, Mr. Calhoun. 
 
 " Mr. Benton," it says, (in relation to the celebrated pamphlet of 
 Mr. Jesse Benton) " has done his duty 7iobly — he has exposed to the 
 world enough of the errors and intrigues of these two men, to disquali' 
 fif them FOREVER from [for] the office of President!" 
 r Up to the eventful moment of the decision, the friends of Mr. Craw- 
 ford did every thing for him that undaunted, spirit, and untiring exer- 
 tion, could accomplish. But their success was by no means in propor- 
 tion to their efforts. The languor at the commencement enfeebled 
 every subsequent exertion, and the cause which men were afraid to 
 avow, was irretrievably lost when their courage was sufficiently stimu- 
 lated to support it. It is needless to trace out the immediate conse- 
 quences. The friends of Mr. Adams rejoiced, and lorded it proudly 
 over us. We returned depressed and dispirited into a minority, but 
 having foreseen and embraced the alternative, we felt no disposition 
 to murmur at the weight of the arm which was made to fall upon us. 
 Objects of political support no where, and of proscription at home, we 
 endured the conse(|uences, — and to those whose position depended on 
 the public favor, they were consequences of no slight magnitude — 
 with fortitude amd resignation. The evil was severely felt by those 
 whose career was political, or whose profession or pursuits made them 
 to depend on the favor of a government, or the support of a party. 
 The dealers in drugs, and feathers, and paints, might sustain no in- 
 convenience in -their private pursuits, for houses might still be 
 painted, and chambers furnished with carpets, and exhausted nature 
 ask bed^ and matresses to repose upon — the rich man might still lan- 
 guish for his healing drug, and the cheapest venders find their full 
 proportion of purchasers, although their politics might render them ob- 
 jects of no favor. But the public man was made to feel, in every 
 avenue that he entered, the full measure of the evil he had drawn on 
 his head. 
 
 In.the course of a year after the ascendancy of Mr. Adams, distinct 
 indications appeared that his administration did not attract any extra- 
 ordinary proportion of the public confidence. An opposition party was 
 formed, and the Crawford party of this state prepared once more to 
 engage in the approaching contest. The course pursued by different 
 portions of the party will be the subject of other numbers. For the 
 present, however, I will only ren^rk, that it would indeed be^a subject 
 of singular curiosity, if another campaign should find men changing 
 •their characters, the timid to become firm, and the irresolute decided, 
 while the boldest, the most undaunted, and the most reckless of con- 
 sequences, should dwindle down to the timid and time serving parti- 
 zans — " non-committal and fence men." 
 
 During the series of years involved in this protracted struggle, the 
 Crawford party were never strong enough to engage, as a party, incur 
 3 
 
90 
 
 state or municipal contests. On local subjects they endeavored to act 
 with their republican brethern, however widely they difTered from them 
 in the presidential controversy. The character of the respective con- 
 tests was kept distinct, and the old party lines continued to be traced 
 with nnvielding pertinacity. Men* violently opposed in the presiden- 
 tial contest, acted together with equal vehemence in our state elections ; 
 and a curious contusion of parties was exhibited, changinji, like the 
 evolutions of a battle ground, as the state and national banner w-ere 
 successively displayed. For reasons which the sliglitcst delicacy will 
 comprehend wi bout recital. Col. Orne took no part in any contest ex- 
 cept that which had an immediate reference to the presidential elec- 
 tion. He attended no caucus, whether municipal, district, county or 
 slate, in reference to state elections, and none in reference to congres- 
 sional elections, as the Crawford party never ran a candidate. Wheth- 
 er Mr. Gorham, IMr.* Webster, or JNIr. Putnam succeeded, was a ques- 
 tion only for the Adams party ; and each Crawford man supported the 
 candidate who best commanded his personal confidence. In this course 
 Col. 0. affected no secresy. It was notoriously known to all his per- 
 sonal and political friends, who yielded their respect, or afre/:;tcd to 
 yield it, to the motives which governed him. In the midst of his ani- 
 mated exertions to support Mr. Crawford, his uriwillingness to engage 
 in state politics was openly proclaimed. As earlf as 18i23 or 1824, 
 when Mr. Eustis was first chosen Governor, this determination of 
 Col. Orne was proclaimed through the press. The q^ ntral committee 
 of the state, for the Federal party, charged him, in their circular, with 
 holding a valuable judicial trust, through the liberality of their party, 
 and yet engaging with violence in the contest to oppose them — with 
 beino- actually an editor of the Statesman newspaper. This charge 
 was publicly denied through the columns of the Boston Centinel, and 
 his neutrality in that contest, as well as his want of editorial counexion 
 with the Boston Statesman, distinctly asserted. When did it enter the 
 heart of man, to believe or pretend, thB withdrawing from state poli- 
 tics indicated indifference to the national contest ? It remained for 
 other times to wrest a subsequent, similar act, to so absurd a motive, — 
 for wanton calumny to make the charge, and for truth to refute it. . 
 
 COLUMBUS. 
 
 COLUMBUS, NO. VI. 
 
 The election of Mr. Adams depressed, for a w^hile, the hopes and 
 spirits of tiie Crawford party. To the excitement of the contest suc- 
 ceeded the languor and prostration or hopeless defeat. To win over 
 to his side the great body of the Crawford party, appeared to be the 
 first and leading object of Mr. Adams' administration. For this pur- 
 pose the principal officers of his cabinet, and a large portion of his dip- 
 lomatic appointments, were given to Crawford's political friends. The 
 small party in this state were too weak to render their tionciliation an 
 object, and the proffered amnesty was not made to embrace thorn. 
 
21 
 
 They watched with solicitude the course of their friends in other* sec- 
 tions of the country, until they saw, with undissembled satisfaction, that 
 the great mass of the Crawford party were of too elevated a character 
 to be bought. The sentiment given by the leader himself, that Mr. 
 Adams should be judged by his measures, appeared to be that of the 
 country. But the session of Congress, in the winter of 1825-6, shew 
 that an opposition, of a most formidable character to the administration, 
 would be formed. The project of the Panama mission, of entanfrlino- 
 our politics with the affairs of other countries, gave the first impulse to 
 the oppf)sition, and rendered it apparent that it would embrace, not only 
 the whole Jackson party, but an immense proportion of that of Mr. 
 Crawford. The discussions on this measure weie obviously the com- 
 mencement of the Jackson campaign ; the Crawford party made com- 
 mon cause with the Jackson, and the indications were by no means 
 equivocal that General Jackson would be the candidate. 
 
 This measure excited much interest among the Crawford men in this 
 state. The support of the Panama project, and the opposition to it, 
 was the line of division between the two great parties, afterwards de- 
 siggated as those of the administration, and of the opposition. The 
 campaign, in this contest, as in that which had terminated, was opened 
 in this state by Col. Orne, who opposed the Panama project at length, 
 in several numbers, published in the Boston Statesman, under the sig- 
 nature of an '' Old Republican." These numbers were written, and 
 many of them in the press, before the injunction of secresy was re- 
 moved from the proceedings of the Senate. A comparison of the ob- 
 jections urged by Old Republican, with those taken by the leading 
 senators of the Jackson party, as appeared'by their speeches after- 
 wards published, will show a perfect concurrence^of political and par- 
 ty views. Some of these numbers were republished in the Washington 
 Telegraph, and if the infamous Duff Green was then its editor, of 
 which I am not certain, his own file's can bear testimony at what an; 
 early period Col. Orne was active in the Jackson cause. My impres- 
 sion is that he was the only writer in the Statesman, at that time, on the 
 politics of the national paities — but as all his writings were under that 
 signature, a reference to the files of the paper can determine it. At 
 that time there was no apparent jealousy in the Crawford or Jackson 
 ranks, as they were indiscriminately called, in this quarter. The firsfe 
 subject of difference, and it was not supposed to be one very serious 
 at the time, was in relatioji to the state elections in the spring of 1826. 
 
 As Mr. Adams had been supported both by the federal and democrat- 
 ic parties in this state, his election necessarily involved some confu'- 
 sion of the old party lines. The administration party embraced the 
 mass of both the old parties, while the opposition party was the minori- 
 ty of each. Still the old party jealousies v^ ere too fresh to admit of a 
 perfect consolidation, and federalists and democrats were continued to 
 be the rallying party words of many. For the democratic party to be 
 successful, the union among the Adams and Jackson democrats, in the 
 state elections, was essential. This union was attempted — a proper 
 proportion of candidates was selected for the senate, from each part^ 
 
22 
 
 in this county, and success crowned the effort. This was in April, 
 1826. In the following May, the election for representatives came on 
 for the city. A " host " of some thirty or forty, as nearly as I recol- 
 lect, was to be chosen. Of these the Jackson democrats were entitled 
 to at least one third ; but when the list was promulgated it was seen 
 with mortification and astonishment, that two only of those who were 
 nominally Jackson men, Messrs. John K. Simpson and Andrew Dun- 
 lap, were upon it ; and these were very far from being acceptable se- 
 lections. The Jackson party was indignant, and considered itself be- 
 trayed. Such a connexion was a virtual abandonment of the opposi- 
 tion, — was in effect a surrender of our party colors — was the betrayal 
 and sale of the Jackson cause for the miserable equivalent of making 
 David Henshaw a senator, and John K. Simpson and Andrew Dunlap 
 members of the house. A meeting was held of the principle members 
 of the Jackson party, and their dissatisfaction loudly expressed. They 
 endeavored to effect a more acceptable arrangement, but failed, and. 
 determined, sooner than submit to the fatal consequences of such trea- 
 son, to defeat, if they could, the election. They therefore, agreed on 
 a third ticket, with a view of dividing the votes : this was in a gfeat 
 measure accomplished, a few only of the number being chosen, but, 
 most unfortunately, in that number were John K. Simpson and Andrew 
 Dunlap. The high and honorable character of this latter gentleman, 
 will be illustrated by a single anecdote. Two of the gentleman who 
 had met in caucus, indignant at the sale of the Jackson party, and who 
 had pledged themselves to support the third rtcket, were zealously be- 
 set by Mr. Dunlap, and urged to distribute, at the polls, the ^idams and 
 Clay ticket. This, he ^id, would be a masterly manoeuvre, would 
 make their peace with the Adams and Clay party, and probably con- 
 ciliate towards them !ts support. The sacred pledge of political honor 
 to support the ticket of their nomination, was no obstacle, in the view 
 of this high minded man, in the way of his " masterly mameuvre.''^ 
 
 Among those who opposed this sale of the Jackson party, Qol. 
 Orne was conspicuous, for though aloof from the state contests, except 
 when they directly involved the interests of tKe presidential controver- 
 sy, he could not regard this measure with indifference. He viewed it 
 as destructive of the interests of the presidential party — nay more, as 
 an act, on the part of the few men elected, viz. Messrs. Henshaw, Dun- 
 lap and Simpson, as a secession from the opposition, and a virtual ac- 
 cession to the Adams party. The event justified his apprehensions. 
 Messrs. Henshaw, Simpson and Dunlap became legislators, and if 
 they ever, during the time, made an effort in the Jackson cause, or ut- 
 tered a sentiment in its support, it totally escaped the observation of 
 the writer. Upon that subject he is indeed very incredulous to this 
 hour. Their official acts show a determined support for candidates for 
 the U. S. Senate, of Adams men, while the only Jackson man put in 
 nomination was brought forward by that inflexible and honorable parti- 
 zan, the Hon. Mr. Seaver of Roxbury. There was not however 
 another Jackson man to second his nomination. During this political 
 year the Statesman played its cautious and non committal game. The 
 
23 
 
 Jackson cause slumbered in this commonwealth, and as his determined 
 partizans were without a newspaper, the prospects of an opposition 
 party here were exceedingly discouraging. During this poHtical year 
 I had no political conversation with Mr. Henshaw, and do not there- 
 fore speak of his sentiments on my own knowledge ; but I have been 
 credibly informed, and believe, that the opinions he expressed of Gen. 
 Jackson, were as full of violence and denunciation as those of any Ad- 
 ams man in the commonwealth. If this be denied, I shall name such 
 authorities as have been stated to me, and leave the fact open for ex- 
 planation. Repeated attempts were also made to procure the inser- 
 tion, in the Statesman, of articles published in other quarters of the 
 union, favorable to Gen. Jackson, but v/ithout success. Mr. Greene 
 did not care, as he said, a **** for Gen. Jackson, but regarded bis 
 own interest. He had suffered enough for the public — he was now 
 for himself. The want of a Jackson paper was tfie cause of serious 
 regret to the Jackson party. One gentleman, in the warmth of his 
 feeUngs*, offered to subscribe five hundred dollars towards the expense 
 of procming one. 
 
 The Federal friends of Gen. Jackson were in equal perplexity. The 
 most earnest attempts were made by them to induce a federal paper to 
 embark in his cause ; but they were equally disapprunted. JSeither 
 the advance of funds, nor any other inducement, could effect their ob- 
 ject. Towards the close of the political year, however, in the spring 
 of 1827, a Mr. Reinhart attempted to supply the deficiency, and came 
 out with his prospectus for a Jackson paper, to be called the " North 
 Ameri';an Democrat." He had no funds of his own to ei?tablish a pa- 
 per, and proposed to publish it but once a'week. The project was not 
 well received, for several reasons. A paper was wanted to advocate 
 the cause of Gen. Jackson, independent of other political dffferences — » 
 one of great temper and discretion, as well as of decision and firmness. 
 To Mr. Reinhart's qualifications the friends of Gen. Jackson generally 
 were strangers. A paper that should be published more frequently^ 
 was also desired — but the main reason was one which we shall explain, 
 directly, metre at large — a prospect which then began to appear that 
 the Statesman would leave its neutral position, and come out openly 
 for Jackson. Col. Orne had not much confidence in the success of 
 Mr. Reinhart's project, but, ready as he was always to encourage any 
 effort tor his party, he agreed to subscribe towards the establisiiment of 
 the paper, as much as others, its principal friends. Mr. Reinhart 
 could not raise the funds, and abandoned the project. He left Boston 
 with an intention of procuring, if he could, a connexion with Duff 
 Green, and the Washington Telegraph. Having no acquaintance 
 with Mr. Green, he applied to Col. Orne for a letter of introduction. 
 As that gentleman was also a stranger to Duff Green, he could only 
 give him one, as from a member *of the party in whose behalf Mr. 
 Gre'en was engaged. Such a letter was written — and if it was ever de- 
 livered, the infamous Duff Green, had, in his own hands, in the spring 
 of 1827, the written testimonial of Col. Orne, of his attachment to the 
 cause. As Col. Orne had very little acquaintance with Mr. Reinhart, 
 
24 
 
 he could conceive no motive for his apphcation to him, other than a be- 
 lief that he was the prominent friend of Gen Jackson in this quarter. Yet 
 the infamous Duff Green is the man who wishes to impress it on the 
 community that Col. Orne was a. fenceman until within ^ year of the 
 
 election ! 
 
 The prospect of a more direct and manly course on the part of the 
 Statesman arose from the result of the projected union l)etween the Ad- 
 ams partv, and Messrs. Henshaw, Simpson and Dunlap. Tlie princi- 
 pal leaders, as well federal as democratic, of the Adams party, saw its 
 disunion in relation to state politics with undissembled regret. Great 
 etibrts were accordingly made to effect an union, or, as it was called in 
 the quaint language of the day, an ainalgamatio?i ; and they were suc- 
 cessful. A ticket was agreed upon both for senators and repre- 
 sentatives, in which the Adams party had confidence, and in which 
 the names of Hensliaw, Simpson and Dunlap, were not contained. 
 The Jacksonism of the Statesman, theretbre, at once flamed out, 
 and men disappointed in state politics began to play their gfame on 
 the broader scale of the presidential contest. From this liioment 
 appeared in their movements a scarcely suppressed resentment to- 
 wards Col. Orne. His opposition .to their union with the Adams 
 and Clay party on terms of such ruinous inequality, — for the «ole 
 advantage, in fact, of gratifying the little longings of these would 
 be statesmen, to figure in tne newspapers as /io?ior/76/t'^ and 'squireSj 
 ^_ provoked a hostility which no consijderations of political honor or 
 party interest could appease. To injure him was undoubtedly the 
 fixed determination of thfese men, from that moment, but their hos- 
 tility was disguised by smiles, and strong expressions of personal at- 
 tachment. The accession of these men, and of the Statesman 
 newspaper 'to the Jackson cause, took place in the spring of 1827. 
 But a circumstance soon occurred to show how much reliance could 
 be placed on their consistency 
 
 Early in 18!27, if I remen)ber correctly, Mr. Webster was chosen 
 to the U. S. senate, and vacated, in consequence, his seat in the 
 house, as the representative of this district. Mr. Gorham was cho- 
 sen as his successor — but Mr. Henshaw, whose political, elevation 
 had awakened an ambition to take a higher and a wider flight, cast 
 his eyes too on this political boon. If the man had possessed the 
 smallest knowledge of his standing in this community, he might 
 well have anticipated the result. He obtained some four or five 
 hundred votes, out of many thousands. His ambition, however, 
 would have been overlooked as the ebullition of an idle vanity, if 
 his course had not again seriously injured the Jackson party. In- 
 stead of offering himself as the candidate of the party, he caught at 
 one of those occasional collisions in the public sentiment which set 
 party discipline at defiance. The tariff policy excited much feeling 
 among our merchants, and many were determined to vote fo^ no 
 candidate, whose opposition to the tariff was not explicit and avow- 
 ed. Mr. Henshaw tried to mount this hobby, but he would not go 
 <— if our merchants wanted an anti-tariff man, they did not want him, 
 
. , 25 
 
 and although the federalists were solicited most piteously to support 
 him, they were hard-hearted enaucrh to turn a deaf ear. 
 
 There is sometliing so much like political prostitution in solicit- 
 ing emhraces from whatever quarter tliey may come. — or courting 
 the tavor of any party who may be won, whatever their principles or* 
 their objects may be, that the exhibition of it is usually excesj^ively 
 disgusting to the honorable politician. •But in tliis case the dropping 
 of the Jackson flao^ to raise one ai^ainst the tariff, was peculiarly inju- 
 rious to the Jacks m cause. The Harrisburg Convention was then, 
 by a master stroke, endeavoring to identif}- the tariff policy with the 
 Adams administration, and to place Gen. Jackson in the opposing 
 ranks. The line would have been fatal to his prospects. The whole 
 of the middle, and some of the western, as well as all the northern 
 states, would *liave been driven, irretrievably, from Ris cause. It was 
 the master spring in motion to overthrow our cause, by compelling 
 Gen. Jackson to avow the tariff policy and ].C)se the south, or disclaim 
 it and sacrifice all the rest of his support. It was a wily game, and it 
 was' cunningly played ; but Heaven, and Qur good cause, enabled us 
 to elude it. The only safety to the party, was in separating the Jack- 
 son cause from the embarrassing tariff question. At such a moment 
 for a Jackson man in this quarter to identify his cause with the oppo- 
 sition lo the tariff, evinced an obtusiveness in politics discreditable in 
 school-boys. As Mr. Henshaw was not run as a Jackson candidate, 
 and it, is really exceedingly doubtful whether, at that time, he had 
 done an act, or uttered a sentiment, in his favor, the Jackson party 
 might have eluded the folly of the measure, and such as were friend- 
 ly to the tariff, might even have opposed him with propriety, if the 
 Statesman had not declared in his favor. But this paper was then the 
 only one among us, ostensibly or really friendly to Jackson ; its candi- 
 datenvas necessarily viewed as that of the party — and the folly was 
 only made the more injurious by the recollection of»the fact, that the 
 Statesman was established to ^pport the /jro/e^cfmsf sydem^ and had al- 
 ways avowed its attachment to it. A more shuffling and contemptible 
 inconsistency was never incurred for the miserable object of gratifying 
 private ambition ; and never was the policy of abandoning establish- 
 ed principles to run after temporary expt^dients, more fatally exempli- 
 fied. To say that Col. Orne disapproved of this measure, had no hand in 
 it, refused it support, is but feebly to express his sentiments.— He view- 
 ed it with deep and undissembled disgust and mortification. He ex- 
 pressed his feelings openly, and gained but an additional claim to the 
 hostility of intriguing politicians. They smothered their resentment for 
 a while ; but. the fire was now kindling beneath the ashes which was 
 soon afterwards to burst out in livid flames, and to rage but the more 
 vehemently for the momentary check which was placed on its -pro- 
 gress. COLUMBUS. 
 
26 
 
 COLUMBUS, NO. VII. 
 
 After the contest in this congressional dlftrict for the choice of a 
 successor to Mr. Webster, there \»as no public occasion on which the 
 Jackson party was called to act, until the winter following, of 1827 — 8. 
 The time was rapidly approacl^ing when the presidential contest was 
 to commence in good earnest, and for arrangements to support the 
 candidates at the polls. The recurrence of the anniversary of the 8th 
 of January presented an occasion for a distinct Jackson movement, 
 and it was zealously embraced by the party. "The attempts made to 
 coalesce with the Adams men having failed, and Messrs. Henshaw, 
 Simpson and Dunlap, having been rather indignantly driven from that 
 party, a zealous support of the presidential contest was anticipated, as 
 well as a harmonious co-operation among those who had been, in some 
 degree, alienated by the conduct above-mentioned. 
 
 The arrangements for' a ' dinner cele4:)ration are generally left to 
 those who have a taste for such things, and will take on thems.elves 
 the trouble and responsibility of making them." The whole control and 
 directions are yielded to those who begin the movement, and this in 
 perfect confidence that they will regard the interests and harmony of 
 the party, in whose behalf they profess to act. On this occasion Mr. 
 Dunlap and some five or six others, assumed the responsibility, and 
 selected the committee of arrangements. The members of the party, 
 as is usual, took no other interest in the proceedings than to plflce their 
 names on the subscription paper when it was offered them. As this 
 was a military celebration, and Gen. Boyd was not only a distinguish- 
 ed military commander, but among the earliest and most decided of 
 Gen. Jackson's friends, the party, and the public generally, expected 
 to see him preside on the occasion. But tli^ selfish projects, ^\ihich 
 we shall soon detail more at length, but which were not then suspect- 
 ed by any but the conspirators, led to a different determination by the 
 committee of arranijements, who had bFen selected carefuHv for the 
 purpose. The modest Mr. Henshaw, who is so unwilling to receive 
 honors from the government, and is still more diffident when they are 
 awarded by his fellow-citizens, had not yet received quite enough of 
 the favors of the party, but consented, very reluctantly no doubt, to 
 bear the honors of the day. The other arrangements were made in a 
 similiar spirit of intrigue. The only notice taken of Col". Orne was to 
 receive from him the price of his ticket, and afterwards an additional 
 sum to meet the excess in the expenditures. The low, mean cunning 
 of this course, neitiier surprised, nor gave him any anxiety. Satisfied 
 that the great body of the Jackson party here would do him justice, 
 he saw with equal indifference and contempt, the jealousy and hostili- 
 ty of the intriifuincr manajrers. The 8th of January dinner was follow- 
 ed in Marjch by another official party act. A Jackson caucus was 
 holden, and resolutiona were adopted in favor of the Jackson cause ; 
 th' se had been prepared beforehand by the intriguers — but they were 
 submitted to, and hastily revised by a committee of the meeting, on 
 
27 
 
 which Col. Ornc was placed. The same meeting nominated a Jack- 
 son list of senators, on which Col. Orne's name also was found, but 
 which, it seems, not being intended by the intriguers, gave them great 
 dissatisfaction and uneasiness. It was then perceived that the people 
 could not be made the instruments to gratify their hostility to Col, 
 Orne ; and these unprincipled men decided on another expedient, 
 which, for its outrageous character, may challenge comparison with 
 the most execrable profligacy which has ever disgraced the conduct of 
 any party in this government. It was then decided that the Jackson 
 party should be allowed no further voice in the measures which should 
 be adopted. Having the control, in their own hands, of the only pa- 
 per in the service of the party, they felt able to effect their object, if 
 they could wrap their proceedings in sufficient mystery. And it was 
 not until the full measure of their iniquities appeared, that even sus- 
 picion was aroused ; for the man must have a black heart, who could 
 have apprehended measures of such enormity. This plan was for the 
 intriguers themselves to take from the people the nomination of elec- 
 tors, and put up such men as they could depend on to aid them, not 
 only for this district, but for the whole commonwealth. The manner 
 in which they effected their object, I shall now proceed to relate. 
 
 The Jackson party was nominally organized by the committees call- 
 ed county and ward committees, comprehending from one hundred and 
 twenty, to one hundred and sixty persons, in number. These men 
 had been placed on the committees in a very irregular manner, at va- 
 rious times, in reference to a great variety of political objects ; but 
 their choice, although intended to be an annual act of the party, had 
 not been submitted to the people for some years. When preparing 
 for the Jackson campaign, the correct course was to call for a regular 
 organization by the people friendly to the cause, but this might defeat 
 the object. By the rules of the committee, notifications were to be 
 specially sent to each member of the committee, when a meeting was 
 to be convened. As meetings were sometimes necessary to transact 
 business of little import, a common notification, wherein no special ob- 
 ject was indicated, would ordinarily procure the attendance of about 
 twenty members only. When the intriguers were prepared for the 
 attempt, they called a meeting of the committees without giving the 
 special notification required by the rules, and without intimating the 
 importance of the object. The consequence was, not one man in five 
 of the committee knew of the meeting, and still fewer knew its object. 
 Of the whole body of ward and county committees, there were short of 
 eighteen members present. The- business was then declared to be to 
 choose delegates, about twenty in number, I think, on behalf of the 
 friends of Gen. Jackson in Boston, to attend, what they were to call, 
 a legislative convention. The meeting accordingly proceeded to 
 choose twenty delegates, carefully designatmg, of course, a majority 
 who were in the secret. They, of course, also, were especially care- 
 ful that Col. Orne was not of the number; he, indeed, was wholly un- 
 informed that the project was in agitation. The same number of 
 committee men then proceeded to designate two of the candidates for 
 4 
 
S8 
 
 electors, living in this district, whom they should wish to have support- 
 ed in the legishtive convention; and in this little body of prepared men, 
 David Henshaw and John K. Simpson got the majority of votes. — 
 Whether both these gentlemen were present or not, or what number 
 of their brothers, l do not remember. 
 
 The same steps were taken, with the same secrecy, in the neigh- 
 boring towns of Cambridge, Charlestown, and Roxbury, and between 
 thirty and forty of such delegates chosen altogether. At length the 
 time arrived for holding the legislative convention. In the legislature, 
 out of tour or five hundred members, there were perhaps ten, willing 
 to support Gen. Jackson. There was not, of Jackson men, an actual 
 representation of more than one fiftieth part of the commonwealth. 
 These thirty or forty delegates, with the eight or ten members, com- 
 posed the legislative convention, and were to set up a candidate for 
 elector of president, in every district of the state, and two candidates 
 for the whole commonwealth. When the convention assembled, Mr. 
 Dunlap, on behalf of the Boston delegates, informed that body, that the 
 Jackson party of Boston had selected as their candidate for the dis/ncf, 
 John K. Simpson, and offered, as a candidate for the commonwealth, 
 David Henshaw. Other candidates were then named for the other 
 districts, and for the remaining elector at large, — a central committee 
 was appointed with Mr. Dunlap as its chairman, — and the convention 
 adjourned. The Jackson party of Boston were then informed that the 
 legislative convention had nominated for this district, Messrs. Henshaw 
 and Simpson. It was in vain the president of the convention, a mem- 
 ber of the legislature, and one ignorant of the intrigue, suggested to 
 the Boston delegates, that they would perhaps do better to nominate 
 Col. Orne for elector at large, and Mr. Henshaw for the district — but 
 this, he soon found, would not answer the object of the delegates. 
 Col. Orne was not even to be noticed as a member of the party, no, 
 not so much as to be placed on the central committee. When these 
 proceedings came to light, they excited, as might naturally be suppos- 
 ed, a general burst of indignation. Meetings were holden by the party, 
 and inquiries were made why these things were so. A committee was 
 chosen to examine into the proceedings, and see if it were too late 
 for the people in the districts to select their own candidates. This 
 committee held a conference with the central committee, but were told 
 by Mr. Dunlap its chairman, that as the central committee were chos- 
 en by a legislative convention representing the state, they could have 
 nothing to do with the people in this district, and must proceed to pub- 
 lish the nominations agreed upon. A second interview was had, and 
 the danger of dividing the friends of Gen. Jackson insisted on — but Mr. 
 Dunlap thought *' a division would be no evil, — that as the party, by 
 its union, was not strong enough to effect a vote, its division would 
 occasion no injury, and the party might as well be divided as other- 
 wise." He who is acquainted with political intrigue can be at no loss 
 to comprehend this language. It were as much as to say, " we have 
 the only paper of the party, and can represent these things to the pub- 
 lic as we please — we^ with this newspaper, will obtain all the offi-oes^ 
 
29 
 
 and the fewer there are to be competitors with us the better — the smallei' 
 the number of friends Gen. Jackson has, the greater will be the chance for 
 each to receive an appointment at his hands.^^ It was accordingly decid- 
 ed that there should be no attempt to prevent a division. Circum- 
 stances to which I shall hereafter refer, soon demonstrated that the 
 object was to make Mr. Henshaw the collector, Mr. Duulap the dis- 
 trict attorney, and Mr. Greene the postmaster. Bnt the people were 
 not satisfied with Mr. Dunlap's reasoning, and a public meeting was 
 loudly called for. Open discord in our ranks, however, was an evil 
 which the most discreet were unwilling to incur for any consequences 
 whatever. Mr. Henshaw, to allay the excitement, denied that his ob- 
 ject was any office, and pledged himself sacredly that, under no cir- 
 cumstances whatever, would he be a candidate for the collectorship. 
 Mr. Simpson went round to the people, almost with tears in his eyes, 
 imploring their compassion. It would be so humiliating to him to be 
 compelled to decline, although he must, if they insisted upon it ; and if 
 they would suffer his nomination to remain, he would pledge himself 
 never to be a candidate again for any public office. Mr. Dunlap 
 thanked his God, that he was not a candidate for any office, and would 
 take none in the gift of the government of the United States. Other 
 people might be office seekers, but he was above it. All acknowledg- 
 ed the error and regretted it, but insisted upon it that it was too late 
 to be retrieved, and the interests of the party required that we should 
 make the best of it. Influenced by such considerations the party con- 
 sented to overlook the enormity of the transactions ; but to prevent 
 such intrigues again, by the monopoly of the press, determined that 
 a new paper should be established. In pursuance ofthis determination 
 the Jackson Republican soon after came into being. 
 
 Upon this state of things, one reflection must be obvious to the most 
 common observer. Men who are confident of obtaining the support of 
 the people, can have no motive for taking the nomination of candidates 
 out of their hands. Mystery and management will never be resorted 
 to, when success can be openly obtained. There is always some odi- 
 um attached to intrigue, and honors that are freely bestowed by the 
 people are much more grateful than those which are wrested from 
 them. It is conscious weakness, and not strength, which resorts to 
 management — secrecy is suited to artifice, but power seeks the light. 
 
 If the honest mind turns with disgust from the exhibition of such de- 
 pravity, it is difficult to characterize the sentiment which must be ex- 
 cited when the motives which led to it are laid open. This must be the 
 object of the next number ; and in approaching so disgusting a subject, 
 I am sensible of a sentiment which almost arrests the hand, and turns 
 it from the uplifting veil, — it is shame that it was a transaction of my 
 countrymen. COLUMBUS. 
 
 COLUMBUS, NO. YIII. 
 
 When a party constitutes but a small minority in a town, county, 
 district or commonwealth, its most incessant aim should be to increase 
 
30 
 
 its numbers ; and the obvious course to attain this object is to preserve 
 harmony among friends, confirm the wavering, win over the neutral, 
 and conciliate opponents. Numbers must be increased by making the 
 doubtful become partizans, and converting enemies to friends. ^\ hen 
 men are governed by motives of public good, or party success, it is 
 impossible that these means should not be used, or thU the object 
 should be disregarded. But when views of self interest alone predom- 
 inate, the natural results are dissensions among friends, and jealousy 
 of any increase which may augment the competitors for the favors of 
 the government. When men flatter themselves with being viewed as 
 the leaders of their party, they are still more acutely jealous of the ac- 
 cession of those whose superior qualifications, or greater weight of 
 character, may place that ascendency in jeopardy. When circum- 
 stances have given a prominency to an individual which has already 
 attracted the observation of his party, and made him certain of receiv- 
 ing its favors, if the contest were then to finish, he views with undis- 
 sembled uneasiness the efforts of others in the cause, lest the result 
 should deprive him of his comparative pre-eminence. But if such an 
 individual, besides the love of distinction, has fixed his mind on a pub- 
 lic trust, of great value, the exertions of a man whom he may view as 
 a rival, and fear as a competitor, excites the worst feelings of his bo- 
 som ; and the disposition to put him down is the master passion before 
 which every other consideration must give way. If there be a single 
 circumstance which can add to the fury which rages in his breast, it 
 is the consciousness that the advantages he possesses over his rival are 
 accidental ,and unmerited, and are liable justly to be lost on the slightest 
 occasion. If such a man be without substantial claims to distinction, 
 and destitute of political honor, he will turn on his rival like the infuri- 
 ated tiger, rabid for blood. His accidental advantage will be defend- 
 ed at every inch, and, before he will part with it, he will put in requi- 
 sition every nerve and every artifice that his nature or evil passions 
 can have supplied him with ; and will seize on every occasion to his 
 advantage that may otFer, as if his life's blood depended on his eflbrts. 
 He who watches the conduct of such a man will see malice, and envy, 
 and hatred, in hideous and revolting exhibition. Every step of his 
 adversary will be obstructed — every movement opposed — every favor 
 bestowed on him viewed with deep and bitter jealousy ; and if the 
 danger cannot otherwise be repelled, malice and defamation will fas- 
 ten on his character J and intrigue, management and artifice will aim 
 at his destruction. 
 
 M e have known a man who, from a circumstance of no great moment, 
 had gained through the country notoriety as a Jackson man in this 
 commonwealth, and who was indiscreet enough to acknowledge that 
 he saw with regret any progress in the Jackson cause among us, as it 
 detracted from his own advantageous position. " I stand well enough 
 as it is," he says; " the smaller the party, the better my own chance." 
 He acted for himself, and he failed. 
 
 The control of the statesman paper had given to its leaders a fac- 
 titious consequence which they were determined to maintain at every 
 
31 
 
 hazard. The paper avouched for the eminence of its friends — who 
 could dispute it ? It proclaimed prominent in the Jackson cause whom 
 it pleased — it nominated candidates — it chose committees of arrange- 
 ments — it made presidents of dinners — and it announced the leaders 
 of the party. The evil of a single press, and that under tlie control 
 of interested men, is one that all will deeply feel who are suhjccted 
 to it : but it was borne by the Jackson party with great equanimity. 
 To aid the impression the paper was endeavoring to make, resort was 
 had to other little artifices. Jf a stranger, distinguished in the Jack- 
 son cause, arrived in the city, he would naturally inquire of the Jack- 
 son paper for his prominent friends — or if inquiry was not made, some 
 minion, established in the great public houses, would be always ready 
 to give notice of his arrival. He would be told of the Statesman 
 leaders — they would be brought to him, — and he would carry to a dis- 
 tance an impression of their eminence. When an honorable man is 
 placed, by the nature of the party contest, among dishonorable associ- 
 ates, who possess advantages and resort to artifices like these, he must 
 indeed be high in the public confidence, if he be not, in the end, a 
 victim. 
 
 This state of feeling will readily explain the jealousy manifested by 
 the Statesman leaders towards the federal friends of Gen. Jackson, in 
 this section of the country. No matter how honestly they had become, 
 or how long they had been, active members of the great republican 
 party. No matter how wide the gulf which had been placed between 
 them, and tiie party and the politics of federalists. No matter what 
 'persecutions they may have suffered in defending their cause. It was 
 enough for them to be denounced by the Statesman, that they were 
 men of so much character and standing, as to endanger the accidental 
 advantages of the self proclaimed leaders. The jealousy of superior 
 qualifications and standing is one of the most common qualities of the 
 low and vulgar, and it was felt, in all its energy, by the controllers of 
 the Statesman. Who then can wonder that they denounced, instead 
 of conciliating, the federal friends of the General, the Lyman party as 
 they termed it t If the support of Gen. Jackson had been the object 
 of the Statesman, its leaders would have hailed the accession of such 
 men to the republican cause, with undissembled delight. But when 
 office only was in view, they regarded their approach as bringing dan- 
 ger to their object. They struggled for office, and they sacrificed the 
 cause. 
 
 But little sagacity is required to discover in this temper of the in- 
 triguers the cause of their hostility to Col. Orne. They well knew 
 that there was no other man in the state who took so deep an interest 
 in the presidential question, had devoted himself so arduously to the 
 cause, or had been in it so long. They knew his disinclination to en- 
 gage unnecessarily in state politics \ but of his readiness to devote 
 e\QYy thing to the national interest, whenever the party would be 
 ready to engage in it. But they also knew that he beheld with con- 
 tempt the sacrifice of that cause in pursuit of little objects of self-inter- 
 est ; and still more, the surrender of it to conciliate the Adams party. 
 
32 
 
 His dislike to the coarse ribaldry of the paper, indiscriminately poured 
 out on the stale and city authorities, as well as the opposing presiden- 
 tial parties — bringing the then Jackson cause into disrepute, and re- 
 ducing the paper to a state of loathsome and disgusting degradation — 
 was also known to its wretclied leaders. That he should excite their 
 jealousy and revenge, neither surprised nor alarmed him, — but he did 
 not expect that he was to be sacrificed by having the people ousted of 
 their rights, and the authority of the party usurped by a half o' dozen 
 intriguers, under the imposing appellation of a legislative convention. 
 
 This last outrageous proceeding determined that gentleman to fath- 
 om the object which lay at the bottom of the intrigue. The measure 
 was not without its difficulties. The leaders did not dare to avow 
 hostility until every measure was in train to insure their success. 
 The selection of electoral candidates was the last act of the drama, 
 and when that was effected they felt masters of the game. Until then, 
 they were profuse in their protestations of regard for Col. Orne ; but 
 after it, they no longer dissembled their hostility. A short time, how- 
 ever, enabled him to unravel the intrigue, and the astonishment it ex- 
 cited when it was laid bare in its naked deformity, can be better imag- 
 ined by the community than exprf ssed by the writer. 
 
 The secret was obtained from Mr. John K. Simpson, a goodly mak- 
 er of beds, coverlets and carpets, and the candidate for elector for 
 the DISTRICT OF SUFFOLK ! It was apprehended that in case of Gen. 
 Jackson's election, the public sentiment would designate Col. Orne as 
 the collector of the port. But this office had been assigned by the 
 leaders of the Statesman, to Mr. David Ilenshaiv, another candidate for 
 the office of elector, for the aviiole commoivwealth ! But the rea- 
 son is still more surprising. The party objected to Col. Orne, as Mr. 
 Simpson avowed, because he did not proffer, beforehand, to the 
 party, in the event of his success, the disposition of the subordinate 
 offices in the custom house,— that he did not promise offices to others, 
 if he should obtain one himself — that he had too much independence 
 of character to be controlled by the leaders of the Statesman ! ! ! 
 
 The party were determined to have, Mr. Simpson said, a collector 
 who would have no will of his own, and who, when his /m/uZs hand- 
 ed him a list of the persons to be re3I0ved, and of otuers to be 
 APPOINTED in their places, should make the removals and appointments, 
 WITHOUT ASKING A QUESTION! — And he soon further explained whom 
 he meant, by the '^friends''^ of the collector. He, Mr. Simpson, him- 
 self, he said, was the only man, being totally disinterested, who was 
 competent to judge what Jackson men ought to be appointed ; and 
 he alone was the man to make out the list which the collector 
 should receive for his implicit guide ! Mr. Nathaniel Greene, he said, 
 was to be appointed postmaster, and, I think, Mr. Dunlap, district at- 
 torney, while Mr. David Hensliaw was their man for collector. He, 
 Col. Orne, might have the 7iav(d office^ if he would take it, but he must 
 then, instantcr, decide ; for if he would not agree to it then, he should 
 not have it at all, nor any other appointment. It is needless to re- 
 mark, that Col. Orne treated the proposition with as much contempt 
 
33 
 
 as he felt for the maker of it, and thenceforth refused further inter- 
 course with the man. 
 
 Two inquiries will naturally arise from this astonishing disclosure. 
 Did Mr. Simpson speak the sentiments of the Statesman partv, and 
 did Mr. Henshaw know the motives for supporting him for the office ? 
 The leaders of this party were soon afterwards invited to meet with 
 other friends of Jackson, all of whom had, until then, acted with the 
 Statesman in supporting their presidential candidate. Those state- 
 ments were openly made by Col. Orne, in presence of Mr. Simpson, 
 and one or two brothers of Mr. Henshaw, besides many warm per- 
 sona] friends. Mr. Simpson was called upon to deny or confirm the 
 statement, but he did not deny it. The lacts became notorious to the 
 Jackson party. The motive for selecting those gentlemen for electors, 
 and taking the right from the people, now became apparent. '• We 
 
 must give to our candidates for office the character of party leaders 
 
 we must center upon them all the influence and weight in our 
 power — the country must be made to believe that they arein fact the 
 chief friends of General Jackson — the other candidates for electors, 
 being also selected by our means, will act in concert with our own. 
 and aid our object. The whole organization of the Jackson party will 
 be under our control, and the offices will be ours." Such was the art- 
 ful policy which this discussion elicited. And the m.overs were not 
 disappointed — they did obtain the offices, and now hold them, proud 
 monuments of the success of political intrigue. Subsequent circum- 
 stances developed the ramifications of the scheme, and the many men 
 who had received promises of subordinate appointments could be point- 
 ed out familiarly in the streets. Here was the invincible bond of union 
 amongst the Statesman party, which made men so devoted to one 
 another — so tenacious of retaining accidental advantages — so hostile 
 to any increase of the party, and so jealous of the rest of Gen. Jack- 
 son's supporters. Here was the theme of discord, and the source 
 of division. 
 
 Who can wonder that the indignation of the respectable members of 
 the party was excited .'' Mr. Simpson quailed under it, and bego-ed to 
 be forgiven. Mr. Henshaw disavowed, in the most solemn manner, 
 that he was a candidate for the office, and pledged himself he would 
 not accept it, if it should be offered him. The renunciation 
 of personal objects at length soothed the irritated feelings of the par- 
 ty, and gave a promise of returning harmony. It was decided, how- 
 ever, to be essential that another paper should be established to guard 
 against further danger from monopoly. The Jackson Kepublican 
 therefore soon came into being, and ranked among its sincere friends 
 the most respectable of those who had been hitherto active in the 
 Statesman organization. The electoral ticket, objectionable as it 
 was, was supported by the whole body of the Jackson republicans. 
 They made the sacrifice on the altar of party concord. They em- 
 braced it as the only alternative to the division of the party. And 
 yet Mr. Henshaw is collector, Mr. Greene post master, and Mr. Dun- 
 lap district attorney. And many have received appointments in the 
 
34 
 
 custom house, whose designation to such trusts was familiarly known 
 long betbre Gen. Jackson was chosen to be president. But, on a 
 member of the Jackson republican party, not a trust has been confer- 
 red. Nay, they have shared worse even than the friends of Mr. Ad- 
 ams ; for many, very many of these have been retained, but Jackson 
 republicans have been dismissed from the offices they actually filled. 
 
 But does Mr. Simpson exercise a control over appointments in the 
 custom house — does any thing shackle Mr. Henshaw in discharge of 
 the most important duties entrusted to his care ? The writer will, for 
 the present, leave these questions to be answered by others who have 
 better means of judging than himself He knows little of the man- 
 agement of the Statesman party now — he makes no inquiries, and con- 
 cerns himself as little upon the subject as perhaps any other man in 
 the community. But of those who have knowledge on the subject, I 
 will ask one or two questions. 
 
 Have any, and if so, how many of Mr. Simpson's relations, and 
 family connexions, received appointments in the custom house .'* 
 
 Were they men otherwise entitled to the appointments .'' what ser- 
 vices have they rendered to the Jackson cause, and how long have 
 they been members of the party ^ 
 
 Is Mr. Simpson understood to have great influence in these ap- 
 pointments — is he much courted for his influence — is it successful 
 when exerted ? 
 
 But one circumstance has been mentioned to me, on such respect- 
 able authority that I cannot, if I would, view it as calumnious. I do 
 not vouch for its truth — I do not know it — but it is impossible to refuse 
 to attach to it some degree of credit, from the respectable channel 
 through which it reaches me. 
 
 Every one here knows what a degree of excitement has been pro- 
 duced among our best citizens by the indiscriminate proscriptions at 
 the custom house, and how exceedingly injurious they have been 
 to the popularity of the administration. A gentleman who is said to 
 have been friendly to Mr. IJenshaw, Mr. Robert G. Shaw, it is re- 
 ported, remonstrated with him against such impolitic changes. Tlie 
 same rumor also avers that Mr. Ilenshaw replied in substance, " that 
 the removal of so many men was like cutting off his right arm — but he 
 was coinpelled to it, he could not help it." If this be a mistake, it can 
 be easily corrected, and no one will more readily contradict it than the 
 writer. But if it be true, what is the nature of the compulsion — why 
 cannot Mr. Henshaw help it ^ 
 
 The proscription of Col. Orne was successful — the motive of it was 
 avowed. He would not hold the office in trust for the benefit of oth- 
 ers — he would not be controlled by irresponsible men in the discharge 
 of its duties. It is a trust of immense importance to the people of the 
 nation — the correct discharge of its duties deeply atfects the honor of 
 the government. Conicrrcd by the authority of tlie president, and 
 sanctioned by the great council of the nation, the senate of the United 
 States, tiiere is a deep responsibility to them as to the manner in which 
 its duties shall be performed. The solenmity of an oath is also added 
 
35 
 
 / 
 
 to the other sacred sources from whence the obligation of faithfulness 
 is derived. Can a man be fit for such a trust who surrenders up, to 
 the guidance of others, that judgment, and that discretion, for which 
 the highest authorities of the nation have confided the great interests 
 to his hands ? Is independence of character, and stern integrity, of 
 no consequence ? Who is the man who would not rather have failed, 
 with Col. Orne, if opposed for such a cause, than have obtained this 
 important post at the expense of his independence ? 
 
 COLUMBUS. 
 
 COLUMBUS, NO. IX. 
 
 The publication of the Jackson Republican alarmed, excessively, 
 the managers of the Statesman. Possessing the entire control of that 
 paper, and having completed every arrangement for the campaign by 
 which the whole merit of the contest, among us, would be ascribed to 
 them, they saw, in imagination, the golden boon of office within their 
 grasp, if the struggle should terminate in favor of our candidate. Their 
 secret manoeuvering had been so far eminently successful ; and they 
 chuckled, exultingly, that no chance to encounter them remained to 
 their victims. The mask was now thrown off, and the hostility which 
 had hitherto governed them in secret, was openly avowed. Th^ 
 Statesman, of course, would not expose their duplicity, and an expo- 
 sure in any other paper would be readily ascribed to the malice of 
 political opposition. The establishment of another Jackson paper was 
 a contingency they had not foreseen, and it carried dismay and con- 
 sternation into their corrupt ranks. They were therefore determined 
 to oppose it with every nerve, and at the hazard of every consequence. 
 
 And yet the ground of their opposition, and the manner in which it 
 should be manifested, gave them great perplexity. Why should a 
 friend of Jackson oppose an effort in his favor .'' Why should his party 
 try to prevent its own increase .'' What exclusive right had one portion 
 of his friends to advocate his election, more than another } Why should 
 a number of newspapers in his favor be less propitious to his cause 
 than one ? Their reason, that it might lesson their supposed exclusive 
 pretensions to office, was one which would be received with as little 
 favor Dy the party, as it was destitute of merit. The sordid selfish- 
 ness of the motive, too, was one which would suffuse their faces with 
 the blush of shame, if that emotion could be generated in their bosoms; 
 — or, at all events, make them shy of its avowal. To oppose openly, 
 therefore, an effort in favor of Jackson was out of the question, for it 
 would necessarily lead to an exposure of their conduct ; — resort was 
 therefore had to a course more consistent with their safety, their hab- 
 its, and character. The paper and its friends might be secretly de- 
 nounced, where the slander could not be followed and refuted. Hon- 
 est but prejudiced democrats were to be alarmed with the story that it 
 was a federal paper in disguise, secretly in the interests of the Hart- 
 ford Convention. The federal friends of Jackson were informed that 
 
56 
 
 its object was a division of the Jackson party — although its avowed and 
 ostensible motive was an union among the friends of Gen. Jackson, 
 retrardless of former ditferences : and the party collectively was told 
 that the friends of the Jackson RepubHcan were new men, fence men 
 and trimmers, who came in, after the heat and burden of the day were 
 over, to dispute the services of those who had been, since the first 
 hour, laboring in the vineyard. The reputation of the Statesman, as a 
 Jackson paper, would procure credit for its assertions by those who 
 did not know its character, and of course, for the private assurances of 
 those uho were known to be its editors, or avowed to be its friends ; 
 while its abstaining from an open denunciation would be ascribed to its 
 forbearance, and generous sacrifices for the common good. 
 
 There are men, and abundance of men too, who never imagine that 
 to know the merits of a controversy it is of any importance to hear more 
 than one side. Tl^re are those who never suspect that private and 
 selfish purposes can influence men in their public conduct, or that in- 
 trio"ue can ever concern itself with the affairs of politics. The want of 
 competition, such men cannot dream to be productive, frequently, of 
 injury to a party ; they consider a monopoly of the press as unsuscep- 
 tible of being applied to selfish purposes, or to any thing but patriotic 
 ends, and the public good. For them to believe a story, it was enough 
 for the acknowledged friends of the Statesman to tell it, although it 
 ascribed innocence to themselves, and depravity to their opponents. 
 The fair mind, the sagacious politician, and the experienced in politi- 
 cal intrigues, ^vould suspect, at oflce, that in a controversy there may 
 be wrong on both sides, and, by a bare possibility, fault exclusively on 
 the side of the informer. And that the information was even more lia- 
 ble to suspicion, for being so secretly communicated that the denoun- 
 ced party was unable to reply to it. These stories however had ef- 
 fect, and several conductors of Jackson newspapers manifested hostili- 
 ty to the Jackson Republican. 
 
 It would be difficult to conceive, in the conducting of party affairs, 
 circumstances more trying than those which attended the political birth 
 of the new paper. The rancorous malignant hostility of the States- 
 man managers was perfectly well known. Their unceasing activity to 
 poison the friends of the cause against us, in all parts of the Union, by 
 private correspondence, was believed on sttong circumstantial evi- 
 dence. Their attempts to prevent support being afforded to the paper, 
 were ascertained in every step of its progress. They were before the 
 public as candidates of the party, by the fruits of a disgraceful in- 
 trigue. They were proclaimed its devoted leaders in every movement 
 that the Statesman could giv^ rise to. They were, and had been, ap- 
 parently, in possession of the whole field of services and merits. Men 
 who were not familiar with the aflairs of the party, knew not ihat the 
 friends of the Jackson Republican had been, hitherto, among the 
 principal supporters of the Statesman, not only in its political discus- 
 sions, and its organized party efforts, but also in affording it pecuniary 
 aid, as well by subscription, as by loans. The Jackson republican 
 party was represented as a new party, while in fact it was only a part, 
 
37 
 
 and a most important part of the entire Jackson party, which had col- 
 lectively supported the Statesman, until the paper was discovered to 
 be the organ, and instrument, of partial, selfish, and mercenary in- 
 triguers. To remain silent was to leave to the Statesman, exclusively, 
 all the merit of the common sacrifices and services in the Jackson 
 cause. It was a division of the common stock by which every thing 
 was given to one side only, while the other must begin the contest 
 again, with nothing. The swarming bees carried nothing with them 
 to the new hive, and the fruits of common and devoted labor were re- 
 tained by those who continued in the old. Silence was an unequal 
 game for the Jackson republicans, and one very dangerous for them to 
 j)layjt. — They should have insisted that the self nominated candidates 
 should be withdrawn, and the people permitted to agree upon others. 
 — They should have called for an entire and satisfactory organization 
 of the party. They should have exacted from the wrong doers jus- 
 tice, and if divisions ensued, the responsibility should have been placed 
 where the wrong lay. As the Statesman was no longer the paper of 
 the party, its support should have been left exclusively to the faction 
 which it served. 
 
 But other councils prevailed. The union, or apparent union of the 
 party, at best but a small minority, was deemed an object paramount, 
 to all other considerations. Every one who adhered to the States- 
 man, denounced and endeavored to destroy the Jackson Republican, 
 •while not a subscription was withdrawn from the former paper, by the 
 friends of the other. All the advantages of silence were on the side 
 of the Statesman — all the prejudices against us ; while the publication 
 of the truth would at once have changed the balance. The power of 
 the party, in the eyles of the nation, was given up to them, while it lay 
 with us whether they should retain it, or surrender it up to those from 
 whom they had unjustly usurped it. To endure in silence such wrongs, 
 to encounter such hazards without attempting to avert them, required 
 a degree of disinterestedness and self denial which a party has seldom, 
 if ever, been called upon to manifest. And, yet it was manifested, no- 
 bly, by the Jackson republicans. The wrongs were endured, the sa- 
 crifice was made, and they who can be insensible to its merits are 
 welcome to visit us with renewed injuries, and additional indignities. 
 For the harmony of the Jackson party we endured if all. We received 
 the blow, in Christian meekness, on one cheek, and turned the other to 
 the aggressor. They took from us our coat, and we gave them our 
 cloak also. We sat an example of forbearance which challenges rival- 
 ship, and may well defy imitation. Let men turn over the columns of 
 the Jackson Republican, and then say, if so much prudence, discretion, 
 and forbearance were ever before manifested amidst the discordant in- 
 terests of a divided party. We made no allusions to the subject of the 
 discord — we left unassailed the usurped acquisitions of our mortal foes 
 — we wrote not a letter to answer the imputations which our enemies 
 were pouring like torrents on our head, through all the sections ef the 
 country. We continued our subscriptions to that profligate paper, and 
 when men who preferred ours, but felt unable to incur the expense of 
 
38 
 
 both, manifested a willingness to drop the Statesman, we advised them 
 ao-ainst it, beinc determined that our efforts should not interfere with 
 its support. INay, more, we recognized so far our, apparently, fellow 
 laborers in the cause, that we noticed the vile paper itself, and repub- 
 lished articles from its columns, And^ as the last and greatest sacri- 
 fice which a party could make, we gave our votes, at the polls, for that 
 most detestable list of electors, selected in fraud, and with the avowed 
 object of injuring ourselves and our cause. 
 
 Such sacrifices can only be made by a party conscious of the high 
 rectitude of its purposes, and of its own extensive claims to the public 
 respect. No party could be capable of such sacrifices but one of an 
 elevated character, and the Jackson republican party could proudly, 
 compare, in the respectability of its elements, and in the high and hon- 
 orable character of its course, with any which was ever organized in 
 this mighty republic. With conscious manliness it left every imputa- 
 tion, and every slander, to be answered by its acts. Like that of the 
 high minded Jefferson, on whose devoted head the torrents of calumny 
 were profusely poured, its noblest answer was its life. It relied on its 
 rectitude, and it relied not in vain. The whole host of the Statesman 
 assailed each of our friends, with prayers, imprecations and threats — 
 they promised to reward treachery to us with the offices of the republic 
 — they threatened to visit fidelity with proscription and persecution, — 
 but they promised and threatened in vain. Few were they who yield- 
 ed to seduction, or were overcome by fear. The Jackson Republicail 
 went on, and feeble as the Jackson party was thought to be, a hand- 
 some encouragement, for the time, was found for two papers, where it 
 was apprehended there was insufficient for one. A new impulse was 
 given to the public mind, and the Statesman paper, instead of losing, 
 was found, as its publishers acknowledged, to be a gainer by the competi- 
 tion. The fidelity of the Jackson republican party was unassailable, 
 for the strongest of possible reasons, — it was not a party of office seekers, 
 and had no interests for hopes and fears, promises and threats, to ac- 
 tion ; while the Statesman party was made up almost exclusively 
 from the lowest ranks of our people, and of those who aimed to ac- 
 quire a personal benefit by the contest. Let the names of those men 
 appear who were residents in this city, and dined with the States- 
 man party in the Washington gardens, and I will hazard any thing 
 on the fact, that not fitly could be found in the whole number who 
 have not been applicants for office since the election of the president ; 
 and I will encounter an equal hazard, that of the party who filled, on 
 the same occasion, Fanueil Hall, there were not twenty who were, or 
 under any circumstances, intended to be, applicants. They support- 
 ed the cause from an honest preference of its candidate, for the hon- 
 or of the country, and for the security of its republican institutions. 
 These were the elements, and the only elements, which could form a 
 party capable of doing what they did, forbearing as they forbore, or 
 enduring what they suffered. 
 
 One of the first and most happy effects of the project of the new 
 paper, was a willingness on the part of Gen. Jackson's friends, with- 
 
39 
 
 out regard to old party lines, to unite in his support. Among those 
 who had once been members of the federal party, and still more 
 among those who had come of age since the old party contest had ter- 
 minated, there were many men, including some of the most respected 
 in the community, and of the very highest grade of character, who 
 were in favor of Gen. Jackson. They had refused, constantly, to 
 act with the Statesman party, and that gentlemanly print had impu- 
 ted the refusal, and gained some belief in the imputation, to an unwil- 
 lingness to act on republican grounds with the great Jackson party. 
 Their refusal, however, arose altogether from a different motive. The 
 low and scurrilous character of that print, and the violent and abusive 
 course of its supporters, were the only obstacle. The Statesman par- 
 ty did every thing it could, privately, to court their support. They as- 
 cribed the intemperance of the language of the paper to pohcy, direc- 
 ted, not to this commonwealth, but to Maine and New Hampshire, 
 where the contest, they said, was of a democratic character. And 
 though it was not a course adapted to the circumstances of this state, 
 yet as any course would fail to gain us the vote of Massachusetts, 
 they must regard exclusively the policy best suited to those sfates. 
 The denunciation of federalism they reconciled with the best personal 
 feelings towards the federal friends of Gen. Jackson amono- us and 
 avowed their willingness to act in harmony with them when the policy 
 of their course had attained its object. In this spirit Mr. Francis Bay- 
 lies, Gen. Lyman and others, were invited to Faneuil Hall, at the 8th 
 of January celebration, in 1823, and the former gentleman actually at- 
 tended. A Jackson federalist was also put on their central commit- 
 tee for the state, when the farce of a legislative convention was gotten 
 up. A Jackson federalist, by their aid^has been appointed to the col- 
 lectorship of Newburyport, and another offered an inspectorship un- 
 der the collector in Boston. It was not Jackson federalism they 'fear- 
 ed, but the rivalship of Jackson federalists — and they. refused to ac- 
 knowledge the party character of these gentlemen, unless they would 
 act in subordination to themselves. They feared the standing of men 
 not their politics, and welcomed every follo?ver, of whatever'' party. he 
 might be, but were jealous of all equals or leaders. 
 
 The federal friends of Jackson had too much respect for themselves 
 to prevent the possibility of their hailing under the Statesman. With 
 a perfect disposition to make common cause with its friends, they 
 could acknowledge no leaders but men of a different grade of charac- 
 ter. They had suffered long, and endured much, for want of a news- 
 paper to represent their views. They had made, in their zeal for the 
 cause, liberal and even munificent offers to an established federal pa- 
 per, to induce it to come out for their presidential candidate. These 
 efforts were, however, unsuccessful. They supported the party with 
 unshaken constancy, and untiring zeal ; but supported it, like many 
 others, aloof from the party who acted with the Statesman. When the 
 Jackson Republican was established, they afforded it, most cheerfully, 
 their support ; and by resolutions adopted in the most public manner, 
 announced their adhesion to the republican party. Their self re- 
 
40 
 
 gpect, and the character of their republican associates, no longer kept 
 them aloof ; and they came out, like men, for the republican candi- 
 date. The Statesman immediately began to denounce the federal 
 friends of the President, and — it is almost incredible, and while I state 
 it emotions of disgust almost dash the pen from my unwilling hand — 
 there were a few tederalists, candidates for appointments, who adher- 
 ed to the Statesman party, and joined in the denunciation of them- 
 selves. If there be a class of men whose conduct defies language 
 to convey the disgust which it excites in our bosom, it is those merce- 
 nary apostates, who seek to acquire an office by loading their past life 
 with infamy. 
 
 • But, thank Heaven, the numbers of such men were few ! The 
 great mass acted with the Jackson Republican, shared its labors, en- 
 dured its sacrifices, and participate in its fate. Neither threats, nor 
 seductions, nor persecutions, can seperate them from honorable asso- 
 ciates. They would hare been happier in our success, but they re- 
 main firm and inflexibly faithful in our misfortunes. They submit to 
 their fate vyith a fortitude which awakens our admiration. Excellent 
 men**! — the day may yet come when you will cease to stand as monu- 
 ments to warn poltical partisans, that it is not always that merit com- 
 mands success, or that lofty rectitude can escape the machinations of 
 unprincipled intriguers. COLUMBUS. 
 
 COLUMBUS, NO. X. 
 
 DUFF GREEN. 
 
 The course of events now brings forward a character which presents 
 some extraordinary claims to our notice. Duff' Green stands in that 
 relation to the present administration that, as the gallant Stark said to 
 his troops while pointing to the enemy, they must kill him, or he will kill 
 them. Before I proceed, however, to a particular notice of the conduct 
 of this gentleman towards our political friends, I shall pause, one mo- 
 ment, to consider his relation to the party, his services to, and his 
 standing in it. 
 
 The assertions regarding Duff* Green's standing with the govern- 
 ment are of the most various character ; the oppo-ition presses insist 
 upon it that his influence is almost unbounded, while the friends of the 
 president deny him any influence, and insist that the government re- 
 gard him with a disgust almost approaching to abhorence. The alle- 
 gation of his influence is undoubtedly meant as the severest reproach 
 which can be made of the president, and the sensitiveness of the Jack- 
 son party under it, and their warmth in repelling it, show that they 
 view it as a libel of a most pernicious tendency. These apparently 
 opposite positions are to be received with caution, and, when properly 
 modified, they are not only reconcileable, but probably are, or rather 
 have been, true. 
 
 I am perfectly satisfied that it is the determination of the president 
 to confine Mr. Green to his proper pursuits — to repel his interference 
 
41 
 
 With the business of the cabinet, and to discountenance his intermed- 
 dling with local appointments. There'is no man in the country whose 
 character and feelings would sooner throw off dictation, or an attempt 
 at dictation ; or repel a familiar approach from so objectionable a 
 quarter. I am also inclined to believe, though I am not certain of the 
 fact, that the president's opinion of DufT Green is very far from being 
 favorable. But the assertion that Duff Green has li^retofore had no 
 influence, or very little influence, is one exceedingly difficult to be re- 
 conciled with well known facts ; and in spite of my ardent wish it 
 were so, I cannot credit it. That he has had no direct influence with the 
 president, I really believe, but that he has had some, nay an almost 
 preponderating influence with some members of the government and 
 has reached the president through his constitutional advisers, but too 
 effectually, is in the highest degree probable. But intrigue is danger- 
 ous only while it tracks its way in darkness — the light that breaks on 
 its path is a barrier to its progress. Duff^ Green has accomplished 
 much heretofore, but recent circumstances strongly indicate that the 
 reptile is now scotched. 
 
 As events which he, in conjunction with others, has had an active 
 share in effecting, I will mention a few — The removal of Mr. M'Lean 
 from the post office, a measure which notwithstanding the favorable es- 
 timate of the character of the incumbent, has been viewed by the 
 whole Jackson party with profound regret. In Duff* Green's recent 
 visit to Boston, he boasted with admirable complacency that the credit 
 of this measure was due entirely to him. 
 
 The appointment of Isaac Hill to be a comptroller — a measure deep- 
 ly injurious to the party, and especially to our New England inter- 
 ests. 
 
 The disappointment of the wishes of an immense proportion of the 
 Jackson party (the original Jackson party) of Pennsylvania, in regard 
 to Mr. Baldwin, and the defeat of the expected nomination of Gen. 
 Barnard as governor of that state. The Jackson party in Pennsylva- 
 nia, I am respectably informed, regard any connexion of such a man 
 as Duff' Green with the government, as one of the severest trials which 
 their fidelity can be taxed to endure. // ivill be apparent before long. 
 
 The policy, on every other ground inexplicable, of the government 
 towards the Jackson- republican party of this state. And", on this point, 
 the facts are remarkable. Immediately after the result of the election 
 was known, Duff" Green sought a quarrel with the Jackson republican, 
 (his motives will soon be adverted to,) and proclaimed that the party 
 should not be recognized by the government, but should be driven in- 
 to the opposition. It has not been recognized by the government, and 
 though it be not in opposition, no measure has been left undone which 
 Duff* Green could effect, or influence, to place it there. 
 
 As early as January last, long before Gen. Jackson reached Wash- 
 ington — long before his cabinet was anticipated — Duff Green proclaim- 
 ed, through the Telegraph, that Col. Orne should receive no appoint- 
 ment under this administration. He has received none, although pre- 
 sented as a candidate by almost every respectable supporter j^f the 
 
42 
 
 president in this state, and supported by many of the highest and most 
 influential members of the Adams party. He was the candidate, and 
 the only candidate, of the Jackson republican party — a party respect- 
 able in numbers, and as respectable in standing and character, as any 
 party that was ever formed in this commonwealth. But Duff Green 
 determined that the partij should be destroyed^. 
 
 Before Gen. Jackson reached Washington, Duff Green pledged 
 himself to support Mr. Dunlap as district attorney, Mr. Green as posi 
 master, and Mr. Henshaw as collector ; and they have all been ap- 
 pointed. The means by which he has effected his object I do not 
 know, and I cannot comprehend — but he has succeeded, in spite'of the 
 president's known determination to keep Duff Green from meddling 
 with such subjects. 
 
 For now nearly one year he has denounced the Jackson republican 
 party, and the Jackson republican paper, united, as it now is, with 
 the Bulletin. He has endeavored to interrupt confidence between that 
 party and the government — and has succeeded. A confidential inter- 
 course has not been kept up. The party have felt their wrongs — 
 they have looked with confidence to the president for redress — and 
 they still look. Duff Green, is at the bottom of this mischief The 
 wretch has taken advantage of the determination of the party to bear 
 every thinaj rather than incur the risk of a schism. For a year he has 
 denounced the party, its candidates, and its paper. We have borne it 
 in silence — endured, meekly, his contumely and his slander — and yet 
 despised him as heartily during the whole time, as we despise him now. 
 But the power of endurance is limited — there is a " drop which will 
 make the waters of bitterness overflow," and he has poured it into our 
 cup. Let him now taste them himself 
 
 The election of the president by an overwhelming vote, gave Duff 
 Green such confidence in his strength, that he was willing to spare a 
 large portion of the president's friends — yet, as long as the contest 
 was doubtful, or the strength of the party uncertain, he invoked their 
 forbearance by every motive of party discipline, or patriotism. Before 
 the administration was fairlv in office, he be^an to electioneer for Mr. 
 Calhoun, and to bargain with one portion of the friends of Geni Jack- 
 son to effect the downfall of another. His object has been to sow dis- 
 sension, and effect disunion. He insults the president, treats his cab- 
 inet with rudeness, and attempts to dictate to the representatives of the 
 people. He wields the great engine which has been put into his 
 hands, against the congress which placed it there, the governriient 
 which gave it authority, and the party who support it. He has aban- 
 doned the Jackson cause to take up that of Mr. Calhoun, and strives 
 to destroy the present party to build up another. He is ruining the 
 party wliich made him, and u'ill ruin the candidate he supports. 
 
 Duff Green obtained, it is well known, a sufficient number of votes 
 to procure the printing of congress. This might imply some degree 
 of confidence on the part of the Jackson party, in his talents or char- 
 acter. I, however, am satisfied that such an implication would be at 
 war with the fact, and would do gross injustice to the high minded 
 
43 
 
 leaders of the Jackson party. The writer is personally acquainted 
 with many members both of the seiiate and house of representatives, 
 who were supporters of General Jackson, and who stand, in the public 
 estimation, second to none among his friends. These men spoke of 
 DuiT Green without reserve. Their detestation of him was beyond 
 any thing I had ever known of the feelings of statesmen towards a par- 
 ty printer. The Journal, or Intelligencer, at Washington, do not speak 
 of Duff Green witli half the contempt and abhorence, that was open- 
 ly manifested by the most eminent Jackson men in congress. " I 
 shall vote for that contemptible man to be printer," said they, <' as a 
 party act— but never before have I been called upon to offer, on the 
 altar of party, a sacrifice so revolting to my feelino-s." 
 
 The public however would naturally ask, why not select some other 
 party printer instead of Duff Green ? The answer is, he was without 
 a competitor. The most ardent, and, to the parties, the most gene- 
 rous and honorable efforts, were made by some distinguished support- 
 ers of the president, to establish at Washington a respectable and dig- 
 nified Jackson print. A large annual sum was proposed by a few per- 
 sons, to be guaranteed, to a proper editor, out of their private estate—^ 
 circumstance which establishes as well their liberality of feelings, as 
 their sense of the importance and necessity of the project. These ef- 
 forts however were unsuccessful ; several who were properly quali- 
 fied for the object declined the proposal, and among others, the editor 
 of the Richmond Enquirer. "We could obtain, sir," said they "no 
 decent editor to commence the enterprise, or we should not have been 
 left, at this hour, with so frail a dependance as Gen. Green. We must 
 vote for him as printer, and try the experiment, therefore ; but we 
 tremble with apprehensions that he will destroy the party." 
 
 Some would naturally ascribe his election to a feeling of gratitude 
 — to a favorable estimate of his services in the presidential canvass. 
 This however was not the fact, for the leading friends of the president 
 had very unfavorable impressions of the value of Gen. Green's efforts. 
 " I am satisfied," said a western senator, " that Duff Green's paper 
 has done our cause essential injury. When I arrived in Washington 
 I found the sentiments of many to differ from me, and to ascribe some 
 service to the Telegraph. But on inquiry I found every one of these 
 gentlemen satisfied, in regard to their own sections, that the scurrilous, 
 violent spirit of the paper, and the unfavorable estimate formed of the 
 character of its editor, really did the cause an injury. But they insist- 
 ed he had done service in the west. But the west was precisely the 
 point where the Telegraph would be the least serviceable. Our people 
 know Duff Green too well. Unpopular as the National Intelligencer 
 is among the friends of Jackson, the western people regard it with a 
 respect v/hich they withhold from the Telegraph. In our public ad- 
 dresses we could not cite the Telegraph as authority, without its being 
 almost universally hissed." 
 
 The government press at Washington is the natural centre of the 
 party, and is, or ought to be, the medium of intercourse between all 
 the sections of the union. To attain its essential objects, the charac- 
 6 
 
. 44 
 
 ter it maintains must be decidedly national ; and it must avoid, with 
 scrupulous care and delicacy, local and sectional differences among 
 the common members of the party. The public printer should shun 
 the very suspicion of meddling with local appointments, as a subject 
 upon which he cannot be well informed, and which the local sentiment 
 will regulate, much more wisely, for its own, and for the general good. 
 Above all, the integritij of the printer should never be brought into 
 question. The slightest distrust that he is corrupt, and will, for mo- 
 tives of private a(li*antaoe, intrigue for appointments, and use the confi- 
 dence which his position necessarily commands from his party, to de- 
 feat that party's interest, will render his aid to the cause nugatory, 
 and forfeit all the benefit of his position. Long established custom, too, 
 has clearly marked out the course of a judicious printer. Messrs. 
 Gales & Seaton were examples that any man might have been proud 
 to imitate — for whatever might be their claims on the good will of the 
 Jackson party, their dignity, discretion, and fairness, as public prin- 
 ters, are universally conceded. 
 
 To what a remarkable extent Duff Green has departed from this ju- 
 dicious course, is, in general, a matter of notoriety; but some instan- 
 ces are within our knowledge, which the public cannot be supposed to 
 know, or perhaps, without dithculty, to be able to credit. 
 
 It was, I think, in August 1828, that this notorious gentleman first 
 madejiis appearance in Boston. The division in the party had then 
 taken place, the line of disunion been distinctly marked, the new paper 
 established, and the altercation checked from a conviction that any ef- 
 fort to induce the Statesman leaders to abandon their profligate course, 
 would be unavailing. Duff Green had access to both divisions of the 
 party, and professed to be well informed on all the subjects of discord. 
 Towards Col. Orne he manifested the kindest feelings, and the most 
 marked respect. Of the Statesman newspaper he spoke slightingly, 
 affecting to regret the coarse, abusive and degraded tone of its discus- 
 sions. Towards Mr. Henshaw, particularly, he seemed to feel much 
 resentment, and spoke of him with great severity. The discord in the 
 Jackson ranks he regretted ; but applauded, in the highest terms, the 
 forbearance of the Jackson republican party, and urged the sac- 
 rifice of every object to prevent, at least to the world, the appearance 
 of discord. The union of the federal supporters of Gen. Jackson with 
 the republicans, on republican ground, he spoke of as a party desider- 
 atum, and as the object to which the main efforts of his paper were 
 directed. Not knowing the character of Duff Green, the Jackson re- 
 publican party had many reasons for forming a favorable estimate of 
 his sentiments, and of his intentions. 
 
 But he was not long without exciting distrust, on the part of a few 
 to whom he most extensively 'disclosed his objects. They early per- 
 ceived that the man was destitute of judgment and discretion ; but it 
 was not at first that they had so much reason to doubt his integrity. 
 We were struck, at once, by his overweening vanity and self-impor- 
 tance, which rendered it difficult to converse with him with gravity, 
 and without violating the rules of the decorum practised by gentlemen 
 
45 
 
 with strangers. To listen to Duflf Green, one would suppose he 
 viewed himself as by far the most important authority in the republic, 
 and was to play, after the election of Gen Jackson, a game much su- 
 perior to that of the president and congress. He spoke of bavin"- put 
 down the party in congress who wished to censure Col, Jarvis for his 
 affair with Mr. John Adams, by threatening to appeal to the Jackson 
 public, to decide between his services and their own. He had, he said 
 digested a system for the government of the press of this country, which 
 would require many years to be matured, but which would present one 
 of the grandest features in the science of government, and give him an 
 eminence which the proudest career of the mere statesman could not 
 hope to reach. Young men of the most respectable connexions were 
 urged on him as apprentices, by members of congress from all parts of 
 the country. These he received with a proper regard to their local 
 distribution. They were taught thoroughly the trade of printinor^ and 
 besides, he himself paid the strictest attention to their mental improve- 
 ment, and superintended particularly their study of the law, which he 
 connected with his system, and for which his law library gave him great 
 facilities. After being properly initiated into all the mysteries of the 
 press, these young men were to be recommended by him, and placed 
 by his influence, as editors in the various quarters of the republic, 
 when they would exercise a most important influence over the public 
 sentiment, would perhaps take a prominent lead in public affairs, but, 
 at all events, would act in the strictest subordination to, and harmony 
 with him, the guide and centre of the political system. This was to 
 procure him a power, and a fame, in comparison with which the high- 
 est authorities and dignitaries of the republic were frivolous and pue- 
 rile. 
 
 Mr. Green's main object in coming to Boston, he said, was to pro- 
 cure a loan of money. He was embarrassed every moment of time, 
 for the want of the necessary capital to conduct his press. Without 
 uncommon financial skill, no man could keep his workmen together a 
 week. He wished to procure a loan of fifteen-thousand dollars, as this 
 amount, in addition to his other means, would constitute a capital ade- 
 quate to his establishment ; and he gave the Boston friends of Gen. 
 Jackson the preference, in this mark of his confidence and esteem. 
 His application was made to both portions of the Jackson party, but 
 particularly to Dr. Ingalls, Gen. Lyman, Mr. Henshaw and Col. Orne 
 From Dr. Ingalls he obtained promptly the promise of five-thousand 
 dollars, which was soon after advanced him on the security of his nak- 
 ed note. His application to the other gentlemen was not equally suc- 
 cessful. Gen. Lyman politely but firmly declined. Col. Orne inform- 
 ed Mr. Green that there was in no pert of the L^nion, where the Jack- 
 son party was comparatively so weak as in Boston, and none, certain- 
 ly, where the contest involved a tax so heavy on the resources which 
 the party could command. The establishment of a single newspaper 
 had cost himself and his associates, each, at least, ^500, which was 
 necessarily a sacrifice in the cause. There were besides many other 
 occasions of heavy expense, and before the campaign could be ended, 
 
46 
 
 the pecuniary sacrifice ofeacli of these gentlemen, could not fall mate- 
 rially short of one thousajid dollars. Yet, weak as the Jackson party 
 in Boston was, compared with the parties in New-York, Philadelphia, 
 and Baltimore, still, if the support of the central Jackson press requir- 
 ed the aid of the party, we, in Boston, would furnish our equal share. 
 Let New-York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, do the same, and the cap- 
 ital which is deemed to be requisite will probably be had. This sug- 
 gestion was not received by Mr. Green with a very good grace, and 
 the subject was not again renewed. The only loan, therefore, he ob- 
 tained at that time was that of ^5,000 from Dr. Ingalis. From the 
 whole Statesman party he could not obtain a dollar, and he left them, 
 apparently, with no very friendly feelings. 
 
 The extraordinary nature of this application excited surprise, and 
 gave rise to much reflection, on the part of some of those to whom it 
 was made. ^Vhy should Gen. Green come to Boston, when there 
 were so many in Washington, friendly to the cause, and able to assist 
 him t AVhy come such a distance here, when other cities were so 
 much nearer : Why apply where the party was comparatively the 
 weakest, and most heavily burdened already ? And why, above all, 
 insist, that the most remote, the weakest, and most heavily burdened, 
 should furnish, not only its proportion, but the whole loan .'' The dis- 
 inclination to apply to Philadelphia, Baltimore, or New-York, was ob- 
 vious. What was the motive ? Havin"; little knowledge of Mr. 
 Green's character, we were not much open to suspicion, but the cir- 
 cumstances struck us forcibly. He applied first to the Statesman par- 
 ty, but meeting with no encouragement, he tries next the Jackson re- 
 publican party. The amount was very large — the credit ofthe bor- 
 rower here little known — the public papers spoke of his embarrass- 
 ments, and the pressing nature of these embarrassments was the ground 
 of his strong claim on the sympathies ofthe party. A loan of tifteen- 
 thousand dollars to him, on any security he could offer, would not have 
 been worth five-thousand, the next moment, in our market ; and, we 
 had strong reason to think, in no other market in the country. I 
 doubt, sincerely, if Dr. Ingalis had offered to sell the note of five- 
 thousand dollars, for one-thousand, whether a purchaser could have 
 been obtained. The sacrifices Duff Green asked wore large, heavy, 
 and appalling ; and on what ground could he have calculated we 
 should be willing to make them ? Was it possible he meant to take 
 advantage of the division of the party, and sell his influence for the 
 most it would bring .'' The motives of a man are hid in his breast, to 
 all but the omniscient eye ; and we must be cautious in imputing them 
 to any one. But circumstances sometimes indicate tlie thoughts — the 
 course of events sometimes marks the character of a policy or project, 
 as distinctly as language can express it. 
 
 Suppose some friend of the Statesman had loaned Dufl' Green 
 money, and Col. Orne had afterwards oflbred him a greater loan, 
 would it have been possible for Dufi' Green to have charged Col. Orne 
 with an intention to bribe him r I go now upon the ground that he 
 was hostile to Col, Orne, as subsequent events have demonstrated he 
 
47 
 
 was, as well as to the whole Jackson republican party, Nay, suppose 
 the Statesman loan was before the presidential contest was decided, 
 and Col. Orne's offer was afterwards, — that the one was made in pub- 
 lic, and in accordance with a public request, addressed to many, while 
 the other was offered on terms of profound seci esy, — would Duff Green 
 suspect that the offer was intended as a bribe ? Let us see how he 
 would naturally reason on the subject. " I asked you. Colonel Orne, 
 for a loan, to aid in the elvction of Gen. Jackson — you refused it then — 
 why do you offer it now he is elected ? I asked you for a loan, when 
 my embarrassments might have injured, essentially, the cause — you 
 refused it then — why offer it now, when even by my ruin the cause 
 could not be affected ? I asked you for a loan when it was hazardous 
 to make it, while the event of the election was still doubtful, and my 
 solvency, in all probability, depended upon success — you refused it 
 then — why offer it now, when my credit is indisputable, my success 
 certain, my reward magnificenf. } The friends of the Statesman made 
 me a loan when I needed it, when the cause needed it, when it was 
 hazardous — openly, — you offer one, when I am prosperous and suc- 
 cessful, when the cause is won, when there is no hazard — secretly. 
 He who made the loan, was a candidate for no office, and would ac- 
 cept none — you, who offer it, are a prominent and avowed candidate 
 for an important appointment. If your motive. Col. Orne, be not to 
 bribe me, pray avow what it is, for otherwise I must reject your offer, 
 as aiming at the integrity of my character, with indignation and con- 
 tempt." If Col. Orne had made the offer under such circumstances, 
 who could have answered the argument, and repelled the imputation, 
 which Mr. Green might so naturally have made : — or if Mr. Green, 
 under such circumstances, had accepted Col. Orne's offer, how would 
 Mr. Green have met the imputation of others, that he had consented to 
 be bribed. 
 
 But fortunately for Duff Green, and for Dr. Ingails, the only loan 
 which was made at that time was by a man whose disinterestedness was 
 above all suspicion, and is above all cavil : By a man whose generous 
 zeal in the Jackson cause is not surpassed among the millions who 
 rallied under the Jackson banner : By a man who had no personal fa- 
 vor to ask, nor personal favor to accept. Fortunate indeed was it, 
 that it was made by a man whose disinterestedness may challenge imi 
 tation, and dety malice, — whose generous and magnanimous liberality 
 made even Duff Green ascribe to him the soul and feelings of a prince. 
 But who were they, thou honest printer of the Telegraph ! who offer- 
 ed you a loan of six thousand dollars, after the contest was decided, 
 and the hazard was at an end ? Were they candidates for appoint- 
 ments ? How have you exerted your influence in their behalf? Have 
 they, or many of them, obtained appointments, through your means, 
 and of a character so disproportioned to their standing, as to exche the 
 astonishment and regret of every honest friend of the president, through 
 the United States ? What are their names .? Is David Henshaw, or 
 Andrew Dunlap, or Nath'l. Greene, any or all of them, among the 
 number ? Wliat was the condition, expressed or understood, on which 
 
48 
 
 the loan was offered you ? Was it that you should denounce the 
 Jackson republican party, and support that of the Statesman ? Was it 
 that you should break with your generous benefactor, return him his 
 loan, denounce him and his Iriends, and impute his noble sacrifice in 
 your favor to a motive of corruption ? Did you, or not, after this 
 negotiation, proceed to denounce the Jackson republican party, for 
 which before you had professed so much friendship and respect ? Did 
 you, or not, ascribe to Dr. Ingalls a motive to bribe you, and talk in- 
 dignantly of returning his loan ? Have you returned his loan to this 
 hour, or do you still retain, what you called Dr. Ingalls' bribe, as well 
 as the latter loan from the Statesman party, which you did not call 
 any body's bribe ? How came the idea of bribery to enter your head ? 
 Who charged you with it — nay, how came the ideas of bribery and 
 loan ever to be coupled by you t* 
 
 I accuse you not, Duff Green — I put nothing to your conscience — I 
 leave those things to God and your country. I3ut I am a little curious 
 in metaphysics, and wish to understand by what law of mental associ- 
 ation it is, that the ideas of loan and bribery first became coupled in 
 your understanding ? I am, too, a humble admirer of close logical de- 
 duction, and it distresses me beyond measure to trace the progressive 
 steps in the argumentative process, by which bribery is fastened on 
 the first open, generous, hazardous, needed, useful loan, from a man 
 who had no selfish desire to be gratified ; — while the very suspi- 
 cion of it is repelled, from the last, secret, safe unnecessary, useless 
 loan, from men who were avowed candidates for appointments, and to 
 whose objects you have lent your aid with devotion and efl^ect. Ex- 
 plain this, if you can, on any principle of honesty or honor, and I will 
 acknowledge, that your claim to my execration is something weaker 
 than I had supposed. COLUMBUS. 
 
 COLUMBUS, NO. XL 
 
 The Electors of the United States had scarcely given their suffrages 
 for president, and the result of the violent contest become known, 
 when the Statesman party prepared to enter into the various offices, 
 in this place, dependant on the federal government. Never, since 
 the time of Jack Cade, was seen such a motley host ready to bear, 
 on their ragged shoulders, the honors and the burdens of public af- 
 fairs. You would have thought, to have watched their motions, and 
 listened to their sentiments, that the time was at length arrived when 
 the beggars were to mount horses, and ride to as the old adage 
 
 work 
 be 
 
 *There is something as admirable as peculiar in Duff Green's gratitude. He has some 
 )rkings of kindness to Dr. Ingalls, and would really like to do him good, if the Dr. would 
 oe obedient. Duff has been cicoedingly anxious to liave the Dr. unite with Duff's tools of 
 the Statesman, and has made him bounteous offers of public offices. Kut as the Dr. will 
 have an opinion of his own. Duff gets quite outrageous, and showes his gratitude for the 
 almost unprecedent liberahty of the" Dr. by threatening, unless some other person will 
 stop exposing Duff, that he will expose the Doctor's private correspondence !!! 
 
49 
 
 has it. Apothecaries quitted their drugs, and their pestles, and thought 
 to physic no diseases but those of the state. Leaving the mortars of 
 medicine, they prepared to direct the mortars of war, and to change 
 the scene from the shop to a pubHc department — from the ragamuffins 
 of the Statesman, to the courts of foreign states and princes. The 
 sellers of drams and grog said, that the time was come when they would 
 no longer collect cents from dirty Irishmen, but would preside over 
 the revenue of a nation ; and instead of shop boys, would have public 
 dignitaries to aid them. The butcher thought, that he who had so long 
 administered to private hunger, was best able to supply public wants, 
 and would quit his shambles for the stately department of the customs. 
 The tailor contended, and with great force, that he who made clothes 
 for the naval service, was the most competent to buy them, and would 
 quit his needle and goose, sooner than the navy agency should remain 
 in incompetent hands. The printer thought, that no profession was so 
 intimately connected with the post office as his, and stamping letters, 
 upon the whole, rather a more dignified, as it was certainly a more lu- 
 crative business, than pressing newspapers. The enthusiasm was in- 
 deed so general, that all orders of men seemed to lose sight of their pri- 
 vate pursuits, and, in the ardor of patriotism, to devote their all to the 
 service of the country. The quack, to dose the body politic with his 
 drugs — the tinman, to tinker the flaws of the constitution, the uphol- 
 sterer, to wrap dignified rank in a more becoming drapery, and the ma- 
 ker of beds, to supply feathers for tar, on tliose who should retire. 
 All seized upon their prey, and the merry burden of the song went 
 round, 
 
 *' We're all on hobbies, gee up, gee ho." 
 
 To the sober and discreet citizen, this was rather a scene of amuse- 
 ment than humiliation How little, it was thought, do these people 
 know of the manly character, and elevated sentiments of Gen. Jackson, 
 to suppose that corruption will find favor in his sight, and the dignified 
 trusts of the public be conferred on the most degraded classes of the 
 people. To us who felt scarcely less deeply for the character of the 
 party, than the honor of the country, it was absolutely a subject of 
 merriment, to think how the air built castles which the beggars had 
 raised, would vanish at the first stern sober glance of the hero of his 
 country. '' It will not be three months," said a Jackson man from the 
 south, of high character and rank, who visited here during the contest 
 — '' after the election of Gen. Jackson, before these Statesman men, 
 and their Duff Green's, and others of their class, will be abusing the 
 president as zealously as they are now abusing his opponents." 
 
 The expectations of ourselves, however, and of the honorable men 
 of the Jackson party who thought with us, have been wofully disappoint- 
 ed. The low men succeeded, and are still triumphant. But neither 
 our friends, nor ourselves, can believe that we were mistaken in the 
 views and intentions of the president. The unexpected result is as- 
 cribed to a combination of circumstances, partly fraudulent, and partly 
 accidental, by which a true knowledge of the state of things has been 
 
50 
 
 kept from the pre:^ident ; and which have placed him in a position as 
 little satisfactory to himself, as to us. The first moment of the meet- 
 ino- of cono-rcss was seized upon by the Statesman party, for the com- 
 mencement of the measures by which the othces were to be secured. 
 jVIr, Nath'l. Greene first posted to Washington, under the convenient 
 pretext of reporting the debates, to pour his malignant falsehoods into 
 the ears of the members from all quarters of the country. Duff Green 
 had been retained to support him, and this American Marat made his 
 assistance effectual with all he could influence or deceive. Mr. Greene 
 had been there but a short time, when he was followed by member after 
 member of the Statesman party, to reiterate the same falsehoods, and 
 advance the same objects. In the course of the political season, nol 
 less than twenty of these profligate agents assembled, and remained, in 
 active cooperation, until their desires were accomplished. There was 
 not, probablv, a man of the party who visited the seat of government, 
 who was not himself a candidate for oflice ; and who, if not a direct 
 party to the intrigue, was not, at least, dependant on its siiccess for his 
 own. No wonder all tiiese men were clamorous for Mr. Henshaw, 
 for they were well aware it were to be clamorous for themselves. The 
 disregard of decency, and of respect for the president, which these 
 proceedings evince,— the disgraceful, unblushing character of the 
 whole transaction,— it was thought by honorable men, would fill the 
 president and his cabinet with disgust. But the contusion of the mo- 
 ment, and the entire want of knowledge of the actual local parties, by 
 the members of the cabinet, who happened, in this respect most unfor- 
 tunately, to be inexperienced men, presented the only possible means 
 of the intrigue beinor successful. 
 
 The Jackson republican party could not, let the consequences be 
 what they miojht, degrade themselves so far, or insult the president 
 so much. They stood aloof, relying upon their known public 
 course, upon the integrity of their characters, and upon that reputa- 
 tion which the government could not have failed to be aware of, upon 
 the slightest inquiry of respectable men. The Statesman agents gave 
 themselves out as a committee of the Jackson party in Boston, and the 
 absence of a similar committee from our party, gave some color to 
 the pretext. As the Jackson republicans presented but one candidate, 
 Col. Orne for the collectorsliip, the single object of the Statesman 
 host was to put him down, in order to make the whole game their 
 own. Some of the gross falsehoods uttered against him, have already 
 been fully exposed, and there were probably many others, similar, 
 which have not yet come to light. Their calumnies were listened to 
 by men, whose own sense of dignity, alone, should have repelled them. 
 The Jackson republicans despised these slanders too much to reply to 
 them ; and insulted not the presence of the chief magistrate of the 
 country, by exiiibitions of contention ; nor his ear, by details of slan- 
 der. Honorable men shrunk from the scene which the intriguers then 
 monopolized, and, unfortunately for the government, and the country, 
 but too successfully tor their plans. We retained our delicacy, our 
 
51 . 
 
 respect for the governmeFit, and our attachment to the purity of the 
 pubHc institutions — and wo fell. 
 
 There are a few of the known grounds on which the claims of the 
 Statesman party were urged, which it may be important for me, cur- 
 sorily, to consider. 
 
 It was said, iij the first place, that they were the oldest supporters 
 of the president — but this groundless, ridiculous pretension has al- 
 ready been effectually exposed. Dr. Ingalls, Gen. Lyman and Col. 
 Oilie, who established the Jackson Republican, were opposed to Mr. 
 Adams from the commencement of the contest for a successor to Mr. 
 Munroe, and were, of course, always for the candidates of that oppo- 
 sition ; and when the united party presented but one, were for Gen. 
 Jackson. This period commenced with the Panama discussions. 
 
 The next ground was the superior pecuniary sacrifices they made in 
 the cause. But the incontestible truth is that, in the Jackson contest, 
 by far the largest amount of pecuniary sacrifices was made by the pro- 
 prietors of the Jackson Republican. The friends of the Statesman 
 can show but little, if any, loss in this behalf, independent of the enor- 
 mous equivalents they are drawing from the public treasury. The 
 claims in this respect, made by Mr. Nathaniel Greene, are ridiculous 
 in the extreme, and shall hereafter be the subject of special considera- 
 tion. This ground, however, if it were just, presents but a miserable* 
 claim for public trusts — the conferring of which should regard only the 
 welfare of the country, the honor of the government, and the public as 
 well as party character and qualifications of the candidates. 
 
 But the main point in their pretensions was their comparative supe- 
 riority of numbers. We, they said, were a handful, while they were a 
 numerous party — there were not twenty of us, while they were eight 
 or nine hundred strong. If this pretension were just, which I shall 
 presently show was entirely destitute of foundation, it would afford no 
 ground for the preference ; for the friends of General Jackson who had 
 been wronged, ought not to be denounced by him on account of the 
 smallness of their numbers : nor the wrong doers to be rewarded for 
 the largeness of theirs. The question would still have remained, which 
 party was able to afford the most efficient aid to the government ^ and 
 the pret^erence would have been at once given to the Jackson republi- 
 can party, for the superior influence of their character, and the less 
 objectionable course of their conduct. The ascendancy of the Jack- 
 son republican party involved the sacrifice of no other portion of Gen- 
 eral Jackson's friends. They unfurled a banner under which all the 
 supporters of the president could rally ; while that of the Statesman 
 involved a sacrifice of a part. With the Jackson republicans, all the 
 respectable part of our population, who did not wish to engage in an 
 opposition to the gorvernment, would rally — while the Statesman party 
 could never, by any possibility, attract the public confidence. If Col. 
 Orne, or any other respectable member of that party, had been ap- 
 pointed collector, there would have been but one party here, and that 
 of the Statesman would have instantaneously gone down. Some twen- 
 ty or thirty disappointed men would have gone into the opposition, 
 
 7 
 
52 
 
 while all the rest of the party would have acted in harmony together. 
 But, in fact, the numbers of the Statesman party were not greater than 
 those of the Jackson Republican. 
 
 The vote for electors was a Jackson vote, regardless of the division. 
 It comprised the whole body of Gen. Jackson's friends, federal and 
 democratic, Statesman and Jackson republican. The aggregate vote 
 afforded no ground of measuring the comparative strength of the differ- 
 ent parties who combined to cast it. The vote for Dr. Ingalls, one of 
 the proprietors of the Jackson Republican, who was put up for con- 
 gress long after the existence of the paper, although affected by tariff 
 considerations, was, within one hundred, as strong as the electoral 
 vote. The denunciation of our party by Duff Green, on whose influ- 
 ence and efforts, no doubt, very much was expected by this communi- 
 ty, gave much strength to the Statesman party. And yet, afterwards, 
 on the only occasion when the Statesman party relied on the support of 
 their strength, independent of ours, to wit, on the nomination of An- 
 drew Dunlap for mayor, their number, if I remember correctly, and I 
 am sure I can be mistaken but in few votes, was short of three hun- 
 dred. Even here, however, they had some support, auxiliary to their 
 own ; for Mr. Dunlap was run, not merely as a Jackson, but as the 
 only democratic candidate, and the force of party prejudices gave him 
 some stren2;th. That which approached the nearest to a test of num- 
 bers, was the dinner celebration on the fourth of March ; we, in Fan- 
 euil Hall, being about five hundred, while they, in the Washington 
 Gardens, fell short of 700. Tlieir numbers, however, were augment- 
 ed by uncommon exertions out of Boston, and it has been supposed by 
 some that the collection embraced nearly as many from without as from 
 within the city. The Statesman party after this never made an effort 
 by which their strength could be fairly tested. In the spring election 
 of state senators, the Statesman- Jackson, and the democratic Adams 
 parties, united for a mixed ticket ; and their aggregate force was only 
 about nine hundred. This ticket presented the united candidates of the 
 Statesman and Patriot newspapers, and the democratic friends of the 
 latter, compared to those of the former, were certainly as two to one. 
 In the subsequent election of representatives the same course was 
 pursued ; an union Jackson and Adams democratic list was supported, 
 and it again failed. The requisite number, however, was not at first 
 elected by the national republicans, and i\\e Statesman run a Jackson 
 list to fill the vacancies. 1 do not recollect precisely their whole num- 
 ber of votes, but it was, I think, considerably short of those Mr. Dun- 
 lap had previously obtained, — probably about two hundred. 
 
 It was true the Jackson republican list of senators, put up exclusive- 
 ly on Jackson ground, obtained only about three hundred votes. But 
 this effort was made after success was despaired of, after the party had 
 been apparently given up by the government to be denounced, and 
 those appointments had been made, and others boasted of, which must 
 be fatal to the growth of any Jackson party in this commonwealth. If 
 the circumstances had been reversed, the Statesman party would not 
 have been one hundred strong, while that of the Jackson republicans 
 
63 
 
 would have approached two thousand. This is a matter of opinion only, 
 it is true ; but it is that of a man who has some reputation to lose, and 
 who would do more than hazard it by a public assertion destitute of 
 reasonable grounds of probability. 
 
 The grounds, then, oh which the public trusts were claimed, by the 
 self-constituted agents of the Statesman party, were destitute of truth, 
 as well as of merit. Their success had occasioned an irreparable in- 
 jury to the government, and inflicted a signal injustice on the most 
 honorable portion of the friends of the president in this quarter. 
 The loiv men are in power, in spite of their injustice and their cor- 
 ruption. They have gained it without merit, or qualifications, or 
 character. They earned their success, neither by an early declara- 
 tion for the cause, nor by a constant zeal in support of it. They 
 had incurred few sacrifices to gain it success, and possessed no 
 strength to recompense, by a future support, the deadly odium of 
 their elevation. Vice is sometimes allowed to appear in triumph 
 and splendor, but there is an intelligent public opinion, which, like 
 the eternal decrees of an all-seeing God, proclaims that its triumph 
 shall be short, and that blessings and success shall never follow in 
 the footsteps it treads. 
 
 COLUMBUS. 
 
 COLUMBUS, NO. XIL 
 
 I have spoken of Mr. Nathaniel Greene's appointment to the Boston 
 post ofiice, as one of the most extraordinary measures which ever took 
 place under this or any other government. I have incidentally spok- 
 en of his character and standing, and will now consider the claims on 
 which his pretensions have been supported, and the appointment j^as 
 been attempted to be justified. They are, I believe, the following: 
 
 He was, it is said, the publisher and editor of the Boston Statesman. 
 
 He sacrificed a great many thousand dollars in support of the Jack- 
 son cause. 
 
 He had been persecuted hy the city authorities on account of his po- 
 litical conduct. 
 
 That Mr. Nath'l. Greene was the puhlisJter of the Boston Statesman 
 will not be denied — but before I can admit that he was its editor, I 
 must beg to learn in what sense the term is understood. If it be 
 meant that he was generally, or even frequently, the writer of the ar- 
 ticles which appeared under the editorial head, then most certainly he 
 was not the editor. The assertion of the Bulletin, that the Statesman 
 had nineteen editors, is certainly within the truth. I have no doubt 
 that there are at this moment, in Boston, more than nineteen men 
 whose writings have appeared in that paper as editorial. Any one who 
 knows Mr. Greene, must know his utter incompetency to write, with 
 ability, editorial articles in a newspaper. His information on political 
 subjects is as limited as his political principles are vague and indefinite. 
 He never was a ^artizan even by profession ; and if he knows the sub- 
 
64 
 
 stantial difference between a federalist and a democrat, an aristocrat 
 and a jacobin, which I seriously doubt, it is certain that he cares noth- 
 ino- about it. Mr. Greene seldom wrote, so far as 1 have any knowl- 
 edge of the paper, unless when personally attacked, or some little 
 scrap of an article intended to be witty, in imitation of Mr. Noah — 
 and himseJf, as it was the only subject about which he cared in poli- 
 tics, so it was the only one which could call forth his eloquence. 
 
 But if it had been true that he was the editor, was he not j^aid for 
 the services he rendered ? ^Vhat supported his family, certainly not 
 in a manner remarkable for its economy, but the recompense he obtain- 
 ed in his vocation ? Is a man, as Duff Green most pointedly asked, 
 entitled to double recompense for the same services ? Are the labors 
 of editors really gratuitous in a cause ? Do they receive noth- 
 ing more than the expense they are at in employing the servi- 
 ces of others ? The idea is something new that a party must support 
 a printer for his adherence to their cause, and the printer have all the 
 advantages of the party's success It was not thus in times of yore ; 
 by what improved state of the public intelligence does it happen now ? 
 And if it be generally understood as an established precedent, hgw 
 long will parties continue to labor for the elevation of printers ? 
 
 But suppose him both the publisher and editor, does that fact alone 
 entitle him to his station, or is something like superior merit, talents, 
 or devotion to the cause — the rendering of important services — also 
 necessary ? ^Vas the Boston Statesman servicable to the Jackson 
 cause ? So far l>om it, there is no speculative opinion, of the truth of 
 which I am more deeply convinced than this : that if there had been 
 no such paper in existence, the Jackson cause, in this state, would 
 have been supported by twice the numbers, and those, too, ten times 
 more respectable in character. This is not an opinion which has 
 sprung up under the influence of paity dissensions ; but it has been 
 for years the sentiment of the writer, and a sentiment too in which he 
 has been joined by a very large number of the most respectable friends 
 of the present administration. It was a subject of common observation 
 and complaint, for years, and numerous facts could be adduced to ren- 
 der that opinion almost incontrovertible. Such coarse and abusive 
 writings as those of Mr. Henshaw, and Mr. Dunlap, never did, and 
 never can benefit a party, with an intelligent community. The cause 
 they support emits a bad odor which keeps respectable men from em- 
 bracing it ; and not unfrequently disgusts such as manifest a prefer- 
 ence in its favor. Let the writings of these men, in that paper, be re- 
 ferred to, and then say how it was possible that any good cause could 
 be advanced by them. What light do they throw on the true grounds 
 of the party contest ? "Who can learn by these writings any thing of 
 the character of party principles, of public measures, of the qualifica- 
 tions of men, or of the state or national institutions ? A few heads, 
 which any school boy could commit to memory in half an hour, con- 
 tained all the subjects of their learned discussion ; and on these the 
 changes were rung in infinite variety. A few cabalistic phrases, re- 
 iterated until the ear was fatigued with the monoiony, and the spirits 
 
65 
 
 were exhausted by the endless recurrence of the same unvarying sub- 
 ject, contained the sum of their intelligence and their arguments. 
 The Hartford convention, artstocracy, the royal family of the Johns, 
 gag laws, federalism, democracy, and John Adams' nose, were the con- 
 centrated essence of all the thought, and all the eloquence, which 
 these accomplished statesmen poured, in such protracted cadence, into 
 the wearied ears of the community. Instead of benefiting a cause, I 
 know of no better means of rendering it odious and contemptible, in 
 this section of the country, than by such support as Messrs. Henshaw 
 and Dunlap rendered, to Gen. Jackson, for a few years past, in the 
 polluted columns of the Boston Statesman. If the contest obtained any 
 support among us, it was not by, but in defiance of the aid of these 
 writers. 
 
 But Mr. Greene sacrificed in the support of the cause mayiy thousand 
 dollars. It has been stated that he carried to Washington figures and 
 documents to prove, that the sacrifices involved by his devoted zeal, 
 did not fall much short of thirty thousand dollars. Every Jackson- 
 man who has any knowledge of the affairs of the Statesman, could at 
 once prove the entire falsehood of this assertion. The Statesman nev- 
 er sacrificed, and never lost a dollar, in the service. It was published 
 eight or ni«e years, but never with a profit. It yielded a very liberal 
 support to Mr. Greene, and his family and associates — it gave them a 
 living, but it could not gain them a fortune. A paper of such a char- 
 acter never could succeed in this intelligent community. But though 
 it gained nothing, it probably lost little. To conduct such a paper for 
 many years required a capital of many thousand dollars, and as this was 
 not possessed by the publishers, loans were made them by Messrs. 
 Henshaw and Simpson, and by Col. Orne. The largest advance was 
 made progressively, by the former gentleman, reluctantly but of ne- 
 cessity, as means of preventing the failure of the press, and the loss of 
 a part of the sum in advance. But the stock, apparatus, &c. of an es-» 
 tablishment of this magnitude, were the means of his indemnity ; and 
 it is not believed that they were very deficient for the object. It was 
 in his power, at any day, to compel the proprietors to make an absolute 
 conveyance of the establishment. The next largest loan was made 
 by Col. Orne, and for a long time the very largest. But he calculated, 
 in the event of difficulty, that his advances would be sunk. Does the 
 temper these people have recently evinced towards him leave any 
 room to doubt the justice of his apprehensions .'* 
 
 But whether the paper advocated one cause or another, was a ques- 
 tion of interest, on which the chances were calculated, and the risk 
 deliberately taken. It was deemed by the publishers the most politic 
 course to advocate the cause of Mr. Crawford, as his success would 
 place the interests of the paper on very commanding ground. The 
 chance of Mr. Crawford's success they deemed the best. In this they 
 were mistaken, and their calculations defeated. But it by no means 
 follows because a speculation is unsuccessful, that interest is not the 
 object of it. The disappointment of the publi.^hers made them sick of 
 political speculations, and very resolute in refusing to engage in oth- 
 
56 
 
 ers. Towards the close of the contest, the same chances invited to a 
 support of Gen. Jackson, and in this they were successful. There was 
 every grouwd to believe tliat his success would place the party in as- 
 cendancy in this commonwealth, and if such a paper could ever be- 
 come profitable, that circumstance would have gendered it so. But 
 does this calculation of chances show a disposition to make sacrificea 
 in a cause ? Is not self-interest, after all, the object by which the 
 course is regulated .^ Would their chance have been better in the sup- 
 port of Mr. Adams ? Certainly not half so good. In that game they 
 had too many competitors, and those too in much better estimation ; 
 and Mr. Adams' success could have promised them no possible advan- 
 tage. 
 
 Yet not only did the support of General Jackson afford the best 
 chance of profit, but was the immediate cause of extensive patronage. 
 If a subscriber withdrew for such a cause, ten new ones were immedi- 
 atelv obtained. Tiie ordinary course of aiming to advance a cause, 
 is to increase the circulation of the paper by which it is advocated. 
 To obtain such circulation has been frequently the object of the party. 
 And funds have been at various times subscribed, and gratuitously 
 bestowed on the publishers, to enable them to travel in order to ad- 
 vance the cause by the increase of their subscription. The support of 
 General Jackson was, therefore, to them the occasion of an immedi- 
 ate aid, as well as ultimate flattering prospects. Surely if sacrifices 
 are the ground of political claims, the printers of a party are frequent- 
 ly the last men entitled to the advantage. 
 
 Perhaps, however, it will be said that, by the support of this cause, 
 the publishers of the Statesman lost the patronage of men in power. 
 If so, ihere could not be expressed a greater mistake. There was no 
 press in Boston that received half the patronage of the Adams party, 
 which was given to the Statesman printers. — They ivere, in the first jAace, 
 ^printers to the state. This, it may be said, they obtained by the lowest 
 bid at auction. It may be so, but the public have the evidence on the 
 trial of Mr. Child for a libel, and can judge for themselves, whether 
 or not the Adams committee, of an Adams legislature, were, or were 
 not willing to give True and Greene a bonus over all other candidates, 
 o{jive hundred doltars a year. At least all will be satisfied that if there 
 was no favor, there was no persecution in that aflair. 
 
 They were also printers^ a part of the time, for the city aidhorities, — an- 
 other body of Adams partisans. This they ultimately lost, for a cause 
 which I shall soon consider, but for which they claim great merit. 
 They had, a portion of the term, the printing of the general post oflice 
 in WashiniJ^ton — a most lucrative concern. Here they had the very 
 patronage of the Adams government itself, and for a period of tmie 
 during the Jackson contest, as long as any paper, or printers, in New- 
 England. This was not obtained by the lnwcst bid at auction. The 
 post master, Dr. Hill, advertised his letters Jialf the time, in the Statesman. 
 The patronage was equally divided between the Statesman and Patri- 
 ot. This did not look much like Adams proscription. And, though 
 last, not least, the Statesman, durii^^ the whole la:>t seven years of the 
 
57 
 
 presidential coyest, had a large portion of the priniing of the Boston cus- 
 tom-house. Another pretty valuable job, from the Adams goverhment, 
 and one which does not look much like proscription ! A\hat renders 
 this last patronage the more remarkable, is, that it was conferred by a 
 collector whom the Statesman was constantly exertmg itself to turn 
 out, and who has since been obliged to yield his place to the disinter- 
 ested Mr. Henshaw. Here, I apprehend, was a kind of proscription, 
 which \dams papers would have liked to suffer from the Adams party 
 Let him, who can, show, in the whole of New England, an equal 
 amount of Adams patronage conferred on any other press. Let any 
 Adams press show an equality, in this respect, with the Statesman, and 
 I will hold my tongue about proscription. 
 
 But, in one case, indeed, Mr. Greene certainly was proscribed. It 
 has been proclaimed all over the country, and therefore must be true. 
 The president has been told of it repeatedly. It has been rung over 
 and over again, in the ears of every member of the cabinet, and of eve- 
 ry member of Congress. It has really made Mr. Greene a martyr in 
 the Jackson cause, and rejoiced distant partisans much that he has 
 been so amply indemnified. This is a high pretension— let us examine 
 
 it a little. . . . ,* , 
 
 The city government invited ofTers for their printing, with an under- 
 standino- that they should have it who would do it on the lowest terms. 
 Mr. Gr?ene offered lower than any one else, and it was refused him. 
 This is conclusive proof that he was a martyr for Jackson ; oh, cer- 
 tainly—it was not possible there could be any other objection to Mr. 
 
 JYathU. Greene. . ,. -, ., i. 
 
 Whether this course, in its spirit, is to be blind to the persons who 
 make the offers, and to disregard altogether their skill, character, fide - 
 ity and probable compliance with their contract, or otherwise, I will 
 not stop now to consider. Nor will I ask, either, whether public 
 officers cannot, with propriety, resort -to this mode of invitmg com- 
 petition, without being compelled to employ men- whom, in their 
 fudgment, they deem to be disreputable. In point of fact no body of 
 men were ever more grossly, scurrilously, indecently, and outrageous- 
 ly abused, than the city authorities were, by this same Statesman, 
 which did their printing. I know not what others may thmk ; but for 
 myself, and I speak it without hesitation, the party which can degrade 
 itself so far, in order to save a few dollars, as to employ levilers which 
 would disgrace Billingsgate, are only less contemptible than tlie worse 
 than Billingsgate revilers, who seek the patronage of those whom they 
 
 abuse. ... a. a 
 
 It may be, however, that to abuse the city authorities was to ad- 
 vance the cause of Gen. Jackson ; and to lose the printing of those 
 authorities for such abuse, was suffering martyrdom in Gen. Jackson s 
 cause The writer does not dispute this reasonable position, but only, 
 mdtlestly, suggests his difficulty of following out the premises to the 
 
 conclusion. , , ,, -, , „„ 
 
 But was the abuse of themselves, even, the cause why the city au- 
 thorities would not suffer Mr. Greene to be their prmter ? Let us look 
 
58 
 
 at the evidence of one of the city officers, under oatly, in a court of 
 justice, on the trial of an indictment. I refer to that of Mr. Hayden, 
 the auditor of the city. See trial of David Lee Child, for a libel on 
 John Keyes, page 40. 
 
 " William Hayden Esq. City Auditor. Some bills of Messrs. True &. 
 Greene against the Commonwealth for printing were put into my hands 
 by Mr. Child, and I made a general examination of them ; but could 
 not make it thorough because I had not the work before me which 
 they had executed. I compared their charges with their contracts. / 
 found that in charging, there ivas a general disregard of the rates in their 
 proposals. There was a charge of ^150 for printing I oOO election ser- 
 mons, which should have been $T5. There toas a deduction by the com- 
 mittee of ^25 ; bid the charge was still ^50 too high. — There was a 
 charge for blank leaves put into Rules and Orders in each year. In 
 1826, the proposal in the contract icas Rules and Orders at so much per 
 copy " complete,'^'' and yet the extra charge was continued. In general the 
 bills of T'rue and Greene were made out without nmch reference to their 
 contracts. 
 
 Cross examined by the Solicitor General. I never called on True and 
 Greene, VKtr on the committee for explanation of these bills. Mr. Child 
 did not apply to me first. I asked him whether he had ever compared 
 True and Green's bills with their proposals, observing, that ij they serv- 
 ed the Commomvealth as thty had done the city, they paid very little re- 
 gard to their contracts. True and Greene have had the city printing, 
 but not in the two last years." 
 
 Here then, I suppose, is no objection to Mr. Greene ! He makes 
 the lowest proposals, obtains the printing, but little regards his propos- 
 als in his charges. The offer must be taken, because it is the loicest, 
 although the work when done, may be the highest. A man must be 
 employed if he bids well, although he pays very little regard to his 
 contract. Surely the loss of t4ie city printing was martyrdom for Gen. 
 Jackson, and deserves, eminently deserves, the Boston post office ^ 
 But a single question about Mr. Greene, and I have done for the pres- 
 ent. Did Mr. Greene declare to a gentleman of high standing and un- 
 impeachable veracity, that the loss of the city printing was the object 
 he tried to effect ? I can name such a gentleman. But [{suffering for 
 a cause be martyrdom, Mr. Greene, why then to inflict the injury on 
 yourself must be more than martyrdom. It was self devotion for Gen. 
 Jackson. Hurra for the martyr ! COLUMBUS. 
 
 COLUMBUS NO. XHL 
 
 The appointments of Mr. Andrew Dunlap and Mr. David Henshaw, 
 I have said, excited nearhf as much astonishment and regret, as that 
 of Mr. Nathl. (Jrocne. I have never heard a statement of the grounds 
 on which 3Ir. Dunlap was appointed. As a professional man, his es- 
 timation by the bar of Suffolk he is probably well aware of, and of 
 which the curious may be informed by inquiry of any of its respectable 
 
59 
 
 members. The extent of his sacrifices in the Jackson cause, I have 
 never heard stated — nor, indeed, a rumor that he had made any, un- 
 less the subscription of a sixth part of the loan of six thousand dollars 
 to Duff Green, long. after the contest was ended, and near the time 
 when the offices were expected to be conferred, be a sacrifice. This 
 was no doubt hazarded for the good of the cause, and without any pos- 
 sible motive of self interest; and if any profit has grown out of it, it 
 must have been entiiely accidental, and unexpected by Mr. Dunlap. 
 
 This gentleman also writes and makes speeches. Mr. John Adams' 
 nose, was at once the main subject of his wit and his services ; and 
 this, with an occasionally novel and brilliant allusion to monarchy 
 and gag laws, and a few sneers on '' good society," were the sum of 
 his splendid political discussions. The gentleman is so remarkably 
 modest in regard to his own praise, that he seldom is pleased with a 
 notice of his professional efforts, and is quite overpowered if one of his 
 set speeches should appear in the public prints. I suppose, however, 
 tliat his main pretension v/as his consistent and disinterested support of 
 Gen. Jackson. — His fidelity is indeed justly a subject of wonder, for 
 in the last five years he has not avowed a preference for more than 
 ybii?' candidates — a very moderate number, indeed, considering the host 
 which the people of the United States have had offered for their suf- 
 frao;es, for the most elevated trust in their gift. The support he ren- 
 dered to his first candidate, whom he facetiously calls John the 2d, 
 was magnanimous in the extreme, considering his antipathy to royalty, 
 and the house of Braintree ; and his adherence to Mr. Adams, until 
 Mr. Crawford's prospects appeared much the better, a degree of self 
 devotion not common among politicians. Although Mr. Clay was his 
 second avowed favorite, his consenting to waive his cause for the 
 stronger one of Crawtbrd, was as creditable to his sagacity, as the in- 
 tention of bringing it forward again when Mr. Clay's chance might be 
 the best in the field, was to his generous disinterestedness. In what 
 way he got on the Jackson ground, it is impossible for the writer to 
 imagine, unless he fell from one of Mr. Adams' " light houses in the 
 skies." His exceedino^ dislike to a change of candidates was perhaps 
 the only reason why Mr. Calhoun did not come in for a share of his 
 preference ; but to make atonement for an omission at which, certain- 
 ly, Mr, Calhoun might have some reason to complain, it is supposed 
 that he will prefer him hereatter, if the government should happen to 
 devolve on the vice president, or the united and preponderating strength 
 of the Jackson party should support him as its candidate. 
 
 Mr. Henshaw's claims are indeed of a most opposite character. His 
 generous and disinterested sacrifices are truly almost incomprehensi- 
 ble. No man before ever hazarded so much money, with such an 
 avowed, insurmountable dislike of office. The utter incapability of his 
 nature to consent to receive any recompense for what was dictated by 
 mere patriotism, and generous zeal, is notorious to the country — or at 
 least ought to be so ; for it was in every body's mouth as well as his 
 own. His consenting to receive the collectorship here, was in itself 
 one of the most reluctant sacrifices which a man could be called on to 
 
60 
 
 make for his country ; for the profits of his drug shop might be as much, 
 or more ; the occupation, certainly, was not less dignified, and the re- 
 ceipt of^ hoih cihsohdcly impossihh. His only objection to the post of- 
 fice being given to Mr. Nathaniel Greene, was, tliat Mr. Greene was 
 largely his debtor, and though the payment of the debt did not depend 
 on the appoin.tment, yet the time of payment would. To have it 
 thou<Tht possible, that the refunding of loans, made for so many years 
 in the pursuit of his political promotion, until, by degrees, the amount 
 became large, could have been an object with so generous a patriot, 
 distressed him beyond measure, and made Mr. Greene's appointment 
 almost as unwelcome as his own. And what is still more remarkable, 
 out of the richest class of offices dependent upon the collector, that of 
 weio"hers and guagers, he has made tico removals, and has given only 
 one to a brother — and him he did not send into the country for, more 
 than forty miles ! His enemies indeed might say that to take his broth- 
 ers out of his old lucrative business, would have made them incur a 
 sacrifice almost equal. to his own. This, however, is mere malice — the 
 true reason was, undoubtedly, his generous devotion to the interests of 
 the party which brought him forward. Of Mr. Henshaw's other claims 
 I can say little. It has been publicly said, and not contradicted, that 
 up to a late period in the Jackson campaign, he entertained for the 
 president the most unfavorable opinions, and denounced his conduct in 
 unmeasured terms. When he changed his opinion, or whether he 
 ever did change it, 1 do not know ; but apprehend, if he were request- 
 ed to show an article written during the campaign favorable to the 
 president's character, he might find it somewhat difficult. Of any po- 
 litical writings, except a Quixotic attack on one of the greatest wri- 
 ters of the age, Dr. Channing, which resembles, in more than one 
 point, the scene of the wind-mill, I have no knowledge, unless indeed 
 it be of some floating paragraphs, en the Hartford Convention, the gag 
 law, house of Braintree, kc. 
 
 But the most remarkable circumstance in the history of Mr. Hen- 
 shaw, is his extreme repugnance to receive the collectorship of Bos- 
 ton. His pledge while a candidate for Elector, that he would not take 
 the custom-house, if it were offisred him, might well be more natural 
 than sincere, but his unwillingness to receive the appointment when it 
 was about being conferred, could net have been dissembled, and is an 
 unanswerable proof of his disinterestedness. His misrepresentations 
 of, and opposition to, all other candidates, do not render his sincerity 
 suspicious, because he might honestly doubt whether any other but 
 himself could be found qualified for the place. — Upon balancing all the 
 testimony on the subject, we must come to the conclusion that his ac- 
 ceptance of the office was unequivocal evidence of his disinterested- 
 ness and patriotism ; and that his systematic attacks upon Col. Orne, 
 for so many years, to get him out of the way, was simply from his zeal 
 that the duties of the oftice should be faithfully performed. There is 
 only one circumstance, and this of no great moment, whicli it is difficult 
 to reconcile, and this may not probably be true. I give it as I heard 
 it, not vouching for the truth, but ready to name informants, if it be de- 
 
61 
 
 nied. It comes a good deal in the shape of rumor, but rumor that keeps 
 its ground in spite of time and notoriety. 
 
 While we, simple souls, of the Jackson republican party, were 
 quietly at home, abstaining from persecuting the president as soon 
 as he commenced his duties, and waiting in full confidence that the 
 changes would be cautiously made, arid the claims deliberately ex- 
 amined, Mr. Henshaw was at Washington, it is said, pressing for 
 the appointment of somebody. Mr. Francis Baylies was also, it is 
 said, at Washington, not applying for the office, but imUing to 
 take it. It would seem that Mr. Henshaw became much alarmed 
 by an impression that the president was on the point of nominatintr 
 Mr. Baylies to the senate. How much he and the other members of 
 the Statesman committee, wrote, and what terrible things they said, at 
 this alarming conjuncture, we know only by a rumor still more vague. 
 But if this is to be credited, they swore more terribly than our '^ army 
 in Flanders." — It happened that Mr. Josiah Dunham, rope maker, of 
 Boston, was also there, and, at this most perilous moment, was waited 
 on by Mr. Henshaw, almost out of breath, as the story goes^ claiminor 
 his instantaneous aid, if he ever meant to render it, in procuring the 
 collectorship. The president would act upon the subject the very 
 next morning, and Baylies would have it. Mr. Dunham was urged 
 to procure a certain New England senator to recommend Mr. Hen- 
 shaw, but Mr. Dunham chooses, before moving for 3lr. Flenshaw, to 
 stipulate for one or two conditions. W^ould Mr. Henshaw, if he was 
 appc'inted collector, give certain subordinate stations to three of Mr. 
 Dunham's friends — to wit, Dr. Stevens, John D. Dyer, and Abraham 
 H. Quincy .? To this, it is said, Mr. Henshaw assented. Now it so 
 happened that Mr. Quincy was related to a member of the family of 
 the senator in question, and Mr. Dunham informs that member that if 
 Mr. Henshaw should happen to get the place, Mr. Quincy would be 
 provided tor. On this suggestion, it is said, the member procures the 
 required letter from the senator. Mr. Baylies does not obtain the ap- 
 pointment, and Mr. Henshaw, ultimately, does. Whether this be true 
 or not, I believe there is no doubt of the fact, that Dr. Stevens, and 
 Mr. John D. Dyer, have obtained places under Mr. Henshaw — ana 
 whether Mr. Quincy would, or would not, if the president had not put 
 a stop to further removals, is the question. I cannot swear, exactly, 
 on that subject, but in a loose way I may say that I know that this 
 member of the good senator's family has, not very long since, informed 
 Mr. Quincy, that the member was much surprised that his appoint- 
 ment had not been obtained, as it was so arrano-ed at Washintrton, if 
 Mr. Henshaw were successful. ^' Upon this hint," Mr. Quincy spake, 
 and called, by letter, Mr. Henshaw's attention to the promise. This 
 not being effectual, he next waited on him and demanded the fulfil- 
 ment of it. Whether it was denied, evaded, or admitted, I have not 
 yet satisfactorily learnt. Now this certainly shows no disposition to 
 bargain for an office, on the part of anybody, nor even any wish to ob- 
 tain one, on the part of Mr. Henshaw ; for it might be that he would 
 receive it still, very reluctantly ; but it does look at least a little like 
 
62 
 
 solicitation for an office, though no doubt it was to secure the 
 proper discharge of its duties, and altogether for the benefit of his 
 party. 
 
 There is one other anecdote, which has been related to me, and 
 which I believe, but of course, not on my own knowledge. I have 
 however taken all the pains to ascertain the correctness of this, as of 
 all matters that I assert on the authority of others ; and I am satisfied 
 of the respectability of the parties who have related it to me, and of their 
 opportunities to possess correct information. AVhen it is properly de- 
 nied, and the evidence is called for, I shall give up my authors. It il- 
 lustrates, not exactly Mr. Henshaw's unwillingness to accept of office, 
 but that strict integrity of intention, and impartiality of feeling, of 
 which he boasts in his late letter to the president of the United States. 
 The passage is, however, worthy of being giveji ia his own words. 
 
 •• In discharging the duties of the office confided to my care, my object has been 
 to obtain trusty and efficient olficers. The removals have not been confined to po- 
 litical opponents, and so far from being operated upon by feelings of political in- 
 tolerayice, there are now in office double the number of pohtical opponents that there 
 were of political friends when I received my commission. I have endeavoured to 
 divest myself of all personal considerations, of every feeling of 
 PREJUDICE OR PARTIALITY, and to loolv soIely to promoting the public interest, 
 and the credit and honor of your administration." 
 
 I have already spoken of the most incomprehensible removal, in the 
 most insulting manner, of William Little Esq. from the office of ap- 
 praiser. I have ascribed it solely to the intrigues of Mr. David JJen- 
 fehaw, and his patriotic co-adjutors of the Statesman partj^ Mr. Lit- 
 tle's appointment was conferred by the president and senate of the 
 United States. No one ever yet heard a complaint, that he did not 
 discharo-e the duties of his place in a most faithful and acceptable man- 
 ner, to the people and to the government. Mr. Little was a man of 
 education, intelligence, and of the highest respectability — of manners 
 so courteous and gentlemanly, that, from the infrequency of their be- 
 ing Dossessed in these late money making times, they are referred to 
 a distinct class ; and those who possess them are not unfrequently char- 
 acterised as " gentlemen of the old school." He was the fellow labor- 
 er and sutlerer with Washington at Valley Forge, was of the party which 
 elevated and sustained Thomas Jeffisrson, was friendly to the election 
 of Gen. Jackson, and was, as it has been several times before assert- 
 ed, the head of the most decided Jackson family in New England. 
 But, most unfortunately for him, he belonged to the Jackson republi- 
 can party, and was related by marriage to Col. Orne. To compare 
 such a man as David Henshaw with William Little, were almost as 
 great an outrage to the latter, as to compare a clerk in one of the de- 
 partments to the president, would be to General Jackson. That the 
 removal of William Little was Mot an intentional act of the president, 
 we never for one moment doubted — he is incapable of such an act. 
 Mr. Little however was removed, and under marks of greater indignity 
 than have ever, perhaps, occurred before under the government of this 
 country. The universal astonishment this measure e.xcited cannot be 
 
63 
 
 described. He was removed to make way for a Mr. Lincoln. Of 
 this latter gentleman I had never before heard. That the Jackson 
 party of this place contained a man of the name of Lincoln, had nev- 
 er reached my ears. My political associates were as uninformed on 
 the subject as myself It was in vain to inquire, for no one seemed 
 to know him better than ourselves. Some one hinted that he had once 
 received a ticket for a Jackson celebration, and attended. Another, 
 that his name was Lincoln, and Mr. John K. Simpson was connected 
 with a Lincoln family, by marriage. But the anecdote 1 have refer- 
 red to throws some light on the subject, and I will proceed to give it, 
 as it comes to my ears. 
 
 Not long after the appointment of Mr. Lincoln as appraiser, the 
 property of the firm of Lincoln &. McAffee, of which the appraiser was 
 a partner, was sold at public auction, the tirm being insolvent. Some 
 one of the bystanders remarked, " Mr. Lincoln has been very fortu- 
 nate, in the moment of his troubles, in being appointed to a very res- 
 pectable office." " How, under heaven," said another, " came he to 
 be appointed ; he was no more a Jackson man than I am .''" " It was 
 curious enough," was the reply. " Not many months ago, Mr. Lin- 
 coln was at my house at a whist party, and the conversation turned up- 
 on the contemplated visit of Gen. Jackson to the north — the gentlemen 
 present were much opposed to Gen. Jackson, and some pretty sharp 
 expressions were uttered on the occasion. " If he should come," said 
 the to be appraiser, ^'I will be one of a party to give him a coat of tar 
 and feathers. ^^ 
 
 Some of my frends have taken pains to inform themselves of the au- 
 thenticity of this anecdote, and are so satisfied of it that I feel author- 
 ised to state it. They learned further that Mr. Lincoln never so far 
 insulted, or thought of insulting the man whom he had been willing to 
 tar and feather, as to apply to him for an office. That, on the contra- 
 ry, his attention was first called to the subject by being waited on by 
 Mr. David Henshaw, who oflered him his support to procure for him 
 the place, muck to his surprise ; and on giving a wondering consent, 
 twelve days afterwards he received his commission. 
 
 What an extent of devotion is here shown, on the part of Mr. Hen- 
 shaw, to the Jackson party — how anxious to give the administration in 
 power the support of its friends — "that it should rely for support on its 
 friends, and not on its opponents .'" How honest his indignation against 
 that class of people, who, while the president was ^'raising an imper- 
 ishable monument of his fame, on the banks of the mighty Mississippi," 
 " were singing Te Deums in honor of the victories of our enemies, 
 and resolving that it was unbecoming a religious and moral people to 
 rejoice in our own !" — Who, now, will doubt, thou dignified, generous, 
 disinterested collector of Boston, thy honest attachment to the president, 
 or zeal for his cause and his party ? How admirably you divested 
 yourself of ptrso?i«/ considerations — of ever ij feeling of prejudice or jjar- 
 iialily ! Had you any regard but for the "public interest, and the 
 CREDIT and HONOR of (Gen. Jackson's) administration?" Who can 
 doubt that hostility to Col, Orne was never one moment in your mind, 
 
64 
 
 in procuring this indignity to "William Little ? What ! a man, who 
 could reward the bitterest enemy of the president, would he not forgive 
 his own ? With such a zeal as Mr. Henshaw's for the "honor and 
 credit" of Gen Jackson's administration, it were easier to forgive a 
 thousand personal enemies, than one of the government — and such an 
 enemy of the government, too — it was an effort of sublime magnanimi- 
 ty, — of unparalleled christian meekness and charity ! Gracious God — 
 what is that influence in the cabinet which has induced the president 
 to sanction this measure ? COLUMBUS. 
 
 COLUBMUS, NO. XIV. 
 
 Among the means resorted to by the Statesman party to effect 
 their appointment to offices, were popular recommendations from this 
 quarter, and the aid of the Jackson members of Congress from New- 
 England. 
 
 There are, perhaps, no sources of influence, against which the exe- 
 cutive authority of the nation should be more on its guard, or which 
 it should view with more jealousy, than popular recommendations to 
 distinguished local appointments. The national constitution, for the 
 wisest of purposes, has made executive officers dependent alone on the 
 president and senate. They are selected to aid the president in the 
 administration of the complicated powers of the government, and they 
 form no unimportant part of the executive authority itself To enlight- 
 en the appointing power to the intelligent discharge of this important 
 duty, is the proper office of all recommendations ; and none should be 
 regarded, — none can with propriety be offered or received, — but such 
 as convey a knowledge of the character of claimants, of the wishes of 
 the people who are most immediately interested in the duties to be per- 
 formed, and of the interests of the local parties from, among whom the 
 selection, by the established practices under our political institutions, 
 and party contests, is to be made. Any influence about local appoint- 
 ments exerted by members of congress from states distant from those 
 where the offices are to be filled, is so obviously improper, that the ex- 
 ecutive ought to view it as an impertinent interference with its pecu- 
 liar duties. To the executive must be communicated the information 
 which is to direct it in the discharge of its duties — it is the centre to 
 which all information on the subject tends — and the branch of the gov- 
 ernment not only best adapted to obtain the requisite information, but 
 the only one competent to weight it — as some portion of it, and per- 
 haps the most important, is derived from sources necessarily confiden- 
 tial in their nature. It is to reverse the natural course of proceedings, 
 and to confound the proper functions of the government, lor the legis- 
 lative branch to instruct the executive in rcjrard to its selection of exe- 
 cutive officers. It is for the party possessing the least means of in- 
 formation, to direct that which possesses the most, and to enlighten the 
 source from which alone it can, by the ordinary course of events, and 
 by the healthful operations of the public functions, be enlightened. 
 
65 
 
 A similar interference by a public printer is still more objectionable. 
 Not only is this officer not placed by the constitution in the relation of 
 an official adviser to the president, but his interference betrays a want 
 of respect for the constituted agent of the people. It is an attempt, on 
 the face of it, to degrade the office of the supreme magistrate of the na- 
 tion. As the public printer is not entrusted with the appointing power, 
 he is not consequently the object to which requisite information is com- 
 municated — and even if vvithout adequate means, he could be suppos- 
 ed to obtain that knowledge of local parties, and personal qualifications, 
 which could enable him to advise the president, his want of official re- 
 sponsibility would leave him without that security for fidelity and integ- 
 rity, which our institutions attribute to the constitutional officers of the 
 government. The motives which influence him may not be, solely, 
 the good of the people, and the honor and reputation of the chief ma- 
 gistrate. They may not be the interests of an existing administration, 
 but of one which he is striving to build up — not of the actual, but some 
 future president. And it is at least possible that he may be influenced 
 by considerations much more personal and interested — by those of pri- 
 vate advantage — or money. The party which attempt to influence the 
 president through the public printer, offer an indignity to him, and an 
 outrage to the rights of the people, which merit distrust, repulse and 
 censure. They cannot respect the government or public, and, in all 
 probability, build their hopes of success, not on merit, but intrigue. 
 
 The attempt to carry an appointment by popular recommendation, is 
 again deficient in proper respect for the office where the power of ap- 
 pointment is placed by the constitution. To executive intelligence and 
 discrimination the important trust is confided — and the popular suffrag- 
 es are neither deemed by our political institutions, nor are they, in fact, 
 the suitable depository of the power. The attempt to carry an appoint- 
 ment by popular recommendation is virtually an attack on the execu- 
 tive prerogative, and wif.hholds the confidence which ought, as our in- 
 stitutions supposes, to be placed in the chief magistrate. It is virtually 
 to wrest from the executive its appropriate functions, and to confer 
 them on the people, where, by the constitution, they are not placed. 
 It is even worse than this, for popular sufiVages are always cast under 
 a strong sense of public duty and responsibility — while popular recom- 
 mendations are seldom given with deliberation — still more seldom free- 
 ly and unsolicited, and never with a belief that they remove from the 
 executive the full measure of its responsibility. They are, in fact, too 
 frequently an act to which parties attach no manner of importance, 
 which they deem to be wholly ineffectual, and consent to, not from a 
 conviction of justice or propriety, but as the most easy means of extrica- 
 tion from vexatious and embarrassing solicitations. " A long list of 
 names," said an old and experienced senator to the writer, " always 
 renders me suspicious of a candidate for office — he shows, by the 
 act of presenting it, that he dares not trust his qualifications and 
 claims to the executive intelligence and discrimination, but relies on 
 the popular favor of those among the people, whose motives for, or 
 sincerity in their interference cannot I)e known — whose interest in 
 
66 
 
 the prosperity of the administration may be frequently doubted, and 
 whose competency to judge of the qualifications of candidates, may 
 be, and often is, exceedingly questionable. Rely upon it, sir, such 
 means will never be resorted to with eiTect under the administration of 
 Gen. Jackson." 
 
 Scarcely was the result of the presidential contest rendered proba- 
 ble, when the Statesman candidates began to cast about for popular 
 recommendations. It is not material lor my purpose to consider mi- 
 nutely the character of the recommendations they obtained. It may 
 be sufficient, in general, to say, that they expressed neither the pub- 
 lic sentiment of this place, nor that of the most respectable supporters 
 of the president — they embraced all who could sign their names, many 
 apprentices and children, and in some cases actually icomen — but as 
 the sex of the fairer portion of creation is frequently indicated by their 
 names, this was a source which they were ultimately compelled to re- 
 ject. It is probably unnecessary lo remark that this was a course to 
 which the members of the Jackson republican party could not de- 
 scend — they heard of Mr. Nath'l. Greene's " round robins''^ with a 
 smile, and rested their pretensions on indisputable claims to respecta- 
 bility which, it was supposed, the government must possess ample 
 means to learn. Mr. Dunlap, who "thanked God that he wanted no 
 office," did not choose to take his chance with the public sentiment 
 here, but w^ent to the bar of a neighboring county, in which he was 
 born and brought up, for testimony of his former character and quali- 
 fications. Whether or not he wished that his efforts should remain a 
 secret, from an apprehension of stirring up a competition which he 
 might justly have dreaded, I do not know ; or whether he thought that 
 the bar of his own county might have shrunk from backing his preten- 
 sion to the important legal office of district attorney of this common- 
 wealth ; but whatever was the cause, his application w^as so managed, 
 that the disinterested gentleman who " thanked God that he wanted no 
 office, and would not take any," was actually appointed by the presi 
 dent, in the first moment of his administration, and before his fViends 
 in this quarter, who felt for his high station a proper respect, had a 
 chance even of laying their sentiments before him. 
 
 Mr. Henshaw rested his claims on a diffib'rent ground. He was 
 not to seek an appointment, but only to consent to receive one for the 
 gratification of the Jackson party. Instead of his own solicitations, 
 he relied with more confidence on the zeal of those who had the 
 strongest personal interest in his success, and they were importunate 
 enough to satisfy any modest desire in regard to them. 
 
 Any high minded politician who reads this article, will readily com- 
 prehend me when I say, that this solicitation of popular support was 
 one to which a man of elevated character would not willingly have de- 
 scended. To be an active competitor for popular recommt;ndations 
 with such men as Andrew Dunlap, Nathaniel, Greene and David Hen- 
 shaw, was a degradation from which the soul of every high minded man 
 would instinctively have shrunk. In regard to Col. Orne, we Unow 
 that he never thought of the aid of such a measure, until he had it in 
 
67 
 
 an indirect, but certain manner from the president, that such recom- 
 mendations were expected. They are at best but of little value, but 
 so far as they are of weight at all, those of no candidate, from this 
 quarter, we will venture to assert, can compare with his. May the 
 mercy of heaven ordain, that in the future administration of this gov- 
 ernment, no reliance shall be again placed, in the appointment to of- 
 fices of an elevated character, upon the hollow and objectionable cri- 
 terion of popular recommendations. Even the most deadly enemy of 
 the administration who had been placed by the authority of the com- 
 monwealth in the national congress, acting under a sense of his high 
 responsibility, would have been, if there were no other, a much more 
 safe and honorable source of information, from which the character of 
 important candidates might be known. 
 
 But of all the influences exerted in the disposition of local offices 
 that of Jackson members from the other New England states, was 
 the most objectionable. In the first place, their opportunities to obtain 
 correct information were the worst which could possibly be imagined. 
 Let the Jackson party in Ohio judge how it would have been pleased to 
 have their party character and standing; judged of by the testimony of 
 members from Mississippi, or even Kentucky, on whose territories 
 their own border, and it may learn in what way we viewed an imperti- 
 nent interference with ours, of members from Maine. Can it be possible 
 that an important state like Massachusetts, and a city of such rank in 
 this Union as Boston, which could contain a party of sufficient con- 
 sequences to have its claim for public appointments even considered, 
 yet should not have men of sufficient intelhgence, integrity and stand- 
 ing, to have their views considered when their own party interests 
 were alone to be decided on ? Were we bound to resort to some 
 dull and bigoted senator of Maine, or some self sufficient intriguing 
 representative, to obtain certificates of our party character, before we 
 could be permitted to approach the executive ear? If such be the, 
 to us, disgraceful condition on which the conffdence of the government 
 is to be awarded, thanks be to God that we have not received, and 
 never shall receive the marks of its favor. As a citizen of Massachu- 
 setts I protest against such interference, and fervently pray that our 
 party may never so lose sight of its dignity, and renounce its preten- 
 sions to respect, as either to solicit or even suffer such interference. Let 
 representatives from Maine intrigue as they may, to quarter one of 
 their prominent candidates on us, in order that some Portland collect- 
 orsliip may be left in their grasp, — let a New Hampshire printer dis- 
 grace the character and influence of New England, and give just cause 
 of offence to the dignity of the government, as much as he may — we 
 wash our hands of any benefit to be gained by such degrading, imper- 
 tinent, insulting interference. It is unnecessary to say that to such 
 means the Statesman party did, and the Jackson republican party did 
 not resort. 
 
 There is one other channel of influence, only, to which, at this time, 
 I think proper to advert. From the commencement of this administra- 
 tion, up to the present moment, squads after squads have proceeded 
 
 9 
 
68 
 
 from Boston to Washington, to solicit appointments from the govern- 
 ment. The government, it is said, inquire of them with some solicitude, 
 of the estimation of the appointments in this quarter — of the character 
 of parties, — and of the character of men. As if information from such 
 sources were entitled to confidence ! In one word, let this be under- 
 stood. In nindij-nine cases out of a hundred^ these men are either 
 openly or secretly agents of the Statesman party. The Jackson re- 
 publican party, in its present ambiguous relation to the government, — 
 supporting it, as we do, with fidelity, but being regarded with suspi- 
 cion, — cannot send agents to Washington. Information given by such 
 men, is that of one party only in our divisions. Let them receive the 
 testimony of our enemies, if they please, but save us, for heaven's sake, 
 from that of our falsely pretended friends. There are honorable men 
 among us, whose opinions the government can at any time command, 
 when they desire them ; — but these office hunters who go there for 
 themselves, claimino- to have the confidence of the Jackson republican 
 party, and obtaining from some of its members, some unnnportant let- 
 ters, by false pretaices, while they have secretly sold themselves and 
 our cause to the Statesman party — let them be objects of just jealousy 
 and suspicion. Upon the information they give, not the smallest reli- 
 ance can be placed. They were, at best, but insignificant hangers on 
 of the party, in its hour of prosperity, in the hopes of its support — but 
 shameful deserters from it in the hour of its adversity. One of them, I 
 am told, gravely recommended to the government the appointment of 
 Col. Orne to be navy agent, as if the measure would either satisfy the 
 party, or be acceptable to him ! The character of the party, and the 
 interests of the government, can be secured by no halfway measures, 
 like this. Fraud and intrigue must be put doivn, or any change in this 
 quarter will be worse than useless. The same want of confidence is 
 due to the statements of others who are sometimes in Washington on 
 similar errands — belonging to neither of the parties, they may perhaps 
 be viewed as impartial witne?ses. But such men want the favor of those 
 who are holden up to us as the objects of the government's confidence 
 — of such as are supposed to have influence, with the cabinet at least, 
 if not with the president. They speak such language as it is supposed 
 the government would be pleased to hear. If an opinion which will 
 neither lie, nor flatter, of the appointments in this quarter be desired, 
 let it be sought in the language of our merchants openly addressed to 
 the president, — in the ruin of ike Jackson parly. 
 
 Were these faithful and unerring monitors regarded, Mr. Henshaw's 
 standing would be well understood, and a doubt would be no longer 
 felt as tc how deeply the feelings of our citizens were outraged by the 
 appointment of Mr. Nathaniel Greene. The government would then 
 be no longer deceived by the plau^^ible contrivances gotten up to give 
 an appearance of popularity to Mr. Greene's appointment. Printers 
 of newspapers may take a deep interest in obtaining accommodations 
 from the actual post master. They may flatter him for his favors, and 
 feel complacency in an appointment which injures the administration, 
 and advances the interests of a rival candidate. They may speak fa- 
 
69 
 
 vourably of improved accommodation, and suffer the government to in- 
 fer the public satisfaction. They may repel, with perfect justice, ri- 
 diculous charges of stopping letters, on the authority of the president of 
 the Statesman 4th of Alarch dinner, to affect a candidate of his own 
 recommendation. And the Statesman may know how to play its game 
 by ascribing the indiscreet charge to Jackson republicans. But 
 printers will not, for they dare not, say, in the face of this community, 
 that the appointment of Mr. Greene did not shock the public sentiment 
 in this quarter, and injure, — deeply injure — the government. 
 
 The question is not, whether Mr. Greene has, or has not kept back 
 letters. This is not an easy matter, as long as confidence is justly 
 placed in the character of the respectable clerks in the post office. — 
 But a much more important inquiry is, does his character give him 
 claims to the public confidence ? Have his political opponents any 
 grounds for confidence in his integrity, that he would not abuse their 
 correspondence, if he could .'' Are they in fact willing to trust him ? 
 Let these questions be asked, and there will be no reluctance in fur- 
 nishing an answer. 
 
 But of what consequence is it to the government whether printers of 
 newspapers be disproportionably accommodated or not .'* The objec- 
 tion to Mr. Greene is, not that printers may not acquiesce, but that his 
 appointment lowers the standard of qualifications for ofiice, outrages 
 the friends of the president and deeply injures the character of his ad- 
 ministration. Any clerk in the post office — even a slave from the 
 president's plantation — might, with proper aid, get through with the 
 duties — and the weaker his hold on the public sentiment might be, the 
 greater will be his efforts to conciliate public opinion. He would, 
 willingly, for that purpose, sacrifice a part of the salary, for the bal- 
 ance would still be greater than his greatest ambition ever dared to 
 aspire to, or might hope, otherwise, to receive. His efforts might con- 
 ciliate some favor from those for whose accommodation they are made, 
 but still the " deep damnation" of the appointment remains. '■'■Haeret 
 lateri lethalis arimdo.''^ ^^"hy? '^ ^^ill still be asked, was he selected"? 
 Why were the pretensions of so many better men disregarded in his 
 favor .'' Why ousht the feelinixs of honorable Jackson men to have 
 been wounded by a selection so degrading, so insulting, so injurious 
 to them ? Why ought they to be cursed with a measure which ruins 
 their party, and deeply injures an administration they have striven so 
 ardently to elevate ? Remember the sentiment, so much misrepre- 
 sented, of Colonel Johnson. Pvlen who have acquired appointments 
 by corruption, ought not to be kept in because they may try to dis- 
 charge honestly their duties. The outraged rights of the people, the 
 purity of the public institutions, have their claims. Let them act af- 
 terwards ''m//i the purity of the angels of heaven^^'' — and still they bear 
 about them the orginal sin> They must make an atonement; from the 
 paradise into which they have so thrust themselves as to violate the 
 sanctity of its holv ground, they must be turned out. 
 
 COLUMBUS. 
 
70 
 
 COLUMBUS, NO. XV. 
 
 [conclusion.] 
 
 We are now arrived at the period when the Jackson party, no long- 
 er a minority, and no longer in opposition, are in possession of the gov- 
 ernment. The commencement of an administration is a moment of 
 great interest to a party, and to the country. The commanding traits 
 in its character, will ordinarily be developed by its earliest measures ; 
 for it is a moment which custom has selected for the avowal of its 
 principles, and men are then associated in the administration whose 
 views and character are to influence, in an important degree, the 
 reputation of the party, and the prosperity of the republic. It was a 
 moment of deep interest to the Jackson parties here, for it teemed with 
 their fate. 
 
 The most various and opposite opinions had been expressed of the 
 character of Gen. Jackson. The Adams party had denied to him an 
 ordinary share of intelhgence and integrity, and predicted from his ele- 
 vation misfortunes to his country, and disappointment to his friends. 
 The Jackson party, on the other hand, seemed bound to him with an 
 intense degree of attachment, and evinced an enthusiasm which had 
 been awakened by no other candidate since the administration of 
 Washington. The doubts of the Adams party did not shake the con- 
 fidence of ours. We predicted an administration, in character as ele- 
 vated, and in the popular esteem as strong, as any since the adoption 
 of the federal constitution. Gen. Jackson had more personal fame, a 
 stronger hold on the popular feelings, and a greater independence of 
 party thraldom, than any other president, but Washington. His hold 
 on the popular uill gave him more power, and the character of his par- 
 ty gave him better materials, for the construction of an administration 
 at once solid and brilliant, prosperous and renowned, than any, without 
 exception, which preceded him. The highest talents, and the highest 
 virtues of the country, might be called to his cabinet, and were alrea- 
 dy placed there by the public sentiment, and the sentiment of the par- 
 ty. The appointments to local offices would be of men of the higliest 
 grade of character ; the standard of qualifications for political trusts, 
 — the most infallible criterion of the strength and splendor of the in- 
 stitutions of a republic, and of the wisdom of an administration, — would 
 be raised higher — the moral aggregate force of the adniiiiistration, 
 executive and ministerial, would comprehend a larger amount of ta- 
 lent and reputation, than the country had before known. It is the 
 prominent characteristic of great practical minds, to know men, — to 
 employ as well as to exhibit talenis, — to select materials suited to the 
 grandeur of its own elevated conceptions. Great commanders have 
 great officers. The fame of Napoleon's generals was surpassed only 
 by his own. The lieutenants of Alexander, after his death, became the 
 sovereigns of the world. Where the proportions of greatness are ob- 
 served in the character of the chief, they are observed in those whom 
 he calls to associate with him. The impulse is felt through the whole 
 machine, nfilitary or political, which he moves, — and every grade is 
 
71 
 
 stamped with a corresponding- excellence, each part is in harmony 
 with all the others, — the whole is the exhibition of all that society can 
 furnish, or the institutions of government can employ, of that which is 
 at the same time useful and honorable, — which advances public pros- 
 perity, or builds up political reputation. 
 
 Gen. Jackson was also less embarrassed by party machinery than 
 any other candidate ever was. He was not an exclusive party candi- 
 date of any known existing political party. lie was emphatically the 
 candidate of the people, of all parties, and in defiance of party. From 
 the moment he was brought forward, nay, from a period long anterior 
 to it, his determination to regard the public interest and honor, in con- 
 tempt of the prejudices and watch-words of party, was so distinctly 
 avowed, and so prominently claimed, that it lay at the foundation of 
 the contest urged in his behalf, was the nucleus on which his party 
 gathered, — was the bond of union between him and his supporters. 
 
 There was, besides, a principle which the party thus built up avow- 
 ed, and which, entering into the very elements ot its character, might 
 be regarded as its moral aim and object — it was the protection and re- 
 storation oi^ the pojmlar feature, in its jniriiy and beauty — it was the vin- 
 dication of the rights of electors from the usurpations of intrigue — it 
 was to bring the government nearer to the will, and in closer subjec- 
 tion to the power, of the people. The tendency of Gen. Jackson's ad- 
 ministration was to jmt cloion, and not reward, encroachments on the 
 popular rights — to check the purchase of office by the sale o] the popular 
 franchises — to stop corruption in elections, not to reward and give it ccun- 
 tenance. 
 
 Are these principles those which lie at the foundation of this admin- 
 istration ? If they are, let us trace their application to the different 
 parties of Jackson men in this place. 
 
 I might speak, in the first place, of their individual character — of 
 the elementary materials of which the two parties were composed. 
 People at a distance who have little knowledge of the individuals at- 
 tached to either, may view this as a subject of little importance, or one 
 of doubtful controversy, and think it natural that each may claim a 
 preference, and with equal reason. But it is not so, and the writer is 
 willing to pledge his reputation for veracity on this subject. Let 
 those who are in opposition to both sections of the party, who are 
 neutral to their question of discord, decide it. Ask the most respecta- 
 ble members of the Adams party here — ask, in Washington, our state 
 delegation, — men as well informed of the public sentiment, as any in 
 this community, and whose character repels every suspicion of dis- 
 honor. Will they not say that the Jackson republican party was, for 
 its numbers, as respectable as any our city could form — and will they 
 not say, v»ith equal confidence, that the Statesman party, generally, 
 was one of the lowest rabble which the polluted retreats of corruption 
 could send forth ^ Who else, except the parties to the intrigue for of- 
 fice which I have alluded to before, but a worthless rabble, insensi- 
 ble to the value of reputation, would have aided men in the pursuit of 
 the corrupt projects Mhich have been brought to light ! 
 
73 
 
 But besides the difference in the respectability of their component 
 elements, in what did they differ in their objects and principles ? The 
 Statesman party proclaimed that no Jackson men but old democrats, 
 should be acknowledged, by the administration, as its friends. JVe 
 contended that all the friends of the president who would act with the 
 national republican party, should act together on equal grounds, and 
 with equal rights. They raised an exclusive party banner — we a 
 Jackson banner. They proscribed a part of the friends of the presi- 
 dent, — we proscribed nobody. They were for war, among the oppo- 
 nents of the late administration — we were for peace among all the 
 friends of the present. Their success was proscription and division — 
 ours was union and harmony. To sanction their course by the gov- 
 ernment was to make war on us — to sanction ours was to hold out the 
 olive branch of peace to all who would receive it. Which of these 
 parties, then, placed itself on the basis of the principles of the presi- 
 dent, and on the pledged policy of his administration } This question 
 has been asked before ; who can answer it, except to the advantage of 
 the Jackson republican party ? Many writers have shown a disposition 
 to defend the Statesman party — defend them here, and let us see W'hat 
 imposing sophism ingenuity can devise, to reconcile facts with the prin- 
 ciples with which they are at war. 
 
 But it is not simply that the Statesman party could not furnish men 
 whose character, in trusts of dignity, would elevate the reputation of 
 the government. They fell below the humblest standard^ of qualifi- 
 cations for trusts which had been regarded by any previous adminis- 
 tration. Never before were offices of dignity conferred on men of so 
 low a standing. Instead of elevating the character of the party above 
 all others, they degraded it below all example, and all precedent. In- 
 stead of augmenting the glory of an administration, they shocked the 
 public sentiment to a degree of disgust which our citizens never before 
 felt towards people, selected by the constituted authorities of the coun- 
 try, to bring home the acts of the government to our own doors. But 
 the evil did not stop here. The question of popular rights was invol- 
 ved, and more deeply involved, than by the conduct of any other par- 
 ty, or men, or body of men in this country. What has occurred else- 
 where equal to it ? Who ever before openly wrested from the people 
 the right of selecting the candidates for their suffrages ? Where else 
 was the shameless corrupt character of the object so openly avowed .'' 
 If the influence of the people over tjie acts of the government was to 
 be restored in its purity, where are the claims stronger than here .'* 
 Are we, in Boston, an exception, as Jackson men, as Americans — so 
 that usurpations on our rights are not to be resisted, nay, are to be re- 
 warded ? Let the friends of the Statesman parly show any thing, if 
 they can, in the conduct of Mr. Clay or his friends equal to theirs 
 — equally deserving of tlie indignation of the country, or the cor- 
 recting hand of the government. I challenge (he imion for a par- 
 allel ! 
 
 On what principle, then, has the president conferred the trusts of 
 the government on that degraded parly .'' I call for an answer on any 
 
73 
 
 one that can furnish it. Their character and qualincations could not 
 raise, but degraded the character of the government. They did not 
 sustain the principle of Gen. Jackson, of an independence of party 
 trammels, but opposed it. He proclaimed that party names should not 
 be the basis of his administration — they, that they should. He was for 
 bursting the shackles — they, for fastening them more firmly on his 
 limbs. They insulted the chief by denouncing his principles, while 
 that chief himself has rewarded them, and virtually proscribed the 
 friends by whom his principles were professed and defended. Gen. 
 Jackson proclaimed that tiie corrupt interference with the rights of the 
 people should be checked by straining the influence and power of his 
 administration to the last nerve, — and yet the most signal objects of fa- 
 vor — where the trusts conferred are the most disproportioned to the 
 character and services of the men, — have been the perpetrators of the 
 greatest outrage on the rights of the people, which has ever been 
 practised by any party, or any man, in this country. Never, I repeat, 
 and I challenge refutation, has corruption appeared, under our form of 
 government, in so revolting, and shameful, and disgraceful a form, as 
 in the Statesman party of Boston. 
 
 The question then which must arise, and which cannot be winked 
 out of sight, IS, have we been deceived in our estimate of the presi- 
 dent's character, or has he been deceived in the character of his ap- 
 pointments } It is reduced to this alternative — there is no other, and 
 there is no escape from it. Duff Green, and the Dufl-Green party, 
 assert, that the president was not deceived, that the character of his 
 Boston officers was fully known to him, and that they retain his confi- 
 dence, in spite of their character, and their subsequent glaring folly, 
 as fully to this hour, as at the moment of their appointment. This ive 
 deny. Duff Green says, the president knowingly preferred low men 
 for high offices. JVe contend, he aims to elevate the standard of quali- 
 fication, and to throw credit and dignity on tl.e whole aggregate body, 
 executive and ministerial, of the administration. Duff Green says, the 
 president acted considerately and definitely, on a full knowledge of the 
 merits of the subject, and of the conduct and pretensions of the men. 
 We say the president has been deceived by diabolical frauds, which 
 he had not, in the hurry and pressure of the moment, the means and 
 the time to detect — that the subject v.'as not settled considerately and 
 definitely, but on the olher hand, only provisionally, until he could, at 
 more leisure, obtain the information requisite I'or a definitive decision. 
 Duff Green says, the president assumes the conduct of the Statesman 
 party, — we say he rejects it — and that he will yet throw the responsi- 
 bility where it is merit( d. Let the event determine which is right. 
 
 If I am pressed with an objection, why the president should have de- 
 cided on a subject of such importance without adequate information, — 
 the answer is undoubtedly, tliat greater deliberation would have been 
 better for the country, and better for the party. But v.hose fault is it, 
 that from every quarter of the country, the party rushed to Washing- 
 ton before even his administration commenced — beset him in every 
 form, by night and day — pressed, harsassed, perplexed and amazed 
 him with claims, solicitations, prayers and tears ? Whose fault is it. 
 
74 
 
 that he was treated with so little delicacy and respect, that the requisite 
 time for a knowledge of the state of his party was not allowed him ? 
 Thank God, as it has been said before, the Jackson republican party 
 of Boston had no hand in these things — they sent no committees to 
 intrude on his retirement, and demand, disgracefully, their pay — 
 they pressed not for appointments, but only for delay in making 
 theiiij until the whole merits of the subject could be known to the 
 government. 
 
 The most illiberal opponent of the president must agree that his char- 
 acter and policy are not yet definitely ascertained by these provisional 
 arrangements. From the nature of things, he could have been but 
 little acquainted with the circumstances of each portion of his politi- 
 cal triends ; and being more heavily, and indelicately assailed, and 
 pressed upon by the party, than any of his predecessors, he made the 
 arrangement which seemed to him the best in his power, according to 
 the actual state of his information ; but he made it pro visional! ij. He 
 has filled the offices for the time being, and has been, and still is, 
 seeking the information requisite for his definitive decision. This is 
 the view /take of his course. Time will confirm it, or show its falla- 
 cy. Duff Green insists upon my error, but I cannot take Duff Green's 
 authority tor it. To give the president information is the object of 
 these numbers. If it be true that he does not seek it, the main object 
 will be defeated ; but they will not then, probably, have been written 
 in vain. There is a correcting and redeeming power in the public 
 opinion, which never rejects light, and will not be appealed to in vain. 
 Private communications would not answer an equal purpose, for the 
 truth of those could not be tested, and there would be opposing repre- 
 sentations to contradict them. But a public discussion involves a tri- 
 bunal of judgment, as well as of testimony. It presents an issue which 
 men must meet, or shrink from. Statements made here require to be 
 supported. Public assertions can be denied and disproved, m hen 
 they are not true. Character and reputation are at stake on the issue ; 
 and the cause that professes merit, is required to show its 'pretensions 
 to it. In one word, public discussion elicits truth and exposes false- 
 hood, lays bare crime, and vindicates innocence. Let the guilty shrink 
 from it — the honest man has nothing to fear. 
 
 The moment is now arrived when Columbus must take leave of 
 his readers. He is conscious of having taxed their patience too 
 deeply, and yet, he is well aware, there is much overlooked of 
 equal importance to the community and the government. Others 
 must finish the work which Colunil)US has begun. The issue is na- 
 tional ; and the end, the ascendency or overthrow of the Jackson 
 party. The moment of redemption is not yet past ; but another step 
 forward, and we shall be placed where the wisest counsels will be 
 useless, and the grandest efforts unavailing. May the Omnipotent 
 Boing who directs the conduct of human affairs so determine it, 
 that whatever the event may be, the interests and honor of our be- 
 loved country shall be sustained and promoted, though dynasties 
 fall, parties be shattered and divided, and the strongest political 
 friendships be severed for ever. COLUMBUS. 
 
(The following letters from Col. Orne to Gen. Duff Green, are so intimately connected 
 with the subjects discussed by Columbus, that the publishers deemed it expedient to print 
 them in connexion with those numbers.) 
 
 TO GEN. DUFF GREEN. 
 
 BosTox, Sept. 18, 185^9. 
 
 I shall make no apology for obtruding my private affairs on the pub- 
 lic, although I am sensible that it is an act which usually detracts, in 
 the public estimation, from the delicacy of a private individual. If the 
 circumstances in which I am placed do not speak for me, I stand, I 
 admit, without excuse. Notwithstanding my total silence, in regard 
 to you, for now nearly a year, you have, at short intervals, during that 
 whole period, attacked my character, as well as my conduct, in a man- 
 ner too explicit to be misapprehended, in the columns of a paper 
 which carries your calumnies to every quarter of the republic. My 
 motives for bearmg so lon^:, calumnies so easily refuted, were not, you 
 may well believe, any apprehension of your resentment, or distrust of 
 my ability to expose your falsehood. Party dissension is productive 
 of consequences at once so injurious and so extensive, that verij much 
 should be endured in the eflort to avert it. But there are limits to 
 the sacrifices which an honest man can be called on to make ; and 
 these will be soon perceived when it ceases to be a question of interest, 
 and becomes one of honor. You have reviled me, for a year, Mr. 
 Green, and I have endured it, in silence. I will endure it no longer, 
 and proceed to prove you, what I have long known you to be, a shame- 
 less liar. This is a harsh epithet, I acknowledge, but I know none 
 other in the Encrlish lant^-uau^e v/hich can furnish an adequate substi- 
 tute. 
 
 In your paper of the 12th inst. among many other remarks about me, 
 there is the following paragraph : 
 
 "It is urged aaainst those who have been appointed to office at Boston, that they have 
 written for tlie Boston Statesman !! And this objection is made a virtue m Col. Orne, 
 who, not content with havina received pavment in cash from the real editor and proprie- 
 tor of the paper, set ui) his services as a partizan writer in that print, thus demanding to 
 be twice paid tor the same services.'" 
 
 If this statement be false, Mr. Green, the guilt of falsehood must 
 fasten on your character, for you cannot allege that you have been m- 
 nocentlv imposed upon by the fraud of your mformers. \ou have 
 been repeatedly warned that the men, in Boston, with whom you have 
 been so intimate, were utterinij falsehoods in relation to the Jacl^on 
 republican party of Boston, and particularly in relation to me. lou 
 were told that there was another side to the story, which it would be 
 
 10 
 
76 
 
 necessary for you to hear, before you could learn the truth. And if 
 you are really deceived, which I have not sufficient charity for you to 
 suppose, your mistake is one of choice, not necessity, and because you 
 have preferred falsehood, rather than truth. Your charge is concisely 
 this — that I advocated, as a writer in the Boston Statesman, the elec- 
 tion of Gen. Jackson, for which I received pay from the proprietor of 
 that paper, and for which also I asked to be appointed to an office. 
 This you term demanding to be pai'd twice for the same services. 
 
 This charge forces me, Mr. Green, to state my connexion with that 
 newspaper. 
 
 At the close of the year 1820, or the commencement of 1821, (and 
 I cannot, at this moment, state the date for the want of a file of the 
 newspaper,) the Boston Statesman was commenced to be published. 
 The parties to the publication were Benjamin True formerly the pub- 
 lisher of the Yankee, his partner. Equality Weston, Peter N. Green, 
 (now Nath'I. Greene, post master of Boston) and myself Mr. Peter 
 Green had just before published a little paper in Haverhill, in this 
 state, in support of the republican party, and previously, I believe in 
 the same place, had published another paper in support of the federal 
 party. TVhen myself, with others, determined to publish the States- 
 man, we invited Mr. Green, as an active young printer, to superin- 
 tend the mechanical part of the establishm.ent. 
 
 The editorial department was to be exclusively under my care, but 
 the profits, as well as the hazard, were to belong exclusively to the 
 other three parties, with the single exception that I shall proceed to 
 state. 
 
 For editing this paper, published twice a week, one year, the other 
 parties were to pay me three hundred dollars, (it should have been sta- 
 ted §350) and assign me the right of one fourth part of the establish- 
 ment, or as it is sometimes termed, the good will of the- paper. If it 
 were well edited, it was supposed its reputation would be worth some- 
 thing, and he on v.hom its character was made to depend, was to have 
 an interest in the success. This year terminated, as nearly as I can 
 recollect, on the first day of February, 1822, after which I received 
 from the other parties their note for the three hundred dollars, and 
 nothing else whatever. Hoiv I edited the paper, its files may show 
 for themselves, but I may be permitted to say, the paper had as much 
 original editorial matter as any semi-weekly paper, then, or before, or 
 since, published in Boston. That it had some reputation, may be in- 
 ferred from the fact that many of its editorial articles were republish- 
 ed in other and distant quarters of the union. The tone of its edito- 
 rial discussions was dignified and gentlemanly, — as unlike that of the 
 same paper afterwards, under other editorial management, as it was 
 to the present tone of the United States Telegraph. 
 
 If the Statesman afterwards became, as it was, one of the most de- 
 graded and abusive papers published in the country, it was not ray 
 fault. 
 
 Before the Statesman was published, and immediately after I com- 
 menced, in Boston, the practice of the law, I also was an editor and 
 
77 
 
 part proprietor ofthe Boston Yankee, for thie purchase of which inter- 
 est I paid the proprietor, Mr. Thomas Rowo, six hundred dollars. — 
 Judge Ware, of Portland, also purchased an interest in the Yankee, for 
 a similar sum, and, for a while, we edited the paper jointly. Judge 
 Ware afterwards left Boston, and conveyed again his interest to Mr. 
 Rowe, when the sole editorship devolved on me. For these services I 
 received no part ofthe proceeds of the business, but was paid a small 
 annual sum. Messrs, True and Weston subsequently purchased Mr. 
 Rowe's interest, ^nd I continued, for a while, to edit the paper on the 
 same terms. After some time, not being able to agree further with 
 these gentlemen, I sold them my interest, and left altogether the es- 
 tablishment. They gave me their note of hand for the amount. I had 
 ceased, I think, for some years my connexion with the Yankee, when 
 the publication of the Statesman was commenced. 
 
 When Mr. Green was invited to take a part in the Statesman, it 
 was agreed that he should purchase a part of True and Weston's es- 
 tablishment ; and a part ofthe purchase money was appropriated to 
 take up the note which I held against them. Mr. Green, however, 
 not having much capital, asked me to loan him the amount, and I loan- 
 ed it to him. When I ceased to be editor ofthe Statesman, True and 
 Green gave me a new note for the sum so loaned to Mr, Peter Green, 
 to which was also added the sum of three hundred dollars (8350) due 
 for my editorial services as I have before mentioned. 
 
 It may be necessary to inform you, Mr. Duff Green, as you were 
 not perhaps then a politician, and, it may be, were driving cattle in 
 Missouri, though it cannot be necessary to inform the public, that on 
 the 1st of February, 1822, the contest for a choice of a successor to 
 Mr, Monroe, was not begun. From that day to this, during the whole 
 presidential contest ofthe last seven years, I have received from Mr. 
 Green, or from any body else, directly or indirectly, no money, com- 
 pensation, benefit or advantage, in any possible shape, for my services, 
 as you are pleased to call them, or for my political writings, I wrote 
 in the Boston Statesman during the whole of this protracted contest, 
 probably more than any othe?' many without fee, compensation or re- 
 ward — without the expectation, hope, or possibility of fee, compensa- 
 tion or reward. My labors were gratuitous, unrewarded, and as it now 
 appears unthankful, nay, are made against me the subject of reproach. 
 But the truth is not all told yet. The amount due me from the pub- 
 lishers ofthe Statesman, being at that time nearly all the property I was 
 ivortliy and for a part of which I was in debt, was continued for years, 
 with those publishers as a loan. No part of it was paid, principal or 
 interest, until within, if I remember correctly, one or tv/o years. And 
 after it was paid, I continued to endorse True and Greene's^notes, at a 
 bank, for at least eight or nine hundred dollars at a time. Nay, more 
 — up to the very moment ofthe establishment of the Jackson Repub- 
 lican, I was an endorser for True and Greene, on a note to the North 
 Bank, for five hundred dollars, until I withdrew all connexion with the 
 Statesman, and placed an equal amount in the new paper. I need not 
 inform you that during the whole presidential contest up to that time. 
 
78 
 
 this sum of eight or nine hundred doliars was in actual jeopardy, for I 
 knew the publishers of that paper were insolvent, and would never be 
 able to pay me, unless the contest were successful. 
 
 But the whole truth is not told yet. During the same period, there 
 have been times in Boston when money could not be commanded on 
 any credit, and immense sacrilices, on the best notes, two or three per 
 cent, a month, were made to obtain it. At such times Mr. Greene has 
 resorted to me, as his last resource, to borrow money to sustain his pa- 
 per, and I have loaned it to him, without security, and without interest 
 one or two hundred dollars at a time, and for months together, out of 
 my funds in the bank to meet the current expenses of my family. 
 
 I thus supported that paper by my pen, and by my funds, knowing 
 that if the contest were not successful, I should be a heavy loser, — 
 probably not much short of one-thousand dollars. Yet I continued the 
 loan, and placedthe whole amount cheerlully on the result of the con- 
 test, and a large part of it up to the very moment when I detected a 
 conspiracy on the part of the publisher of that paper, with others who 
 governed it, to effect my political destruction. It has been stated to 
 me, — but what kind of heart must that be which could credit it ? — 
 that the very notes I endorsed for True and Greene, nay the very 
 notes given me for borrowed money when it could be obtained in no 
 other way, were taken to Washington, and shown to the president, in 
 proof of my being paid for my icrii'mgs in support of his dection. 
 Gratitude, I have long known, is not a common quality in the human 
 character, and I have long acted in the belief, that it is never to be 
 calculated on : but ingratitude like this, is not human, — it is fiendish, 
 — it is incredible. The heart that could anticipate it, — that could sus- 
 pect it, — must be as black as as Duff Green's. 
 
 I must reserve for another paper, some remarks on other parts of 
 your remarkable statement. HENRY ORNE. 
 
 TO GEN. DUFF GREEN, NO. II. 
 
 Boston-, Sept. 22, 18;29. 
 The following paragraph in your remarks presents another asser- 
 tion which I deem it proper to noiice. 
 
 '* After it was pretty well ascertained that Gon. Jackson would be elected, Mr. Orne 
 proposed to those witli whom he hal for a short time acted, that tljey should unite and 
 nominate him fur collector to succeed Mr. Dearborn." 
 
 It is impossible for any assertions to be made, regarding any body, 
 or on any subject, more false than this. A dispute about appoint- 
 ments, or even a conversation about them, voluntarily, while an elec- 
 tion is pending, is one of the last acts of folly I should be induced to 
 commit. On this subject I can appeal without fear to every man who 
 has been in my confidence, or company, during the whole presidential 
 contest. In regard to the Crawford campaign, I am not aware, if the 
 event had been fortunate, that there was a person in the common- 
 wealth who would have been a competitor with me for any appoint- 
 
79 
 
 ment 1 might have desired. "Where is the man who can say that he 
 ever heard me name the subject of an office during the three years of 
 that contest ? And the very ground on which the Statesman party 
 avowed their opposition to my appointment as collector, v, as, that I 
 would not talk about offices. The contidence that J would not make 
 bargains with men for subordinate appointments — that I would admin- 
 ister the duties of the trust independenily, if it were conferred on me, — 
 was the leading motive of the conspiracy to destroy me. Until the 
 farce of the legislative convention was acted, it was a subject never 
 named between me and the friends of Gen. Jackson, but once. Gen. 
 King of Maine, once recommended, (this was in the spring of 1827,) 
 to the Statesman party, to present my name to Mr. Adams as a candi- 
 date for that place, in the belief that the Jackson majority in the sen- 
 ate would not sanction Gen. Dearborn's re-appointment, and that our 
 wishes might possibly be successful. I absolutely refused to sanction 
 any such movement. 
 
 After the farce of the legislative convention, the determination to 
 destroy me was apparent, and I resolved to unravel the motives of the 
 intrigue. By the merest accident I was informed that preparations 
 for making Mr. Henshaw collector had been long made, and at once 
 saw the motive of the hostility to me. I sought conversation with the 
 intriguers to find out their plan, and became at length fully informed, 
 after some sharp altercation, as if in defiance, of their disposition of 
 offices. I communicated nothing from myself more than was necessa- 
 ry to bring them out. It is not to our apparent enemies that we re- 
 sort to place confidence. It is not true that I ever asked, before the 
 election, any man in Boston whatever, to support me for any office 
 under this administration. Such falsehood has been asserted here, I 
 know, by those whose slander of me has been profusely poured into 
 the ears of the government. The slanderer may be willing to back 
 one falsehood with another, but I am ready to support this statement 
 under the solemnity of an oath. I never begged any man's or any 
 parly's support for any office, and if I ever receive an appointment 
 under this, or under any other administration, it shall be conferred on 
 me freely, without solicitation and without intrigue. Your next para- 
 graph, that I shall notice, is of a similar character. 
 
 *' After the election, Gen. Boyd and Col. Orne came to this city, and we venture to 
 affirm that no one of all the office hunters who have visited Washington, has heen mure 
 importunate." 
 
 And pray, Mr. Green, what do you know of the fact you " venture to 
 ciffirm ?" While I was in Washington I had no conversation with you, 
 you well know. You cannot have forgotten that when a senator of 
 congress introduced you to me, supposing that we were strangers, I 
 refused to notice you, and was constant in that refusal all the time I 
 was in Washington ! How then do you know that I was importunate 
 for office ? Some one must have informed you, or else the storv is 
 your own gratuitous falsehood. Produce your proof, and gainsay, if 
 you can, a particle of my denial. During the two ivccks I was in Wash- 
 ington^ I never askcdy directly nor indirectly , any manh ossistunccj or svp- 
 
80 
 
 port for any office ichcitevcr. I made no application for any office what- 
 ever. Who, then, could have told you such a falsehood, and what 
 authority do you require before you " venture to make an asscrtiun.'''* 
 
 The only request I ever made for any appointment under this ad- 
 ministration, or for any assistance to gain one, was made to the offi- 
 cial organs of the goverrmient, in transmitting the recommendations 
 which had been obtained in my favor, and with very slight agency on 
 my part. My " importunity'''' has been one of rather a remarkable 
 character. The news of the appointment of a collector reached Bos- 
 ton on Saturday evening. The Thursday before, being Fast day, I 
 transmitted directly to the president himself a letter withdrawing the 
 application in my favor. My motive it concerns you little to know. 
 You will undoubtedly assert that I had well ascertained, previously, 
 that I could not be successful. I was, indeed, disgusted with the 
 malice and slander which had been so extensively brought to bear 
 against me, and in which you took so responsible and infamous a part. 
 I apprehend that I was to be made a victim, and reconciled myself to 
 my fate. But so far from knowing that an adverse appointment had 
 been made, all our information from Washington, led us to believe 
 that the appointment would have been deferred much longer. This 
 letter of withdrawal was forwarded to the president on the 9th of 
 April — on the 11th, the news reached here, and astonished us be- 
 yond measure, that this appointment had been given to Mr. Henshaw. 
 You may judge what reason I had to expect this event, at the time, 
 from the following extract of a letter from Andrew J. Donelson, Esq. 
 the private secretary of the president. As it w^as in some measure 
 official, not confidential, and its own nature requires no secrecy, I 
 hope I violate no delicacy in communicating it. 
 
 Washington, April 3d, 1829. 
 " I also add the expressions of the hope that you will not suffer the statement of others 
 to interrupt the addresses to the proper department of any recommendations, or testimoni- 
 als, which you may have in your possession. The appointments to the customs are not 
 Jixed upon, nor are they jiledoed to any." 
 
 So far from being importunate at W'ashington, I never went there 
 with a view of applying: for any appoiniment. I had been repeatedly 
 informed that ]\lr. Nath'I. Greene was then, and had been all winter, 
 utterinor his slanders against me. My sole object in going was to 
 hear and repel any falsehood he might allege. I staid in Washington 
 lon^' enough to see most of the leading men of the Jackson party ; but 
 these were above JMr. Nath'l. Greene's reach. I was satisfied that 
 their minds had not been prejudiced, and came away. For the opini- 
 ons of such men as you and your associates, I did not care, and Mr. 
 Nath'l. Greene was welcome to utter among you any falsehoods he 
 thouirht proper. I was strongly urged, by an intimate friend of the 
 president, to remain until after the 4ih of March : he was aware I had 
 enemies, and insisted that I should remain to meet them, i feared 
 them too litlkj and despised them too much. I did not regard them 
 cnouo-h to encounter a scene from which every feeling of delicacy re- 
 volted. I thank God, still, that I had no part in that scene which 
 
81 
 
 covers, when it is recalled to mind, every American cheek with a blush. 
 The throng that pressed on the president before lie was fairly in office, 
 soliciting rewards in a manner so destitute of decency, and of respect 
 for his character and otlice, is, with your 8th of January printer's din- 
 ner, among the most disgraceful reproaches to the character of our 
 countrymen. " Before I would behold such another 4th of March,'' 
 said a faitliful, but indignant friend of the president, "1 would see the 
 whole district of Columbia blown to heaven, with all that it contained." 
 Gen. Boyd indeed remained there. He had public claims on his 
 country which gave a sanction to his presence. He had claims which 
 every respectable man in this quarter has admitted for years. But on 
 party grounds, not a member of the Jackson republican party was present^ 
 and I thanked God for it. Even the twenty brazen representatives of 
 the Statesman party, one would think, might have felt enough regard 
 for decency to retire, when they had you and your host to act for them. 
 You speak of me " as objecting to the appointment of editors." I 
 never published a syllable upon that subject. You further remark. 
 
 " The Intelligencer asserts that these gentlemen ((he respectable friends of the president 
 in this quarter) are shocked at the cruel extent to which the power of removal has been 
 carried. Was Gen. Boyd shocked at the removal of his predecessor ? If so, why did he 
 importune the president to make the removal ] Why did he accept the office when made 
 vacant 1 Was Col. Orne shocked at the removal of Messrs. (Mr.) Dearborn or Hill 1 If 
 so why did he solicit both or either of those offices, before the removals were made." 
 
 You either misunderstand, Mr. Green, or else you willingly mis- 
 state the argument. The objection to the numerous appointments of 
 printers, which has been made, not by me, but very extensively by the 
 friends of the president, all over the country, is not because editors or 
 printers have been appointed ; but because men have been, as it is 
 alleged, for no other reason than because they were printers. Let can- 
 didates be selected for their character, conduct, and qualifications — let 
 those be such as to elevate the character of the government which ap- 
 points them, and the offices they fill, and there will be no expression 
 of mortification or regret. The professions of men ought not to enter 
 into the consideration of their qualifications for a public trust. It is no 
 objection to a man that he was an editor, but it is nothing in his favor. 
 He should not be selected merely as an editor, nor rejected on that 
 account. Printers, as a body, should not be a peculiarly favored class — • 
 nay, the proprietors of presses, the publishers by profession, should 
 be rather viewed with strictness and jealousy, for the preservation of 
 the purity of the press, than as objects of signal bounty on the success 
 of their candidate. It is not merely because Isaac Hill, and Nathaniel 
 Greene, are printers, but because of their especial want of suitable 
 characters and qufilifications for the offices they hold, — because they 
 are nothing but printers, or editors, and that of a degraded class — that 
 the public sentiment has been shocked by their appointment. 
 
 You well know, Mr. Green, that I am by profession neither a prin- 
 ter nor an editor, but engaged in the practice and in the administration 
 of the law. If I am a candidate for a public trust, at all, it is neither 
 as an editor nor a writer. I readilv as:ree with vou that these afford 
 
82 
 
 me no claim, although the services in that line were gratuitous indeed 
 Mr. Green ; but wh- tlier a suitable candidate, cr not, depends on con- 
 siderations of character. If this places me below, or on a level, with 
 those who have contrived to obtain the oflices in this place, I readily 
 admit that my pretensions have been very properly rejected. But 
 here again you much mistake the matter. That we are in trouble, it 
 is not because we have not obtained appointments, but that, unfit peo- 
 ple have. We could have well done without offices, but not with bad 
 appointments. Let the men selected be suitable to the respectability 
 and standing of the party — let them elevate the character of the gov- 
 ernment, and reflect honor on the institutions of the country, and we 
 shall be well contented. Let exalted trusts not be confided to tho.se 
 whose avowed object was discord and division in the party — on those 
 who had published their determination to proscribe a part of the friends 
 of the administration, and you will find us not quite so selfish and im- 
 poituiiate as you imagine. 
 
 You insist upon it that those who have applied for appointments 
 complain, with an ill grace, that the incumbents have been removed. 
 If such there be, they are guilty of shameful selfishness and inconsis- 
 tency, and you cannot treat them with too much severitv. But here 
 you mistake the fact. The people of Boston do not complain that Gen. 
 Dearborn, or Dr. Hill, orlVJaj. Melville, was removed. All these gen- 
 tlemen, doubtless, had friends who would have been happy to see them 
 retained. Some of them, certainly, are very respectable men, and 
 discharged their duties in a very creditable manner; and of these, 
 the people made no complaint. Still they did not suppose that they 
 would, or ought to be, continued in office. There are certain trusts of 
 an elevated character under our government, which ought not to be 
 perpetual, in the hands of any families, or of any men. Rotation is a 
 sound, practical, republican principle, under our form of government, 
 and for which the people have frequently avowed a strong predilection. 
 The collectorship, naval office, and post-office, had been long enough 
 in the hands of the late incumbents, two of whom were known to be 
 very rich, and if all of them were not, it was their own fault. The peo- 
 ple expected a change, and in regard to the post otTice, I believe, al- 
 most universally desired it. In regard to the collectorship also, al- 
 though well satisfied v.ith the ofricial conduct of the collector, they 
 thought the office had been long enough in the hands of Gen. Dear--* 
 born, and in those of his family. The reason was still more forcible 
 in the case of Maj. Melville, who had been still longer in office, had 
 accumulated, it was supposed, a very large fortune ; and whose repose, 
 rather than whose services, commanded the public sympathies. But 
 if this had been otherwise, and stronger reasons were needed for his 
 removal, they could, I am satisfied, have been found. If the public 
 sentiment has been hurt by any traiisactitms connected with these men, 
 it was rather at the time and manner, than by the fact, of their removal. 
 But the great cause of dissatisfaction was not their removal^ but the 
 appointment of/jt'o of their swcccs/ors. 
 
 There have been, however, removals here, which have given a deep 
 shock to the p\d)lic sentiment. Not those made by the government, 
 
82 
 
 but by the officers whom the government appointed. Rotation is a 
 good principle applied to leading political trusts ; but when brought to 
 bear on humble occupations — on experienced services, not rewarded, 
 but barely sustained — on trusts to which experience is requisite, but 
 for which the compensation is something less than an equivalent — on 
 men who had given up all other pursuits, and embraced these for a 
 livelihood, with no reason to anticipate a removal while their conduct 
 merited the public confidence — when rotation is applied to these offi- 
 ces, and is made to carry ruin and dismay into the bosoms of private 
 families — making wretched sufferers of dependent wives, and helpless 
 children — then it is that removals are complained of — that public sen- 
 timent is shocked — that business men ^ not politicians, unite to interfere 
 and petition for redress — and then it is that rotation emits a bad odor, 
 and becomes a subject of reproach. It is this kind of removals, when 
 subordinate agents are made the victims of petty tyrants in power, that 
 agitates the public sentiment, and kindless indignation. It is that kind 
 of removals which the president has stopped, and implicitly censured, of 
 which our people complain, and for his prompt interference in which, 
 the president has gained, in this quarter, a good deal oi grateful credit. 
 His views of rotation appear to be such as I have stated — such as 
 were well known to be the views of the Crawford party in the previ- 
 ous contest — such as I knoiv were the views of the illustrious leader of 
 that party himself These subordinate agents should be removed only 
 for cause — this appears to be the sentiment of the government, and it is, 
 most assuredly the sentiment of our people. 
 
 I have thus, General Green, met, I believe, every charge you have 
 advanced against my character — I have told you the truth, which neither 
 you nor any other man can controvert. And if this be the truth, are you 
 not ashamed of the calumnies you have circulated against me ? Is 
 there one particle of honesty in your character — have you the slightest 
 regard for truth, or individual justice ? — If you answer me yes, then I 
 exhort you to fall on your knees, and ask my forgiveness. Let not 
 shame keep down your penitence, for believe me, in your present con- 
 dition, contrition is infinitely more becoming in you than obstinacy. 
 Dare, for a single moment, to be an honest man, and you will per- 
 ceive such an elevation in your teeiings as will make you regret that 
 you never tried it before. You have endeavored to injure me, but I 
 trust, with the blessing of the God of justice, that the endeavor will re- 
 dound, yet, to my benefit. Avow your error, — be penitent — promise 
 reformation, and I will forgive you. I will exercise all the charity 
 towards you that a christian spirit can impart ; and though there are 
 points in your character which must forever repel my respect, your 
 offences, and attempted injuries, shall be forgiven and forgotten. 
 
 I now take my leave of you Gen. Green, I hope forever. There are 
 points regarding your conduct, on which I could speak at length ; but 
 " Columbus'''' has promised to do you justice, and in his hands I leave 
 you. If I am not deceived, yoiir turn ivill come soon. 
 
 HENRY ORNE. 
 
We have thought proper to give in connexion with the Letters of Columbus, the piece 
 signed Anti-Janus, which, by commencing a violent and abusive attack on some of the 
 friends of this administration, drew out Columbus in reply. The writer is not known, but 
 there is little doubt it was gotten up under the influence of our Custom house, and other 
 national officers here. It was originally published in the New Hampshire Patriot, but 
 soon reprinted in many of the Duff Green papers. 
 
 What constitutes " a concealed enemy of the Administration."] — Boston Evening 
 Bulletin. 
 
 The above question being addressed, not to an individual, but to the public generally, 
 may I presume, be answered by any member of the community who chooses to take the 
 trouble. By different persons, different answers would doubtless be given ; and perhaps 
 the true definition may only be obtained by collating and examining the varying opinions 
 which may result from the exercise of various minds on this delicate subject. With your 
 leave Mr. Editor, I will contribute my mite in the way of elucidation, by delineating such 
 a character as I should suppose might properly be denominated " a concealed enemy of the 
 administration.'! Please remember the character is but a " fancy sketch," and is to be so 
 considered, however, much it may resemble that of any actual living demagogue. 
 
 Col. Christopher Crafty is a man who stands six feet in his stockings, with a figure and 
 eye which would have been very fine and expressive were not tlie beauty of the one de- 
 stroyed by the habitual gastronomic indulgence which has stamped sensualist, in indelible 
 characters, on the expression of the other. The intimate connexion between matter and 
 mind, and their mutual dependence, are admirably displayed in Col. Crafty, and render 
 him an excellent subject for the experiments of a phrenological professor. Like his out- 
 ward form, his mind was originally of fair dimensions and constructed with all usual capa- 
 bilities for receiving and reflecting good or evil impressions. And now, when his despoil- 
 ed head gives its unbidden testimony that the meridian of life has arrived, and teaches us 
 to look for the permanent unchangeable impress of time upon the heart and mind, let us 
 lift the curtain and read. What is written in that heart 1 Alas, but one word — and that 
 word traced with icicles, freezing the current of every noble, every generous impulse — 
 that word is selfishness. What on that mind, committed to his keeping by the great 
 source of all purity, fair and while and pure 1 How has it been kept 1 What characters 
 are there, and by whom traced 1 — Cunning, Treachery, and Falsehood stand out in bold 
 relief, proclaiming that selfishness and sensuality have been but too busy and too 
 successful in marring what God created in the image of his own beauty 
 
 Such we will suppose to be a correct delineation of the mental, moral and physical char- 
 acteristics of Col. Crafty. We will now trace the course it might be supposed such a man 
 would pursue as a politician. During three years of the last Presidential contest, he adopt- 
 ed the non-committal system. He could not decide what course to take — for he knew not 
 which candidate would succeed. He felt that the people were for Jackson, but he could 
 not believe the politicians would suffer him to be elected. While Gov. Clinton lived, it 
 was possible thai he might be taken up, and Jackson abandoned. Gov. Clinton died. — 
 Still Mr. Crawford was alive, and might be brought forward and elected after Adams and 
 Jackson had demolished each other. Under these circumstances, in his profound wisdom, 
 he determined to deny in the most public manner, that he took any part in the contest — 
 while at the same time he privately kept up an active communication with the friends of 
 each candidate, professing, in the secresy of confidential correspondence, to be friendly to 
 eaeh. At length the election of Mr. Stevenson as Speaker of the House took place, and 
 other thick comiiiij indications warned this mo.st cautious of fencemen that it was time to 
 
84 
 
 jump off. He now felt that his only chance was to steal or force himself into the front rank 
 of those who had fought the good fight of Jackson and reform — and both of these modes he 
 attempted. But his conduct during the time when his assistance was needed and would 
 have been welcomed, and the base and selfish calculations which had induced that con- 
 duct, caused him to bo viewed every where with coldness and distrust. And a conscious- 
 ness that he had justly forfeited the confidence and respect of those who had in bye-gone 
 days been his best friends, induced him to look about for new friends and a new party. — 
 Finding it impossible to obtain the countenance of any existing party, he was obliged to 
 resort to the forlorn hope of manufacturing a new one. The attempt was arduous, the ma- 
 terials scarce, and small the confidence in this would-be leader. By dint, however, of 
 persevering flattery, falsehood and hypocrisy, he persuaded two honest, well-meaning, but 
 somewhat disappointed politicians of different sects, to countenance his plans, and hoist a 
 banner under which were to be gathered the unprincipled of all parties. And a pretty 
 business they made of the co-partnership. One party to the compact was to furnish cun- 
 ning — another, a sufficient quantity of good society federalism — the third, a sprinkling of 
 democracy and the balance in cash. Thus, like Macbeth's witches, and for a purpose not 
 far differing from the Thane of Cawdor's he filled the cauldron with 
 
 " Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, 
 
 *' Lizard's leg and owlet's wing." •^- 
 
 The new firm hoisted their parti-colored flag and beat up for recruits. Many were called 
 but few came — and those who did come were the strangest mixture of the odds and ends of 
 all parties that eyes ever beheld. Motley was the only wear. Falstaff would never have 
 marched through Coventry with such soldiers. But such as they were, they were all that 
 could be obtained — and with this apology for a party the fortunes of the prime mover were 
 to be made or marred. They were marred. 
 
 Retiring from the presence, disappointed, mortified, discredited — conscious only of utter 
 and deserved failure — another passion enters into his soul and obtains the mastery there. 
 That passion is revenge. He lives, moves, breathes, but for one fell purpose — revenge. 
 Revenge on all — on Gen. Jackson, whom in his private, familiar conversation he abuses in 
 the foulest manner — on his constitutional advisers — and on the humble individuals whose 
 only crime consists in having been preferred to him. How to accomplish this, is his thought 
 by day and his dream by night. His perverted talents, his fiendish cunning, and his ex- 
 ceeding falsehood, have all been put in requisition — the plan of his operations has been de- 
 termined and is now developing. It is such a plan as might have been expeeted from such 
 a heart, such a mind, such passions. He affects, God knows how falsely, to be a friend and 
 supporter of the President and his administration — this, that he may acquire power to ac- 
 complish the mischief he meditates. He affects great solicitude for the consequences of 
 certain appointments in this quarter — first insinuates that they are injudicious, and next 
 proceeds to denounce them. And all this, as he pretends, from pure love to the adminstra- 
 tion, and a sincere desire to uphold and support it. Does a nevvly appointed officer exert 
 his faculties to the utmost stretch, rising early and retiring late, that the duties of his office 
 may be so discharged as to preclude all cavil at his appointment and extort praise from 
 those who would more willingly bestow censure — straightway this boding owl insinuates that 
 that approbation is purchased by base means, and that the undivided voice of a whole com- 
 munity is a false testimony induced by bribery. Does a newly appointed, active and faith- 
 ful officer deem it proper to displace a clerk for reasons satisfactory to himself and the gov- 
 ernment — the friends of that clerk are visited by this immaculate supporter of the admin- 
 istration — they are falsely assured that government does not approve and will not sustain 
 the course of its officer — the embprs of their discontent are artfully fanned — their pas- 
 sions are stimulated — they are excited to call meetings for the purpose of denouncing the 
 representative of the government — and promised the co-operation of himself, his relatives 
 and friends, togeiiier with the aid of an unprincipled, purchased press, of which he has ob- 
 tained the controul much in the same manner as the monkey got possession of the roasted 
 chesnuts. Suppose a person possessing such cliaracteristics and pursuing such a course — 
 might he not, JNIr. Editor, be properly termed " a concealed enemy of the Administra- 
 tion V ANTI-JA^US. 
 
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