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diff --git a/10815-0.txt b/10815-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6408bca --- /dev/null +++ b/10815-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1707 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10815 *** + +A COMPILATION + +OF THE + +MESSAGES AND PAPERS + +OF THE + +PRESIDENTS. + +BY + +JAMES D. RICHARDSON + +A REPRESENTATIVE FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE + +VOLUME IV + +PUBLISHED BY + +AUTHORITY OF CONGRESS + +1902 + + * * * * * + +Copyright 1897 + +BY JAMES D. RICHARDSON + + + + +Prefatory Note + +In historic value this volume is equal to, if it does not surpass, any +one of the series which has preceded it. It comprises the eight years of +our history from March 4, 1841, to March 4, 1849, and includes the four +years' term of Harrison and Tyler and also the term of James K. Polk. +During the first half of this period the death of President Harrison +occurred, when for the first time under the Constitution the +Vice-President succeeded to the office of President. As a matter of +public interest, several papers relating to the death of President +Harrison are inserted. A number of highly interesting vetoes of +President Tyler appear, among which are two vetoing bills chartering a +United States bank and two vetoing tariff measures. During President +Tyler's Administration the protective tariff act of 1842 was passed; the +subtreasury law was repealed; the treaty with Great Britain of August 9, +1842, was negotiated, settling the northeastern-boundary controversy, +and providing for the final suppression of the African slave trade and +for the surrender of fugitive criminals; and acts establishing a uniform +system of bankruptcy and providing for the distribution of the sales of +the public lands were passed. The treaty of annexation between the +United States and the Republic of Texas was negotiated, but was rejected +by the Senate. + +During the Administration of President Polk Texas was finally annexed to +the United States; Texas, Iowa, and Wisconsin were admitted into the +Union; the Oregon boundary was settled; the independent-treasury system +was reenacted; the Naval Academy was established; acts were passed +establishing the Smithsonian Institution and creating the Department of +the Interior; the war with Mexico was successfully fought, and the +territory known as New Mexico and Upper California was acquired. The +acquisition of territory by Mr. Polk's Administration added to the +United States California and New Mexico and portions of Colorado, Utah, +and Nevada, a territory containing in all 1,193,061 square miles, or +over 763,000,000 acres, and constituting a country more than half as +large as all that held by the Republic before he became President. This +addition to our domain was the next largest in area ever made. It was +exceeded only by the purchase by President Jefferson of the Louisiana +Territory, in which was laid so deep the foundation of the country's +growth and grandeur. If our country had not already attained that rank +by the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, the further additions +made by Mr. Polk's Administration advanced it at once to a continental +power of assured strength and boundless promise. + +JAMES D. RICHARDSON. + +APRIL 27, 1897. + + + + +William Henry Harrison + +March 4 to April 4, 1841 + + + + +William Henry Harrison + + +William Henry Harrison, third and youngest son of Benjamin Harrison, one +of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was born at Berkeley, +Charles City County, Va., February 9, 1773. Was educated at Hampden +Sidney College, Virginia, and began the study of medicine, but before he +had finished it accounts of Indian outrages on the western frontier led +him to enter the Army, and he was commissioned an ensign in the First +Infantry on August 16, 1791; joined his regiment at Fort Washington, +Ohio. Was appointed lieutenant June 2, 1792, and afterwards joined the +Army under General Anthony Wayne, and was made aid-de-camp to the +commanding officer. For his services in the expedition, in December, +1793, that erected Fort Recovery he was thanked by name in general +orders. Participated in the engagements with the Indians that began on +June 30, 1794, and was complimented by General Wayne for gallantry in +the victory on the Miami on August 20. On May 15, 1797, was made captain +and given the command of Fort Washington. While there he married Anna, +daughter of John Cleves Symmes. Resigned his commission on June 1, 1798, +peace having been made with the Indians, and was immediately appointed +by President John Adams secretary of the Northwest Territory, but in +October, 1799, resigned to take his seat as Territorial Delegate in +Congress. During his term part of the Northwest Territory was formed +into the Territory of Indiana, including the present States of Indiana, +Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin, and he was appointed its governor and +superintendent of Indian affairs, which he accepted, and resigned his +seat in Congress. Was reappointed successively by Presidents Jefferson +and Madison. He organized the legislature at Vincennes in 1805. Held +frequent councils with the Indians, and succeeded in averting many +outbreaks. On September 30, 1809, concluded a treaty with several tribes +by which they sold to the United States about 3,000,000 acres of land on +the Wabash and White rivers. This and former treaties were condemned by +Tecumseh and other chiefs, and an outbreak became imminent, which was +averted by the conciliatory course of the governor. In the spring of +1811 Indian depredations became frequent, and Governor Harrison +recommended the establishment of a military post at Tippecanoe, and the +Government consented. On September 26 Harrison marched from Vincennes +with about 900 men, including 350 regular infantry, completed Fort +Harrison, near the site of Terre Haute, Ind., on October 28, and leaving +a garrison there pressed on toward Tippecanoe. On November 6, when near +that town, was met by messengers demanding a parley, and a council was +proposed for the next day. At 4 o'clock the following morning a fierce +attack was made by the savages; at daybreak the Indians were driven from +the field. For this victory he was highly complimented by President +Madison in his message of December 18, 1811, and was also thanked by the +legislatures of Kentucky and Indiana. On August 25, 1812, soon after war +was declared against Great Britain, was commissioned major-general of +the militia of Kentucky, though not a citizen of that State. On August +22, 1812, was commissioned a brigadier-general in the Regular Army, and +later was appointed to the chief command of the Northwestern army, with +instructions to act in all cases according to his own discretion and +judgment. No latitude as great as this had been given to any commander +since Washington. On March 2, 1813, was commissioned a major-general. +Was in command of Fort Meigs when General Proctor, with a force of +British troops and Indians, laid unsuccessful siege to it from April 28 +to May 9, 1813. Transporting his army to Canada, he fought the battle of +the Thames on October 5, defeating General Proctor's army of 800 +regulars and 1,200 Indians, the latter led by the celebrated Tecumseh, +who was killed. This battle, together with Perry's victory on Lake Erie, +gave the United States possession of the chain of lakes above Erie and +put an end to the war in uppermost Canada. For this victory he was +praised by President Madison in his annual message to Congress and by +the legislatures of the different States. Through a misunderstanding +with General John Armstrong, Secretary of War, he resigned his +commission in the Army May 31, 1814. In 1814, and again in 1815, he was +appointed on commissions that concluded Indian treaties, and in 1816 was +chosen to Congress to fill a vacancy, serving till 1819. On March 30, +1818, Congress unanimously voted him a gold medal for his victory of the +Thames. In 1819 he was chosen to the senate of Ohio, and in 1822 was an +unsuccessful candidate for Congress. In 1824 was a Presidential elector, +voting for Henry Clay, and in the same year was sent to the United +States Senate, and succeeded Andrew Jackson as chairman of the Committee +on Military Affairs. He resigned in 1828, having been appointed by +President John Quincy Adams minister to the United States of Colombia. +He was recalled at the outset of Jackson's Administration, and retired +to his farm at North Bend, near Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1835 was nominated +for the Presidency by Whig State conventions in Pennsylvania, New York, +Ohio, and other States, but at the election on November 8, 1836, was +defeated by Martin Van Buren, receiving only 73 electoral votes to the +latter's 170. December 4, 1839, he was nominated for the Presidency by +the national Whig convention at Harrisburg, Pa., and was elected on +November 10, 1840, receiving 234 electoral votes to Van Buren's 60. Was +inaugurated March 4, 1841. Called Congress to meet in extra session on +May 31. He died on Sunday morning, April 4, 1841. His body was interred +in the Congressional Cemetery at Washington, but in June, 1841, it was +removed to North Bend and placed in a tomb overlooking the Ohio River. + + + + +INAUGURAL ADDRESS. + + +Called from a retirement which I had supposed was to continue for the +residue of my life to fill the chief executive office of this great and +free nation, I appear before you, fellow-citizens, to take the oaths +which the Constitution prescribes as a necessary qualification for the +performance of its duties; and in obedience to a custom coeval with our +Government and what I believe to be your expectations I proceed to +present to you a summary of the principles which will govern me in the +discharge of the duties which I shall be called upon to perform. + +It was the remark of a Roman consul in an early period of that +celebrated Republic that a most striking contrast was observable in the +conduct of candidates for offices of power and trust before and after +obtaining them, they seldom carrying out in the latter case the pledges +and promises made in the former. However much the world may have +improved in many respects in the lapse of upward of two thousand years +since the remark was made by the virtuous and indignant Roman, I fear +that a strict examination of the annals of some of the modern elective +governments would develop similar instances of violated confidence. + +Although the fiat of the people has gone forth proclaiming me the Chief +Magistrate of this glorious Union, nothing upon their part remaining to +be done, it may be thought that a motive may exist to keep up the +delusion under which they may be supposed to have acted in relation to +my principles and opinions; and perhaps there may be some in this +assembly who have come here either prepared to condemn those I shall now +deliver, or, approving them, to doubt the sincerity with which they are +now uttered. But the lapse of a few months will confirm or dispel their +fears. The outline of principles to govern and measures to be adopted by +an Administration not yet begun will soon be exchanged for immutable +history, and I shall stand either exonerated by my countrymen or classed +with the mass of those who promised that they might deceive and +flattered with the intention to betray. However strong may be my present +purpose to realize the expectations of a magnanimous and confiding +people, I too well understand the dangerous temptations to which I shall +be exposed from the magnitude of the power which it has been the +pleasure of the people to commit to my hands not to place my chief +confidence upon the aid of that Almighty Power which has hitherto +protected me and enabled me to bring to favorable issues other important +but still greatly inferior trusts heretofore confided to me by my +country. + +The broad foundation upon which our Constitution rests being the +people--a breath of theirs having made, as a breath can unmake, change, +or modify it--it can be assigned to none of the great divisions of +government but to that of democracy. If such is its theory, those who +are called upon to administer it must recognize as its leading principle +the duty of shaping their measures so as to produce the greatest good to +the greatest number. But with these broad admissions, if we would +compare the sovereignty acknowledged to exist in the mass of our people +with the power claimed by other sovereignties, even by those which have +been considered most purely democratic, we shall find a most essential +difference. All others lay claim to power limited only by their own +will. The majority of our citizens, on the contrary, possess a +sovereignty with an amount of power precisely equal to that which has +been granted to them by the parties to the national compact, and nothing +beyond. We admit of no government by divine right, believing that so far +as power is concerned the Beneficent Creator has made no distinction +amongst men; that all are upon an equality, and that the only legitimate +right to govern is an express grant of power from the governed. The +Constitution of the United States is the instrument containing this +grant of power to the several departments composing the Government. On +an examination of that instrument it will be found to contain +declarations of power granted and of power withheld. The latter is also +susceptible of division into power which the majority had the right to +grant, but which they did not think proper to intrust to their agents, +and that which they could not have granted, not being possessed by +themselves. In other words, there are certain rights possessed by each +individual American citizen which in his compact with the others he has +never surrendered. Some of them, indeed, he is unable to surrender, +being, in the language of our system, unalienable. The boasted privilege +of a Roman citizen was to him a shield only against a petty provincial +ruler, whilst the proud democrat of Athens would console himself under a +sentence of death for a supposed violation of the national faith--which +no one understood and which at times was the subject of the mockery of +all--or the banishment from his home, his family, and his country with +or without an alleged cause, that it was the act not of a single tyrant +or hated aristocracy, but of his assembled countrymen. Far different is +the power of our sovereignty. It can interfere with no one's faith, +prescribe forms of worship for no one's observance, inflict no +punishment but after well-ascertained guilt, the result of investigation +under rules prescribed by the Constitution itself. These precious +privileges, and those scarcely less important of giving expression to +his thoughts and opinions, either by writing or speaking, unrestrained +but by the liability for injury to others, and that of a full +participation in all the advantages which flow from the Government, the +acknowledged property of all, the American citizen derives from no +charter granted by his fellow-man. He claims them because he is himself +a man, fashioned by the same Almighty hand as the rest of his species +and entitled to a full share of the blessings with which He has endowed +them. Notwithstanding the limited sovereignty possessed by the people of +the United States and the restricted grant of power to the Government +which they have adopted, enough has been given to accomplish all the +objects for which it was created. It has been found powerful in war, and +hitherto justice has been administered, an intimate union effected, +domestic tranquillity preserved, and personal liberty secured to the +citizen. As was to be expected, however, from the defect of language and +the necessarily sententious manner in which the Constitution is written, +disputes have arisen as to the amount of power which it has actually +granted or was intended to grant. + +This is more particularly the case in relation to that part of the +instrument which treats of the legislative branch, and not only as +regards the exercise of powers claimed under a general clause giving +that body the authority to pass all laws necessary to carry into effect +the specified powers, but in relation to the latter also. It is, +however, consolatory to reflect that _most_ of the instances of +alleged departure from the letter or spirit of the Constitution have +ultimately received the sanction of a majority of the people. And the +fact that many of our statesmen most distinguished for talent and +patriotism have been at one time or other of their political career on +both sides of each of the most warmly disputed questions forces upon us +the inference that the errors, if errors there were, are attributable to +the intrinsic difficulty in many instances of ascertaining the +intentions of the framers of the Constitution rather than the influence +of any sinister or unpatriotic motive. But the great danger to our +institutions does not appear to me to be in a usurpation by the +Government of power not granted by the people, but by the accumulation +in one of the departments of that which was assigned to others. Limited +as are the powers which have been granted, still enough have been +granted to constitute a despotism if concentrated in one of the +departments. This danger is greatly heightened, as it has been always +observable that men are less jealous of encroachments of one department +upon another than upon their own reserved rights. When the Constitution +of the United States first came from the hands of the Convention which +formed it, many of the sternest republicans of the day were alarmed at +the extent of the power which had been granted to the Federal +Government, and more particularly of that portion which had been +assigned to the executive branch. There were in it features which +appeared not to be in harmony with their ideas of a simple +representative democracy or republic, and knowing the tendency of power +to increase itself, particularly when exercised by a single individual, +predictions were made that at no very remote period the Government would +terminate in virtual monarchy. It would not become me to say that the +fears of these patriots have been already realized; but as I sincerely +believe that the tendency of measures and of men's opinions for some +years past has been in that direction, it is, I conceive, strictly +proper that I should take this occasion to repeat the assurances I have +heretofore given of my determination to arrest the progress of that +tendency if it really exists and restore the Government to its pristine +health and vigor, as far as this can be effected by any legitimate +exercise of the power placed in my hands. + +I proceed to state in as summary a manner as I can my opinion of the +sources of the evils which have been so extensively complained of and +the correctives which may be applied. Some of the former are +unquestionably to be found in the defects of the Constitution; others, +in my judgment, are attributable to a misconstruction of some of its +provisions. Of the former is the eligibility of the same individual to a +second term of the Presidency. The sagacious mind of Mr. Jefferson early +saw and lamented this error, and attempts have been made, hitherto +without success, to apply the amendatory power of the States to its +correction. As, however, one mode of correction is in the power of every +President, and consequently in mine, it would be useless, and perhaps +invidious, to enumerate the evils of which, in the opinion of many of +our fellow-citizens, this error of the sages who framed the Constitution +may have been the source and the bitter fruits which we are still to +gather from it if it continues to disfigure our system. It may be +observed, however, as a general remark, that republics can commit no +greater error than to adopt or continue any feature in their systems of +government which may be calculated to create or increase the love of +power in the bosoms of those to whom necessity obliges them to commit +the management of their affairs; and surely nothing is more likely to +produce such a state of mind than the long continuance of an office of +high trust. Nothing can be more corrupting, nothing more destructive of +all those noble feelings which belong to the character of a devoted +republican patriot. When this corrupting passion once takes possession +of the human mind, like the love of gold it becomes insatiable. It is +the never-dying worm in his bosom, grows with his growth and strengthens +with the declining years of its victim. If this is true, it is the part +of wisdom for a republic to limit the service of that officer at least +to whom she has intrusted the management of her foreign relations, the +execution of her laws, and the command of her armies and navies to a +period so short as to prevent his forgetting that he is the accountable +agent, not the principal; the servant, not the master. Until an +amendment of the Constitution can be effected public opinion may secure +the desired object. I give my aid to it by renewing the pledge +heretofore given that under no circumstances will I consent to serve +a second term. + +But if there is danger to public liberty from the acknowledged defects +of the Constitution in the want of limit to the continuance of the +Executive power in the same hands, there is, I apprehend, not much less +from a misconstruction of that instrument as it regards the powers +actually given. I can not conceive that by a fair construction any or +either of its provisions would be found to constitute the President a +part of the legislative power. It can not be claimed from the power to +recommend, since, although enjoined as a duty upon him, it is a +privilege which he holds in common with every other citizen; and +although there may be something more of confidence in the propriety of +the measures recommended in the one case than in the other, in the +obligations of ultimate decision there can be no difference. In the +language of the Constitution, "all the legislative powers" which it +grants "are vested in the Congress of the United States." It would be a +solecism in language to say that any portion of these is not included in +the whole. + +It may be said, indeed, that the Constitution has given to the Executive +the power to annul the acts of the legislative body by refusing to them +his assent. So a similar power has necessarily resulted from that +instrument to the judiciary, and yet the judiciary forms no part of the +Legislature. There is, it is true, this difference between these grants +of power: The Executive can put his negative upon the acts of the +Legislature for other cause than that of want of conformity to the +Constitution, whilst the judiciary can only declare void those which +violate that instrument. But the decision of the judiciary is final in +such a case, whereas in every instance where the veto of the Executive +is applied it may be overcome by a vote of two-thirds of both Houses of +Congress. The negative upon the acts of the legislative by the executive +authority, and that in the hands of one individual, would seem to be an +incongruity in our system. Like some others of a similar character, +however, it appears to be highly expedient, and if used only with the +forbearance and in the spirit which was intended by its authors it may +be productive of great good and be found one of the best safeguards to +the Union. At the period of the formation of the Constitution the +principle does not appear to have enjoyed much favor in the State +governments. It existed but in two, and in one of these there was a +plural executive. If we would search for the motives which operated upon +the purely patriotic and enlightened assembly which framed the +Constitution for the adoption of a provision so apparently repugnant to +the leading democratic principle that the majority should govern, we +must reject the idea that they anticipated from it any benefit to the +ordinary course of legislation. They knew too well the high degree of +intelligence which existed among the people and the enlightened +character of the State legislatures not to have the fullest confidence +that the two bodies elected by them would be worthy representatives of +such constituents, and, of course, that they would require no aid in +conceiving and maturing the measures which the circumstances of the +country might require. And it is preposterous to suppose that a thought +could for a moment have been entertained that the President, placed at +the capital, in the center of the country, could better understand the +wants and wishes of the people than their own immediate representatives, +who spend a part of every year among them, living with them, often +laboring with them, and bound to them by the triple tie of interest, +duty, and affection. To assist or control Congress, then, in its +ordinary legislation could not, I conceive, have been the motive for +conferring the veto power on the President. This argument acquires +additional force from the fact of its never having been thus used by the +first six Presidents--and two of them were members of the Convention, +one presiding over its deliberations and the other bearing a larger +share in consummating the labors of that august body than any other +person. But if bills were never returned to Congress by either of the +Presidents above referred to upon the ground of their being inexpedient +or not as well adapted as they might be to the wants of the people, the +veto was applied upon that of want of conformity to the Constitution or +because errors had been committed from a too hasty enactment. + +There is another ground for the adoption of the veto principle, which +had probably more influence in recommending it to the Convention than +any other. I refer to the security which it gives to the just and +equitable action of the Legislature upon all parts of the Union. It +could not but have occurred to the Convention that in a country so +extensive, embracing so great a variety of soil and climate, and +consequently of products, and which from the same causes must ever +exhibit a great difference in the amount of the population of its +various sections, calling for a great diversity in the employments of +the people, that the legislation of the majority might not always justly +regard the rights and interests of the minority, and that acts of this +character might be passed under an express grant by the words of the +Constitution, and therefore not within the competency of the judiciary +to declare void; that however enlightened and patriotic they might +suppose from past experience the members of Congress might be, and +however largely partaking, in the general, of the liberal feelings of +the people, it was impossible to expect that bodies so constituted +should not sometimes be controlled by local interests and sectional +feelings. It was proper, therefore, to provide some umpire from whose +situation and mode of appointment more independence and freedom from +such influences might be expected. Such a one was afforded by the +executive department constituted by the Constitution. A person elected +to that high office, having his constituents in every section, State, +and subdivision of the Union, must consider himself bound by the most +solemn sanctions to guard, protect, and defend the rights of all and of +every portion, great or small, from the injustice and oppression of the +rest. I consider the veto power, therefore, given by the Constitution to +the Executive of the United States solely as a conservative power, to be +used only, first, to protect the Constitution from violation; Secondly, +the people from the effects of hasty legislation where their will has +been probably disregarded or not well understood, and, thirdly, to +prevent the effects of combinations violative of the rights of +minorities. In reference to the second of these objects I may observe +that I consider it the right and privilege of the people to decide +disputed points of the Constitution arising from the general grant of +power to Congress to carry into effect the powers expressly given; and I +believe with Mr. Madison that "repeated recognitions under varied +circumstances in acts of the legislative, executive, and judicial +branches of the Government, accompanied by indications in different +modes of the concurrence of the general will of the nation," as +affording to the President sufficient authority for his considering such +disputed points as settled. + +Upward of half a century has elapsed since the adoption of the present +form of government. It would be an object more highly desirable than the +gratification of the curiosity of speculative statesmen if its precise +situation could be ascertained, a fair exhibit made of the operations of +each of its departments, of the powers which they respectively claim and +exercise, of the collisions which have occurred between them or between +the whole Government and those of the States or either of them. We could +then compare our actual condition after fifty years' trial of our system +with what it was in the commencement of its operations and ascertain +whether the predictions of the patriots who opposed its adoption or the +confident hopes of its advocates have been best realized. The great +dread of the former seems to have been that the reserved powers of the +States would be absorbed by those of the Federal Government and a +consolidated power established, leaving to the States the shadow only of +that independent action for which they had so zealously contended and on +the preservation of which they relied as the last hope of liberty. +Without denying that the result to which they looked with so much +apprehension is in the way of being realized, it is obvious that they +did not clearly see the mode of its accomplishment. The General +Government has seized upon none of the reserved rights of the States. As +far as any open warfare may have gone, the State authorities have amply +maintained their rights. To a casual observer our system presents no +appearance of discord between the different members which compose it. +Even the addition of many new ones has produced no jarring. They move in +their respective orbits in perfect harmony with the central head and +with each other. But there is still an undercurrent at work by which, if +not seasonably checked, the worst apprehensions of our anti-federal +patriots will be realized, and not only will the State authorities be +overshadowed by the great increase of power in the executive department +of the General Government, but the character of that Government, if not +its designation, be essentially and radically changed. This state of +things has been in part effected by causes inherent in the Constitution +and in part by the never-failing tendency of political power to increase +itself. By making the President the sole distributer of all the +patronage of the Government the framers of the Constitution do not +appear to have anticipated at how short a period it would become a +formidable instrument to control the free operations of the State +governments. Of trifling importance at first, it had early in Mr. +Jefferson's Administration become so powerful as to create great alarm +in the mind of that patriot from the potent influence it might exert in +controlling the freedom of the elective franchise. If such could have +then been the effects of its influence, how much greater must be the +danger at this time, quadrupled in amount as it certainly is and more +completely under the control of the Executive will than their +construction of their powers allowed or the forbearing characters of all +the early Presidents permitted them to make. But it is not by the extent +of its patronage alone that the executive department has become +dangerous, but by the use which it appears may be made of the appointing +power to bring under its control the whole revenues of the country. The +Constitution has declared it to be the duty of the President to see that +the laws are executed, and it makes him the Commander in Chief of the +Armies and Navy of the United States. If the opinion of the most +approved writers upon that species of mixed government which in modern +Europe is termed _monarchy_ in contradistinction to _despotism_ +is correct, there was wanting no other addition to the powers of our +Chief Magistrate to stamp a monarchical character on our Government +but the control of the public finances; and to me it appears strange +indeed that anyone should doubt that the entire control which the +President possesses over the officers who have the custody of the +public money, by the power of removal with or without cause, does, for +all mischievous purposes at least, virtually subject the treasure also +to his disposal. The first Roman Emperor, in his attempt to seize the +sacred treasure, silenced the opposition of the officer to whose charge +it had been committed by a significant allusion to his sword. By a +selection of political instruments for the care of the public money a +reference to their commissions by a President would be quite as +effectual an argument as that of Caesar to the Roman knight. I am not +insensible of the great difficulty that exists in drawing a proper plan +for the safe-keeping and disbursement of the public revenues, and I know +the importance which has been attached by men of great abilities and +patriotism to the divorce, as it is called, of the Treasury from the +banking institutions. It is not the divorce which is complained of, but +the unhallowed union of the Treasury with the executive department, +which has created such extensive alarm. To this danger to our republican +institutions and that created by the influence given to the Executive +through the instrumentality of the Federal officers I propose to apply +all the remedies which may be at my command. It was certainly a great +error in the framers of the Constitution not to have made the officer at +the head of the Treasury Department entirely independent of the +Executive. He should at least have been removable only upon the demand +of the popular branch of the Legislature. I have determined never to +remove a Secretary of the Treasury without communicating all the +circumstances attending such removal to both Houses of Congress. + +The influence of the Executive in controlling the freedom of the +elective franchise through the medium of the public officers can be +effectually checked by renewing the prohibition published by Mr. +Jefferson forbidding their interference in elections further than giving +their own votes, and their own independence secured by an assurance of +perfect immunity in exercising this sacred privilege of freemen under +the dictates of their own unbiased judgments. Never with my consent +shall an officer of the people, compensated for his services out of +their pockets, become the pliant instrument of Executive will. + +There is no part of the means placed in the hands of the Executive which +might be used with greater effect for unhallowed purposes than the +control of the public press. The maxim which our ancestors derived from +the mother country that "the freedom of the press is the great bulwark +of civil and religious liberty" is one of the most precious legacies +which they have left us. We have learned, too, from our own as well as +the experience of other countries, that golden shackles, by whomsoever +or by whatever pretense imposed, are as fatal to it as the iron bonds of +despotism. The presses in the necessary employment of the Government +should never be used "to clear the guilty or to varnish crime." A decent +and manly examination of the acts of the Government should be not only +tolerated, but encouraged. + +Upon another occasion I have given my opinion at some length upon the +impropriety of Executive interference in the legislation of +Congress--that the article in the Constitution making it the duty of the +President to communicate information and authorizing him to recommend +measures was not intended to make him the source in legislation, and, in +particular, that he should never be looked to for schemes of finance. It +would be very strange, indeed, that the Constitution should have +strictly forbidden one branch of the Legislature from interfering in the +origination of such bills and that it should be considered proper that +an altogether different department of the Government should be permitted +to do so. Some of our best political maxims and opinions have been drawn +from our parent isle. There are others, however, which can not be +introduced in our system without singular incongruity and the production +of much mischief, and this I conceive to be one. No matter in which of +the houses of Parliament a bill may originate nor by whom introduced--a +minister or a member of the opposition--by the fiction of law, or rather +of constitutional principle, the sovereign is supposed to have prepared +it agreeably to his will and then submitted it to Parliament for their +advice and consent. Now the very reverse is the case here, not only with +regard to the principle, but the forms prescribed by the Constitution. +The principle certainly assigns to the only body constituted by the +Constitution (the legislative body) the power to make laws, and the +forms even direct that the enactment should be ascribed to them. The +Senate, in relation to revenue bills, have the right to propose +amendments, and so has the Executive by the power given him to return +them to the House of Representatives with his objections. It is in his +power also to propose amendments in the existing revenue laws, suggested +by his observations upon their defective or injurious operation. But the +delicate duty of devising schemes of revenue should be left where the +Constitution has placed it--with the immediate representatives of the +people. For similar reasons the mode of keeping the public treasure +should be prescribed by them, and the further removed it may be from the +control of the Executive the more wholesome the arrangement and the more +in accordance with republican principle. + +Connected with this subject is the character of the currency. The idea +of making it exclusively metallic, however well intended, appears to me +to be fraught with more fatal consequences than any other scheme having +no relation to the personal rights of the citizens that has ever been +devised. If any single scheme could produce the effect of arresting at +once that mutation of condition by which thousands of our most indigent +fellow-citizens by their industry and enterprise are raised to the +possession of wealth, that is the one. If there is one measure better +calculated than another to produce that state of things so much +deprecated by all true republicans, by which the rich are daily adding +to their hoards and the poor sinking deeper into penury, it is an +exclusive metallic currency. Or if there is a process by which the +character of the country for generosity and nobleness of feeling may be +destroyed by the great increase and necessary toleration of usury, it is +an exclusive metallic currency. + +Amongst the other duties of a delicate character which the President is +called upon to perform is the supervision of the government of the +Territories of the United States. Those of them which are destined to +become members of our great political family are compensated by their +rapid progress from infancy to manhood for the partial and temporary +deprivation of their political rights. It is in this District only where +American citizens are to be found who under a settled policy are +deprived of many important political privileges without any inspiring +hope as to the future. Their only consolation under circumstances of +such deprivation is that of the devoted exterior guards of a camp--that +their sufferings secure tranquillity and safety within. Are there any of +their countrymen who would subject them to greater sacrifices, to any +other humiliations than those essentially necessary to the security of +the object for which they were thus separated from their +fellow-citizens? Are their rights alone not to be guaranteed by the +application of those great principles upon which all our constitutions +are founded? We are told by the greatest of British orators and +statesmen that at the commencement of the War of the Revolution the most +stupid men in England spoke of "their American subjects." Are there, +indeed, citizens of any of our States who have dreamed _of their +subjects_ in the District of Columbia? Such dreams can never be +realized by any agency of mine. The people of the District of Columbia +are not the subjects of the people of the States, but free American +citizens. Being in the latter condition when the Constitution was +formed, no words used in that instrument could have been intended to +deprive them of that character. If there is anything in the great +principle of unalienable rights so emphatically insisted upon in our +Declaration of Independence, they could neither make nor the United +States accept a surrender of their liberties and become the +_subjects_--in other words, the slaves--of their former +fellow-citizens. If this be true--and it will scarcely be denied by +anyone who has a correct idea of his own rights as an American +citizen--the grant to Congress of exclusive jurisdiction in the District +of Columbia can be interpreted, so far as respects the aggregate people +of the United States, as meaning nothing more than to allow to Congress +the controlling power necessary to afford a free and safe exercise of +the functions assigned to the General Government by the Constitution. In +all other respects the legislation of Congress should be adapted to +their peculiar position and wants and be conformable with their +deliberate opinions of their own interests. + +I have spoken of the necessity of keeping the respective departments of +the Government, as well as all the other authorities of our country, +within their appropriate orbits. This is a matter of difficulty, in some +cases, as the powers which they respectively claim are often not defined +by any distinct lines. Mischievous, however, in their tendencies as +collisions of this kind may be, those which arise between the respective +communities which for certain purposes compose one nation are much more +so, for no such nation can long exist without the careful culture of +those feelings of confidence and affection which are the effective bonds +to union between free and confederated states. Strong as is the tie of +interest, it has been often found ineffectual. Men blinded by their +passions have been known to adopt measures for their country in direct +opposition to all the suggestions of policy. The alternative, then, is +to destroy or keep down a bad passion by creating and fostering a good +one, and this seems to be the corner stone upon which our American +political architects have reared the fabric of our Government. The +cement which was to bind it and perpetuate its existence was the +affectionate attachment between all its members, To insure the +continuance of this feeling, produced at first by a community of +dangers, of sufferings, and of interests, the advantages of each were +made accessible to all. No participation in any good possessed by any +member of our extensive Confederacy, except in domestic government, was +withheld from the citizen of any other member. By a process attended +with no difficulty, no delay, no expense but that of removal, the +citizen of one might become the citizen of any other, and successively +of the whole. The lines, too, separating powers to be exercised by the +citizens of one State from those of another seem to be so distinctly +drawn as to leave no room for misunderstanding. The citizens of each +State unite in their persons all the privileges which that character +confers and all that they may claim as citizens of the United States, +but in no case can the same persons at the same time act as the citizen +of two separate States, and _he is therefore positively precluded from +any interference with the reserved powers of any State but that of which +he is for the time being a citizen_. He may, indeed, offer to the +citizens of other States his advice as to their management, and the form +in which it is tendered is left to his own discretion and sense of +propriety. It may be observed, however, that organized associations of +citizens requiring compliance with their wishes too much resemble the +_recommendations_ of Athens to her allies, supported by an armed +and powerful fleet. It was, indeed, to the ambition of the leading +States of Greece to control the domestic concerns of the others that the +destruction of that celebrated Confederacy, and subsequently of all its +members, is mainly to be attributed, and it is owing to the absence of +that spirit that the Helvetic Confederacy has for so many years been +preserved. Never has there been seen in the institutions of the separate +members of any confederacy more elements of discord. In the principles +and forms of government and religion, as well as in the circumstances of +the several Cantons, so marked a discrepancy was observable as to +promise anything but harmony in their intercourse or permanency in their +alliance, and yet for ages neither has been interrupted. Content with +the positive benefits which their union produced, with the independence +and safety from foreign aggression which it secured, these sagacious +people respected the institutions of each other, however repugnant to +their own principles and prejudices. + +Our Confederacy, fellow-citizens, can only be preserved by the same +forbearance. Our citizens must be content with the exercise of the +powers with which the Constitution clothes them. The attempt of those of +one State to control the domestic institutions of another can only +result in feelings of distrust and jealousy, the certain harbingers of +disunion, violence, and civil war, and the ultimate destruction of our +free institutions. Our Confederacy is perfectly illustrated by the terms +and principles governing a common copartnership. There is a fund of +power to be exercised under the direction of the joint councils of the +allied members, but that which has been reserved by the individual +members is intangible by the common Government or the individual members +composing it. To attempt it finds no support in the principles of our +Constitution. + +It should be our constant and earnest endeavor mutually to cultivate a +spirit of concord and harmony among the various parts of our +Confederacy. Experience has abundantly taught us that the agitation by +citizens of one part of the Union of a subject not confided to the +General Government, but exclusively under the guardianship of the local +authorities, is productive of no other consequences than bitterness, +alienation, discord, and injury to the very cause which is intended to +be advanced. Of all the great interests which appertain to our country, +that of union--cordial, confiding, fraternal union--is by far the most +important, since it is the only true and sure guaranty of all others. + +In consequence of the embarrassed state of business and the currency, +some of the States may meet with difficulty in their financial concerns. +However deeply we may regret anything imprudent or excessive in the +engagements into which States have entered for purposes of their own, it +does not become us to disparage the State governments, nor to discourage +them from making proper efforts for their own relief. On the contrary, +it is our duty to encourage them to the extent of our constitutional +authority to apply their best means and cheerfully to make all necessary +sacrifices and submit to all necessary burdens to fulfill their +engagements and maintain their credit, for the character and credit of +the several States form a part of the character and credit of the whole +country. The resources of the country are abundant, the enterprise and +activity of our people proverbial, and we may well hope that wise +legislation and prudent administration by the respective governments, +each acting within its own sphere, will restore former prosperity. + +Unpleasant and even dangerous as collisions may sometimes be between the +constituted authorities of the citizens of our country in relation to +the lines which separate their respective jurisdictions, the results can +be of no vital injury to our institutions if that ardent patriotism, +that devoted attachment to liberty, that spirit of moderation and +forbearance for which our countrymen were once distinguished, continue +to be cherished. If this continues to be the ruling passion of our +souls, the weaker feeling of the mistaken enthusiast will be corrected, +the Utopian dreams of the scheming politician dissipated, and the +complicated intrigues of the demagogue rendered harmless. The spirit of +liberty is the sovereign balm for every injury which our institutions +may receive. On the contrary, no care that can be used in the +construction of our Government, no division of powers, no distribution +of checks in its several departments, will prove effectual to keep us a +free people if this spirit is suffered to decay; and decay it will +without constant nurture. To the neglect of this duty the best +historians agree in attributing the ruin of all the republics with whose +existence and fall their writings have made us acquainted. The same +causes will ever produce the same effects, and as long as the love of +power is a dominant passion of the human bosom, and as long as the +understandings of men can be warped and their affections changed by +operations upon their passions and prejudices, so long will the +liberties of a people depend on their own constant attention to its +preservation. The danger to all well-established free governments arises +from the unwillingness of the people to believe in its existence or from +the influence of designing men diverting their attention from the +quarter whence it approaches to a source from which it can never come. +This is the old trick of those who would usurp the government of their +country. In the name of democracy they speak, warning the people against +the influence of wealth and the danger of aristocracy. History, ancient +and modern, is full of such examples. Caesar became the master of the +Roman people and the senate under the pretense of supporting the +democratic claims of the former against the aristocracy of the latter; +Cromwell, in the character of protector of the liberties of the people, +became the dictator of England, and Bolivar possessed himself of +unlimited power with the title of his country's liberator. There is, on +the contrary, no instance on record of an extensive and well-established +republic being changed into an aristocracy. The tendencies of all such +governments in their decline is to monarchy, and the antagonist +principle to liberty there is the spirit of faction--a spirit which +assumes the character and in times of great excitement imposes itself +upon the people as the genuine spirit of freedom, and, like the false +Christs whose coming was foretold by the Savior, seeks to, and were it +possible would, impose upon the true and most faithful disciples of +liberty. It is in periods like this that it behooves the people to be +most watchful of those to whom they have intrusted power. And although +there is at times much difficulty in distinguishing the false from the +true spirit, a calm and dispassionate investigation will detect the +counterfeit, as well by the character of its operations as the results +that are produced. The true spirit of liberty, although devoted, +persevering, bold, and uncompromising in principle, that secured is mild +and tolerant and scrupulous as to the means it employs, whilst the +spirit of party, assuming to be that of liberty, is harsh, vindictive, +and intolerant, and totally reckless as to the character of the allies +which it brings to the aid of its cause. When the genuine spirit of +liberty animates the body of a people to a thorough examination of their +affairs, it leads to the excision of every excrescence which may have +fastened itself upon any of the departments of the government, and +restores the system to its pristine health and beauty. But the reign of +an intolerant spirit of party amongst a free people seldom fails to +result in a dangerous accession to the executive power introduced and +established amidst unusual professions of devotion to democracy. + +The foregoing remarks relate almost exclusively to matters connected +with our domestic concerns. It may be proper, however, that I should +give some indications to my fellow-citizens of my proposed course of +conduct in the management of our foreign relations. I assure them, +therefore, that it is my intention to use every means in my power to +preserve the friendly intercourse which now so happily subsists with +every foreign nation, and that although, of course, not well informed as +to the state of pending negotiations with any of them, I see in the +personal characters of the sovereigns, as well as in the mutual +interests of our own and of the governments with which our relations are +most intimate, a pleasing guaranty that the harmony so important to the +interests of their subjects as well as of our citizens will not be +interrupted by the advancement of any claim or pretension upon their +part to which our honor would not permit us to yield. Long the defender +of my country's rights in the field, I trust that my fellow-citizens +will not see in my earnest desire to preserve peace with foreign powers +any indication that their rights will ever be sacrificed or the honor of +the nation tarnished by any admission on the part of their Chief +Magistrate unworthy of their former glory. In our intercourse with our +aboriginal neighbors the same liberality and justice which marked the +course prescribed to me by two of my illustrious predecessors when +acting under their direction in the discharge of the duties of +superintendent and commissioner shall be strictly observed. I can +conceive of no more sublime spectacle, none more likely to propitiate an +impartial and common Creator, than a rigid adherence to the principles +of justice on the part of a powerful nation in its transactions with a +weaker and uncivilized people whom circumstances have placed at its +disposal. + +Before concluding, fellow-citizens, I must say something to you on the +subject of the parties at this time existing in our country. To me it +appears perfectly clear that the interest of that country requires that +the violence of the spirit by which those parties are at this time +governed must be greatly mitigated, if not entirely extinguished, or +consequences will ensue which are appalling to be thought of. + +If parties in a republic are necessary to secure a degree of vigilance +sufficient to keep the public functionaries within the bounds of law and +duty, at that point their usefulness ends. Beyond that they become +destructive of public virtue, the parent of a spirit antagonist to that +of liberty, and eventually its inevitable conqueror. We have examples of +republics where the love of country and of liberty at one time were the +dominant passions of the whole mass of citizens, and yet, with the +continuance of the name and forms of free government, not a vestige of +these qualities remaining in the bosoms of any one of its citizens. It +was the beautiful remark of a distinguished English writer that "in the +Roman senate Octavius had a party and Antony a party, but the +Commonwealth had none." Yet the senate continued to meet in the temple +of liberty to talk of the sacredness and beauty of the Commonwealth and +gaze at the statues of the elder Brutus and of the Curtii and Decii, and +the people assembled in the forum, not, as in the days of Camillus and +the Scipios, to cast their free votes for annual magistrates or pass +upon the acts of the senate, but to receive from the hands of the +leaders of the respective parties their share of the spoils and to shout +for one or the other, as those collected in Gaul or Egypt and the lesser +Asia would furnish the larger dividend. The spirit of liberty had fled, +and, avoiding the abodes of civilized man, had sought protection in the +wilds of Scythia or Scandinavia; and so under the operation of the same +causes and influences it will fly from our Capitol and our forums. A +calamity so awful, not only to our country, but to the world, must be +deprecated by every patriot and every tendency to a state of things +likely to produce it immediately checked. Such a tendency has +existed--does exist. Always the friend of my countrymen, never their +flatterer, it becomes my duty to say to them from this high place to +which their partiality has exalted me that there exists in the land a +spirit hostile to their best interests--hostile to liberty itself. It is +a spirit contracted in its views, selfish in its objects. It looks to +the aggrandizement of a few even to the destruction of the interests of +the whole. The entire remedy is with the people. Something, however, may +be effected by the means which they have placed in my hands. It is union +that we want, not of a party for the sake of that party, but a union of +the whole country for the sake of the whole country, for the defense of +its interests and its honor against foreign aggression, for the defense +of those principles for which our ancestors so gloriously contended. As +far as it depends upon me it shall be accomplished. All the influence +that I possess shall be exerted to prevent the formation at least of an +Executive party in the halls of the legislative body. I wish for the +support of no member of that body to any measure of mine that does not +satisfy his judgment and his sense of duty to those from whom he holds +his appointment, nor any confidence in advance from the people but that +asked for by Mr. Jefferson, "to give firmness and effect to the legal +administration of their affairs." + +I deem the present occasion sufficiently important and solemn to justify +me in expressing to my fellow-citizens a profound reverence for the +Christian religion and a thorough conviction that sound morals, +religious liberty, and a just sense of religious responsibility are +essentially connected with all true and lasting happiness; and to that +good Being who has blessed us by the gifts of civil and religious +freedom, who watched over and prospered the labors of our fathers and +has hitherto preserved to us institutions far exceeding in excellence +those of any other people, let us unite in fervently commending every +interest of our beloved country in all future time. + +Fellow-citizens, being fully invested with that high office to which the +partiality of my countrymen has called me, I now take an affectionate +leave of you. You will bear with you to your homes the remembrance of +the pledge I have this day given to discharge all the high duties of my +exalted station according to the best of my ability, and I shall enter +upon their performance with entire confidence in the support of a just +and generous people. + +MARCH 4, 1841. + + + + +SPECIAL MESSAGE. + + March 5, 1841. +_To the Senate of the United States_: + +I hereby withdraw all nominations made to the Senate on or before the 3d +instant and which were not definitely acted on at the close of its +session on that day. + +W.H. HARRISON. + + + + +PROCLAMATION. + + +[From Statutes at Large (Little, Brown & Co.), Vol. XI, p. 786.] + +BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. + +A PROCLAMATION. + +Whereas sundry important and weighty matters, principally growing out of +the condition of the revenue and finances of the country, appear to me +to call for the consideration of Congress at an earlier day, than its +next annual session, and thus form an extraordinary occasion, such as +renders necessary, in my judgment, the convention of the two Houses as +soon as may be practicable: + +I do therefore by this my proclamation convene the two Houses of +Congress to meet in the Capitol, at the city of Washington, on the last +Monday, being the 31st day, of May next; and I require the respective +Senators and Representatives then and there to assemble, in order to +receive such information respecting the state of the Union as may be +given to them and to devise and adopt such measures as the good of the +country may seem to them, in the exercise of their wisdom and +discretion, to require. + +In testimony whereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be +hereunto affixed, and signed the same with my hand. + +[SEAL.] + +Done at the city of Washington, the 17th day of March, A.D. 1841, and of +the Independence of the United States the sixty-fifth. + +W.H. HARRISON + + By the President: + DANIEL WEBSTER, + _Secretary of State_. + + + + +DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. + + +PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT. + +[From the Daily National Intelligencer, April 5, 1841.] + +WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1841_. + +An all-wise Providence having suddenly removed from this life William +Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, we have thought it +our duty, in the recess of Congress and in the absence of the +Vice-President from the seat of Government, to make this afflicting +bereavement known to the country by this declaration under our hands. + +He died at the President's house, in this city, this 4th day of April, +A.D. 1841, at thirty minutes before 1 o'clock in the morning. + +The people of the United States, overwhelmed, like ourselves, by an +event so unexpected and so melancholy, will derive consolation from +knowing that his death was calm and resigned, as his life has been +patriotic, useful, and distinguished, and that the last utterance of his +lips expressed a fervent desire for the perpetuity of the Constitution +and the preservation of its true principles. In death, as in life, the +happiness of his country was uppermost in his thoughts. + +DANIEL WEBSTER, + _Secretary of State_. +THOMAS EWING, + _Secretary of the Treasury_. +JOHN BELL, + _Secretary of War_. +J.J. CRITTENDEN, + _Attorney-General_. +FRANCIS GRANGER, + _Postmaster-General_. + +[The Secretary of the Navy was absent from the city.] + + + + +ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE VICE-PRESIDENT. + +[From the Daily National Intelligencer, April 5, 1841.] + + WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1841_. +JOHN TYLER, + _Vice-President of the United States_. + +Sir: It has become our most painful duty to inform you that William +Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, has departed this +life. + +This distressing event took place this day at the President's mansion, +in this city, at thirty minutes before 1 in the morning. + +We lose no time in dispatching the chief clerk in the State Department +as a special messenger to bear you these melancholy tidings. + +We have the honor to be, with the highest regard, your obedient +servants, + +DANIEL WEBSTER, + _Secretary of State_. +THOMAS EWING, + _Secretary of the Treasury_. +JOHN BELL, + _Secretary of War_. +JOHN J. CRITTENDEN, + _Attorney-General_. +FRANCIS GRANGER, + _Postmaster-General_. + + + + +ANNOUNCEMENT TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES ABROAD. + +[From official records in the State Department.] + +DEPARTMENT OF STATE, + _Washington, April 4, 1841_. + +Sir: It has become my most painful duty to announce to you the decease +of William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States. + +This afflicting event took place this day at the Executive Mansion, in +this city, at thirty minutes before 1 o'clock in the morning. + +I am, sir, your obedient servant, + +DANL. WEBSTER. + + + + +ANNOUNCEMENT TO REPRESENTATIVES OF FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS IN THE UNITED +STATES. + +[From official records in the State Department.] + +DEPARTMENT OF STATE, + _Washington, April 5, 1841_. + +Sir: It is my great misfortune to be obliged to inform you of an event +not less afflicting to the people of the United States than distressing +to my own feelings and the feelings of all those connected with the +Government. + +The President departed this life yesterday at thirty minutes before +1 o'clock in the morning. + +You are respectfully invited to attend the funeral ceremonies, which +will take place on Wednesday next, and with the particular arrangements +for which you will be made acquainted in due time. + +Not doubting your sympathy and condolence with the Government and people +of the country on this bereavement, I have the honor to be, sir, with +high consideration, your obedient servant, + +DANL. WEBSTER. + + + + +ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE ARMY. + +[From official records in the War Department.] + +DEPARTMENT OF WAR, + _Washington April 5, 1841_. + +It is with feelings of the deepest sorrow that the Secretary of War +announces to the Army the death of the President of the United States. +William Henry Harrison is no more. His long and faithful services in +many subordinate but important stations, his recent elevation to the +highest in honor and power, and the brief term allotted to him in the +enjoyment of it are circumstances of themselves which must awaken the +liveliest sympathy in every bosom. But these are personal +considerations; the dispensation is heaviest and most afflicting on +public grounds. This great calamity has befallen the country at a period +of general anxiety for its present, and some apprehension for its +future, condition--at a time when it is most desirable that all its high +offices should be filled and all its high trusts administered in +harmony, wisdom, and vigor. The generosity of character of the deceased, +the conspicuous honesty of his principles and purposes, together with +the skill and firmness with which he maintained them in all situations, +had won for him the affection and confidence of his countrymen; but at +the moment when by their voice he was raised to a station in the +discharge of the powers and duties of which the most beneficent results +might justly have been anticipated from his great experience, his sound +judgment, the high estimation in which he was held by the people, and +his unquestioned devotion to the Constitution and to the Union, it has +pleased an all-wise but mysterious Providence to remove him suddenly +from that and every other earthly employment. + +While the officers and soldiers of the Army share in the general grief +which these considerations so naturally and irresistibly inspire, they +will doubtless be penetrated with increased sensibility and feel a +deeper concern in testifying in the manner appropriate to them the full +measure of a nation's gratitude for the eminent services of the departed +patriot and in rendering just and adequate honors to his memory because +he was himself a soldier, and an approved one, receiving his earliest +lessons in a camp, and, when in riper years called to the command of +armies, illustrating the profession of arms by his personal qualities +and contributing largely by his successes to the stock of his country's +glory. + +It is to be regretted that the suddenness of the emergency has made it +necessary to announce this sad event in the absence of the +Vice-President from the seat of Government; but the greatest confidence +is felt that he will cordially approve the sentiments expressed, and +that he will in due time give directions for such further marks of +respect not prescribed by the existing regulations of the Army as may be +demanded by the occasion. + +JOHN BELL, _Secretary of War_. + + + + +GENERAL ORDERS, No. 20. + +HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY, + ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, + _Washington, April 7, 1841_. + +The death of the President of the United States having been officially +announced from the War Department, the Major-General Commanding in Chief +communicates to the Army the melancholy intelligence with feelings of +the most profound sorrow. The long, arduous, and faithful military +services in which President Harrison has been engaged since the first +settlement of the Western country, from the rank of a subaltern to that +of a commander in chief, are too well known to require a recital of them +here. It is sufficient to point to the fields of Tippecanoe, the banks +of the Miami, and the Thames, in Upper Canada, to recall to many of the +soldiers of the present Army the glorious results of some of his +achievements against the foes of his country, both savage and civilized. + +The Army has on former occasions been called upon to mourn the loss of +distinguished patriots who have occupied the Presidential chair, but +this is the first time since the adoption of the Constitution it has to +lament the demise of a President while in the actual exercise of the +high functions of the Chief Magistracy of the Union. + +The members of the Army, in common with their fellow-citizens of all +classes, deeply deplore this national bereavement; but although they +have lost a friend ever ready to protect their interests, his bright +example in the paths of honor and glory still remains for their +emulation. + +The funeral honors directed to be paid by the troops in paragraph 523 of +the General Regulations will be duly observed, and the troops at the +several stations will be paraded at 10 o'clock a.m., when this order +will be read, after which all labors for the day will cease; the +national flag will be displayed at half-staff; at dawn of day thirteen +guns will be fired, besides the half-hour guns as directed by the +Regulations, and at the close of the day a national salute. The +standards, guidons, and colors of the several regiments will be put in +mourning for the period of six months, and the officers will wear the +usual badge of mourning on the left arm above the elbow and on the hilt +of the sword for the same period. + +By order of Alexander Macomb, Major-General Commanding in Chief: + R. JONES, _Adjutant-General_. + + + + + +ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE NAVY. + +[From official records in the Navy Department.] + + +GENERAL ORDER. + +NAVY DEPARTMENT, _April 5, 1841_. + +The Department announces to the officers of the Navy and Marine Corps +the death of William Henry Harrison, late President of the United +States, which occurred at the Executive Mansion, in the city of +Washington, on the morning of the 4th instant, and directs that, uniting +with their fellow-citizens in the manifestations of their respect for +the exalted character and eminent public services of the illustrious +deceased, and of their sense of the bereavement the country has +sustained by this afflicting dispensation of Providence, they wear the +usual badge of mourning for six months. + +The Department further directs that funeral honors be paid him at each +of the navy-yards and on board each of the public vessels in commission +by firing twenty-six minute guns, commencing at 12 o'clock m., on the +day after the receipt of this order, and by wearing their flags at +half-mast for one week. + + J.D. SIMMS +_Acting Secretary of the Navy_. + + + + +OFFICIAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE FUNERAL. + +[From official records in the State Department.] + +WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1841_. + +The circumstances in which we are placed by the death of the President +render it indispensable for us, in the recess of Congress and in the +absence of the Vice-President, to make arrangements for the funeral +solemnities. Having consulted with the family and personal friends of +the deceased, we have concluded that the funeral be solemnized on +Wednesday, the 7th instant, at 12 o'clock. The religious services to be +performed according to the usage of the Episcopal Church, in which +church the deceased most usually worshiped. The body to be taken from +the President's house to the Congress Burying Ground, accompanied by a +military and a civic procession, and deposited in the receiving tomb. + +The military arrangements to be under the direction of Major-General +Macomb, the General Commanding in Chief the Army of the United States, +and Major-General Walter Jones, of the militia of the District of +Columbia. + +Commodore Morris, the senior captain in the Navy now in the city, to +have the direction of the naval arrangements. + +The marshal of the District to have the direction of the civic +procession, assisted by the mayors of Washington, Georgetown, and +Alexandria, the clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States, and +such other citizens as they may see fit to call to their aid. + +John Quincy Adams, ex-President of the United States, members of +Congress now in the city or its neighborhood, all the members of the +diplomatic body resident in Washington, and all officers of Government +and citizens generally are invited to attend. + +And it is respectfully recommended to the officers of Government that +they wear the usual badge of mourning. + +DANL. WEBSTER, + _Secretary of State_. +T. EWING, + _Secretary of the Treasury_. +JNO. BELL, + _Secretary of War_. +J.J. CRITTENDEN, + _Attorney-General_. +FR. GRANGER, + _Postmaster-General_. + +[The Secretary of the Navy was absent from the city.] + + + + +[From official records in the War Department.] + +DISTRICT ORDERS. + +WASHINGTON, _April 5, 1841_. + +The foregoing notice from the heads of the Executive Departments of the +Government informs you what a signal calamity has befallen us in the +death of the President of the United States, and the prominent part +assigned you in those funeral honors which may bespeak a nation's +respect to the memory of a departed patriot and statesman, whose virtue +and talents as a citizen and soldier had achieved illustrious services, +and whose sudden death has disappointed the expectation of still more +important benefits to his country. + +With a view to carry into effect the views of these high officers of +Government in a manner befitting the occasion and honorable to the +militia corps of this District, I request the general and field +officers, the general staff, and the commandants of companies to +assemble at my house to-morrow, Tuesday, April 6, precisely at 10 +o'clock, to report the strength and equipment of the several corps of +the militia and to receive final instructions for parade and arrangement +in the military part of the funeral procession. + +The commandants of such militia corps from the neighboring States as +desire to unite in the procession are respectfully invited to report to +me as soon as practicable their intention, with a view to arrange them +in due and uniform order as a part of the general military escort. + +The detail of these arrangements, to which all the military accessories, +both of the regulars and militia, are expected to conform, will be +published in due time for the information of all. + +For the present it is deemed sufficient to say that the whole military +part of the procession, including the regular troops of every arm and +denomination and all the militia corps, whether of this District or +of the States, will be consolidated in one column of escort, whereof +Major-General Macomb, Commander of the Army of the United States, +will take the general command, and Brigadier-General Roger Jones, +Adjutant-General of the Army of the United States, will act as +adjutant-general and officer of the day. + + WALTER JONES, +_Maj. Gen., Comdg. the Militia of the District of Columbia_. + + +ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, + _Washington, April 6, 1841_. + +The Major-General Commanding the Army of the United States and the +major-general commanding the militia of the District of Columbia, having +been charged by the executive officers of the Government with the +military arrangements for the funeral honors to be paid to the patriot +and illustrious citizen, William Henry Harrison, late President of the +United States, direct the following order of arrangement: + + +ORDER OF THE PROCESSION. + +FUNERAL ESCORT. +(In column of march.) + +_Infantry_. + +Battalion of Baltimore volunteers. +Company of Annapolis volunteers. +Battalion of Washington volunteers. + +_Marines_. + +United States Marine Corps. + +Corps of commissioned officers of the Baltimore volunteers, headed by a +major-general. + +_Cavalry_. + +Squadron of Georgetown Light Dragoons. + +_Artillery_. + +Troop of United States light artillery. + +Dismounted officers of volunteers, Marine Corps, Navy, and Army in the +order named. + +Mounted officers of volunteers, Marine Corps, Navy, and Army in the +order named. + +Major-General Walter Jones, commanding the militia. + +Aids-de-camp. + +Major-General Macomb, Commanding the Army. + +Aids-de-camp. + + +CIVIC PROCESSION. + +United States marshal for the District of Columbia and clerk of the +Supreme Court. + +The mayors of Washington, Georgetown, and Alexandria. + +Clergy of the District of Columbia and elsewhere. + +Physicians to the President. + +Funeral car with the corpse. + +_Pallbearers_.--R. Cutts, esq., for Maine; Hon. J.B. Moore, for New +Hampshire; Hon. C. Gushing, Massachusetts; M. St. C. Clarke, esq., Rhode +Island; W.B. Lloyd, esq., Connecticut; Hon. Hiland Hall, Vermont; +General John Granger, New York; Hon. G.C. Washington, New Jersey; M. +Willing, esq., Pennsylvania; Hon. A. Naudain, Delaware; David Hoffman, +esq., Maryland; Major Camp, Virginia; Hon. E.D. White, North Carolina; +John Carter, esq., South Carolina; General D.L. Clinch, Georgia; Th. +Crittenden, esq., Kentucky; Colonel Rogers, Tennessee; Mr. Graham, Ohio; +M. Durald, esq., Louisiana; General Robert Hanna, Indiana; Anderson +Miller, esq., Mississippi; D.G. Garnsey, esq., Illinois; Dr. Perrine, +Alabama; Major Russell, Missouri; A.W. Lyon, esq., Arkansas; General +Howard, Michigan; Hon. J.D. Doty, Wisconsin; Hon. C. Downing, Florida; +Hon. W.B. Carter, Iowa; R. Smith, esq., District of Columbia. + +Family and relatives of the late President. + +The President of the United States and heads of Departments. + +Ex-President Adams. + +The Chief Justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court and +district judges of the United States. + +The President of the Senate _pro tempore_ and Secretary. + +Senators and officers of the Senate. + +Foreign ministers and suites. + +United States and Mexican commissioners for the adjustment of claims +under the convention with Mexico. + +Members of the House of Representatives, and officers. + +Governors of States and Territories and members of State legislatures. + +Judges of the circuit and criminal courts of the District of Columbia, +with the members of the bar and officers of the courts. + +The judges of the several States. + +The Comptrollers of the Treasury, Auditors, Treasurer, Register, +Solicitor, and Commissioners of Land Office, Pensions, Indian Affairs, +Patents, and Public Buildings. + +The clerks, etc., of the several Departments, preceded by their +respective chief clerks, and all other civil officers of the Government. + +Officers of the Revolution. + +Officers and soldiers of the late war who served under the command of +the late President. + +Corporate authorities of Washington. + +Corporate authorities of Georgetown. + +Corporate authorities of Alexandria. + +Such societies and fraternities as may wish to join the procession, +to report to the marshal of the District, who will assign them their +respective positions. + +Citizens and strangers. + + +The troops designated to form the escort will assemble in the avenue +north of the President's house, and form line precisely at 11 o'clock +a.m. on Wednesday, the 7th instant, with its right (Captain Ringgold's +troop of light artillery) resting opposite the western gate. + +The procession will move precisely at 12 o'clock m., when minute guns +will be fired by detachments of artillery stationed near St. John's +church and the City Hall, and by the Columbian Artillery at the Capitol. +At the same hour the bells of the several churches in Washington, +Georgetown, and Alexandria will be tolled. + +At sunrise to-morrow, the 7th instant, a Federal salute will be fired +from the military stations in the vicinity of Washington, minute guns +between the hours of 12 and 3, and a national salute at the setting of +the sun. + +The usual badge of mourning will be worn on the left arm and on the hilt +of the sword. + +The Adjutant-General of the Army is charged with the military +arrangements of the day, aided by the Assistant Adjutants-General on +duty at the Headquarters of the Army. + +The United States marshal of the District has the direction of the civic +procession, assisted by the mayors of the cities of the District and the +clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States. + +By order: + ROGER JONES, + _Adjutant-General United States Army_. + + + + + +CERTIFICATE OF THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT HARRISON. + +[From official records, written on parchment, in the State Department.] + +WASHINGTON, _April 4, A.D. 1841_. + +William Henry Harrison, President of the United States, departed this +life at the President's house, in this city, this morning, being Sunday, +the 4th day of April, A.D. 1841, at thirty minutes before 1 o'clock in +the morning; we whose names are hereunto subscribed being in the house, +and some of us in his immediate presence, at the time of his decease. + +W.W. SEATON, + _Mayor of Washington_. +DANL. WEBSTER, + _Secretary of State_. +THOMAS MILDER, M.D., + _Attending Physician_. +THOMAS EWING, + _Secretary of the Treasury_. +ASHTON ALEXANDER, M.D., + _Consulting Physician_. +JNO. BELL, + _Secretary of War_. +WM. HAWLEY, + _Rector of St. John's Church_. +J.J. CRITTENDEN, + _Attorney-General_. +A. HUNTER, + _Marshal of the District of Columbia_. +FR. GRANGER, + _Postmaster-General_. +WM. THOS. CARROLL, + _Clerk of Supreme Court U.S._ +FLETCHER WEBSTER, + _Chief Clerk in the State Dept_. +JOHN CHAMBERS, +C.S. TODD +DAVID O. COUPLAND, + _Of the President's Family_. + +Let this be duly recorded and placed among the rolls. + +DANL. WEBSTER, + _Secretary of State_. + +Recorded in Domestic Letter Book by-- + A.T. McCORMICK. + + + + +REPORT OF THE PHYSICIANS. + +[From the Daily National Intelligencer, April 5, 1841.] + +WASHINGTON, _April 4, 1841_. + +Hon. D. WEBSTER, + _Secretary of State_. + +Dear Sir: In compliance with the request made to us by yourself and the +other gentlemen of the Cabinet, the attending and consulting physicians +have drawn up the abstract of a report on the President's case, which I +herewith transmit to you. + +Very respectfully, your obedient servant, + +THO. MILDER, + _Attending Physician_. + + +On Saturday, March 27, 1841, President Harrison, after several days' +previous indisposition, was seized with a chill and other symptoms of +fever. The next day pneumonia, with congestion of the liver and +derangement of the stomach and bowels, was ascertained to exist. The age +and debility of the patient, with the immediate prostration, forbade a +resort to general blood letting. Topical depletion, blistering, and +appropriate internal remedies subdued in a great measure the disease of +the lungs and liver, but the stomach and intestines did not regain a +healthy condition. Finally, on the 3d of April, at 3 o'clock p. m., +profuse diarrhea came on, under which he sank at thirty minutes to 1 +o'clock on the morning of the 4th. + +The last words uttered by the President, as heard by Dr. Worthington, +were these: "Sir, I wish you to understand the true principles of the +Government. I wish them carried out. I ask nothing more." + +THO. MILLER, M.D., + _Attending Physician_. +FRED. MAY, M.D., +N.W. WORTHINGTON, M.D., +J.C. HALL, M.D., +ASHTON ALEXANDER, M.D., + _Consulting Physicians_. + + + + +OATH OF OFFICE ADMINISTERED TO PRESIDENT JOHN TYLER IN THE PRESENCE OF +THE CABINET.[A] + +[From the Daily National Intelligencer, April 7, 1841.] + +I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of +President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability +preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. + + JOHN TYLER +APRIL 6, 1841. + +[Footnote A: The Secretary of the Navy was absent from the city.] + + +DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, + _City and County of Washington, ss_: + +I, William Cranch, chief judge of the circuit court of the District of +Columbia, certify that the above-named John Tyler personally appeared +before me this day, and although he deems himself qualified to perform +the duties and exercise the powers and office of President on the death +of William Henry Harrison, late President of the United States, without +any other oath than that which he has taken as Vice-President, yet as +doubts may _arise_, and for greater caution, took and subscribed +the foregoing oath before me. + + W. CRANCH. +APRIL 6, 1841. + + + + +PROCLAMATION. + +TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES. + +A RECOMMENDATION. + + +WASHINGTON, _April 13, 1841_. + +When a Christian people feel themselves to be overtaken by a great +public calamity, it becomes them to humble themselves under the +dispensation of Divine Providence, to recognize His righteous government +over the children of men, to acknowledge His goodness in time past, as +well as their own unworthiness, and to supplicate His merciful +protection for the future. + +The death of William Henry Harrison, late President of the United +States, so soon after his elevation to that high office, is a +bereavement peculiarly calculated to be regarded as a heavy affliction +and to impress all minds with a sense of the uncertainty of human things +and of the dependence of nations, as well as individuals, upon our +Heavenly Parent. + +I have thought, therefore, that I should be acting in conformity with +the general expectation and feelings of the community in recommending, +as I now do, to the people of the United States of every religious +denomination that, according to their several modes and forms of +worship, they observe a day of fasting and prayer by such religious +services as may be suitable on the occasion; and I recommend Friday, the +14th day of May next, for that purpose, to the end that on that day we +may all with one accord join in humble and reverential approach to Him +in whose hands we are, invoking Him to inspire us with a proper spirit +and temper of heart and mind under these frowns of His providence and +still to bestow His gracious benedictions upon our Government and our +country. + +JOHN TYLER. + + +[For "A resolution manifesting the sensibility of Congress upon +the event of the death of William Henry Harrison, late President of +the United States," see p. 55.] + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Messages and Papers of the Presidents: +Harrison, by James D. Richardson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10815 *** |