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diff --git a/37656.txt b/37656.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d537779 --- /dev/null +++ b/37656.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8577 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Thomas Hart Benton, by Theodore Roosevelt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Thomas Hart Benton + +Author: Theodore Roosevelt + +Release Date: October 7, 2011 [EBook #37656] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THOMAS HART BENTON *** + + + + +Produced by Julia Neufeld, Curtis Weyant and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: Passages in italics are indicated by _underscores_. +Small caps have been replaced by ALL CAPS. + + American Statesmen + + EDITED BY + + JOHN T. MORSE, JR. + + + + + American Statesmen + + THOMAS HART BENTON + + BY + + THEODORE ROOSEVELT + + + + BOSTON AND NEW YORK + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY + The Riverside Press, Cambridge + 1890 + + + + Copyright, 1886, + BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT. + + _All rights reserved._ + + + FIFTH EDITION. + + _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ + Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. + PAGE + + THE YOUNG WEST 1 + + CHAPTER II. + + BENTON'S EARLY LIFE AND ENTRY INTO THE SENATE 23 + + CHAPTER III. + + EARLY YEARS IN THE SENATE 47 + + CHAPTER IV. + + THE ELECTION OF JACKSON, AND THE SPOILS SYSTEM 69 + + CHAPTER V. + + THE STRUGGLE WITH THE NULLIFIERS 88 + + CHAPTER VI. + + JACKSON AND BENTON MAKE WAR ON THE BANK 114 + + CHAPTER VII. + + THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SURPLUS 143 + + CHAPTER VIII. + + THE SLAVE QUESTION APPEARS IN POLITICS 157 + + CHAPTER IX. + + THE CHILDREN'S TEETH ARE SET ON EDGE 184 + + CHAPTER X. + + LAST DAYS OF THE JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY 209 + + CHAPTER XI. + + THE PRESIDENT WITHOUT A PARTY 237 + + CHAPTER XII. + + BOUNDARY TROUBLES WITH ENGLAND 260 + + CHAPTER XIII. + + THE ABOLITIONISTS DANCE TO THE SLAVE BARONS' PIPING 290 + + CHAPTER XIV. + + SLAVERY IN THE NEW TERRITORIES 317 + + CHAPTER XV. + + THE LOSING FIGHT 341 + + + + +THOMAS HART BENTON. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE YOUNG WEST. + + +Even before the end of the Revolutionary War the movement had begun +which was to change in form a straggling chain of sea-board republics +into a mighty continental nation, the great bulk of whose people would +live to the westward of the Appalachian Mountains. The hardy and +restless backwoodsmen, dwelling along the eastern slopes of the +Alleghanies, were already crossing the mountain-crests and hewing their +way into the vast, sombre forests of the Mississippi basin; and for the +first time English-speaking communities were growing up along waters +whose outlet was into the Gulf of Mexico and not into the Atlantic +Ocean. Among these communities Kentucky and Tennessee were the earliest +to form themselves into states; and around them, as a nucleus, other +states of the woodland and the prairie were rapidly developed, until, by +the close of the second decade in the present century, the region +between the Great Lakes and the Gulf was almost solidly filled in, and +finally, in 1820, by the admission of Missouri, the Union held within +its borders a political body whose whole territory lay to the west of +the Mississippi. + +All the men who founded these states were of much the same type; they +were rough frontiersmen, of strong will and adventurous temper, +accustomed to the hard, barren, and yet strangely fascinating life of +those who dwell as pioneers in the wilderness. Moreover, they were +nearly all of the same blood. The people of New York and New England +were as yet filling out their own territory; it was not till many years +afterwards that their stock became the predominant one in the +northwestern country. Most of the men who founded the new states north +of the Ohio came originally from the old states south of the Potomac; +Virginia and North Carolina were the first of the original thirteen to +thrust forth their children in masses, that they might shift for +themselves in the then untrodden West. + +But though these early Western pioneers were for the most part of +Southern stock, they were by no means of the same stamp as the men who +then and thereafter formed the ruling caste in the old slave-holding +states. They were the mountaineers, the men of the foot-hills and +uplands, who lived in what were called the backwater counties. Many of +them were themselves of northern origin. In striking contrast to the +somewhat sluggish and peaceful elements going to make up the rest of its +heterogeneous population, Pennsylvania also originally held within its +boundaries many members of that most fiery and restless race, the +Scotch-Irish. These naturally drew towards the wilder, western parts of +the state, settling along the slopes of the numerous inland mountain +ridges running parallel to the Atlantic coast; and from thence they +drifted southward through the long valleys, until they met and mingled +with their kinsfolk of Virginia and the Carolinas, when the movement +again trended towards the West. In a generation or two, all, whether +their forefathers were English, Scotch, Irish, or, as was often the +case, German and Huguenot, were welded into one people; and in a very +short time the stern and hard surroundings of their life had hammered +this people into a peculiar and characteristically American type, which +to this day remains almost unchanged. In their old haunts we still see +the same tall, gaunt men, with strongly marked faces and saturnine, +resolute eyes; men who may pass half their days in listless idleness, +but who are also able to show on occasion the fiercest intensity of +purpose and the most sustained energy of action. We see them, moreover, +in many places, even across to the Pacific coast and down to the Rio +Grande. For after thronging through the gaps and passes of the +Appalachians, and penetrating the forest region to the outskirts of the +treeless country beyond, the whilom mountaineers and woodsmen, the +wielders of the axe and rifle, then streamed off far to the West and +South and even to the Northwest, their lumbering, white-topped wagons +being, even to the present moment, a familiar sight to those who travel +over the prairies and the great plains; while it is their descendants +who, in the saddle instead of afoot, and with rope and revolver instead +of axe and rifle, now form the bulk of the reckless horsemen who spend +their lives in guarding the wandering cattle herds that graze over the +vast, arid plains of the "Far West." + +The method of settlement of these states of the Mississippi valley had +nothing whatever in common with the way in which California and the +Australian colonies were suddenly filled up by the promiscuous overflow +of a civilized population, which had practically no fear of any +resistance from the stunted and scanty native races. It was far more +closely akin to the tribe movements of the Germanic peoples in time +past; to that movement, for example, by which the Juttish and Low Dutch +sea-thieves on the coast of Britain worked their way inland at the cost +of the Cymric Celts. The early settlers of the territory lying +immediately west of the Alleghanies were all of the same kind; they were +in search of homes, not of riches, and their actions were planned +accordingly, except in so far as they were influenced by mere restless +love of adventure and excitement. Individuals and single families, of +course, often started off by themselves; but for the most part the men +moved in bands, with their wives and their children, their cattle and +their few household goods; each settler being from the necessity of the +case also a fighter, ready, and often forced, to do desperate battle in +defense of himself and his family. Where such a band or little party +settled, there would gradually grow up a village or small town; for +instance, where those renowned pioneers and heroes of the backwoods, +Boone and Harrod, first formed permanent settlements after they had +moved into Kentucky, now stand the towns of Boonsboro and Harrodsburg. + +The country whither these settlers went was not one into which timid men +would willingly venture, and the founders of the West were perforce men +of stern stuff, who from the very beginning formed a most warlike race. +It is impossible to understand aright the social and political life of +the section, unless we keep prominently before our minds that it derived +its distinguishing traits largely from the extremely militant character +acquired by all the early settlers during the long drawn out warfare in +which the first two generations were engaged. The land was already held +by powerful Indian tribes and confederacies, who waged war after war, of +the most ferocious and bloody character, against the men of the border, +in the effort to avert their inevitable doom, or at least to stem for +the time being the invasion of the swelling tide of white settlement. At +the present time, when an Indian uprising is a matter chiefly of +annoyance, and dangerous only to scattered, outlying settlers, it is +difficult to realize the formidable nature of the savage Indian wars +waged at the end of the last and the beginning of the present centuries. +The red nations were then really redoubtable enemies, able to send into +the field thousands of well-armed warriors, whose ferocious bravery and +skill rendered them quite as formidable antagonists as trained European +soldiers would have been. Warfare with them did not affect merely +outlying farms or hamlets; it meant a complete stoppage of the white +movement westward, and great and imminent danger even to the large +communities already in existence; a state of things which would have to +continue until the armies raised among the pioneers were able, in fair +shock of battle, to shatter the strength of their red foes. The +victories of Wayne and Harrison were conditions precedent to the opening +of the Ohio valley; Kentucky was won by a hundred nameless and bloody +fights, whose heroes, like Shelby and Sevier, afterwards rose to +prominent rank in civil life; and it was only after a hard-fought +campaign and slaughtering victories that the Tennesseeans were able to +break the power of the great Creek confederacy, which was thrust in +between them and what were at that time the French and Spanish lands +lying to the south and southwest. + +The founders of our Western States were valiant warriors as well as +hardy pioneers, and from the very first their fighting was not confined +to uncivilized foes. It was they who at King's Mountain slew gallant +Ferguson, and completely destroyed his little army; it was from their +ranks that most of Morgan's men were recruited, when that grizzled old +bush-fighter smote Tarleton so roughly at the battle of the Cowpens. +These two blows crippled Cornwallis, and were among the chief causes of +his final overthrow. At last, during the War of 1812, there was played +out the final act in the military drama of which the West had been the +stage during the lifetime of a generation. For this war had a twofold +aspect: on the sea-board it was regarded as a contest for the rights of +our sailors and as a revolt against Great Britain's domineering +insolence; west of the mountains, on the other hand, it was simply a +renewal on a large scale of the Indian struggles, all the red-skinned +peoples joining together in a great and last effort to keep the lands +which were being wrested from them; and there Great Britain's part was +chiefly that of ally to the savages, helping them with her gold and with +her well-drilled mercenary troops. The battle of the Thames is memorable +rather because of the defeat and death of Tecumseh, than because of the +flight of Proctor and the capture of his British regulars; and for the +opening of the Southwest the ferocious fight at the Horseshoe Bend was +almost as important as the far more famous conflict of New Orleans. + +The War of 1812 brought out conspicuously the solidarity of interest in +the West. The people there were then all pretty much of the same blood; +and they made common cause against outsiders in the military field +exactly as afterwards they for some time acted together politically. +Further eastward, on the Niagara frontier, the fighting was done by the +troops of New York and New England, unassisted by the Southern States; +and in turn the latter had to shift for themselves when Washington was +burned and Baltimore menaced. It was far otherwise in the regions lying +beyond the Appalachians. Throughout all the fighting in the Northwest, +where Ohio was the state most menaced, the troops of Kentucky formed the +bulk of the American army, and it was the charge of their mounted +riflemen which at a blow won the battle of the Thames. Again, on that +famous January morning, when it seemed as if the fair Creole city was +already in Packenham's grasp, it was the wild soldiery of Tennessee who, +lolling behind their mud breastworks, peered out through the lifting fog +at the scarlet array of the English veterans, as the latter, fresh from +their long and unbroken series of victories over the best troops of +Europe, advanced, for the first time, to meet defeat. + +This solidarity of interest and feeling on the part of the +trans-Appalachian communities is a factor often not taken into account +in relating the political history of the early part of this century; +most modern writers (who keep forgetting that the question of slavery +was then not one tenth as absorbing as it afterwards became) apparently +deeming that the line of demarkation between North and South was at +that period, as it has since in reality become, as strongly defined west +of the mountains as east of them. That such was not the case was due to +several different causes. The first comers into Tennessee and Kentucky +belonged to the class of so-called poor whites, who owned few or no +slaves, and who were far less sectionally southern in their feelings +than were the rich planters of the low, alluvial plains towards the +coast of the Atlantic; and though a slave-owning population quickly +followed the first pioneers, yet the latter had imprinted a stamp on the +character of the two states which was never wholly effaced,--as witness +the tens of thousands of soldiers which both, even the more southern of +the two, furnished to the Union army in the Civil War. + +If this immigration made Kentucky and Tennessee, and afterwards +Missouri, less distinctively Southern in character than the South +Atlantic States, it at the same time, by furnishing the first and for +some time the most numerous element in the population of the states +north of the Ohio, made the latter less characteristically Northern than +was the case with those lying east of them. Up to 1810 Indiana kept +petitioning Congress to allow slavery within her borders; Illinois, in +the early days, felt as hostile towards Massachusetts as did Missouri. +Moreover, at first the Southern States west of the mountains greatly +outweighed the Northern, both in numbers and importance. + +Thus several things came about. In the first place, all the communities +across the Alleghanies originally felt themselves to be closely knit +together by ties of blood, sentiment, and interest; they felt that they +were, taking them altogether, Western as opposed to Eastern. In the next +place, they were at first Southern rather than Northern in their +feeling. But, in the third place, they were by no means so extremely +Southern as were the Southern Atlantic States. This was the way in which +they looked at themselves; and this was the way in which at that time +others looked at them. In our day Kentucky is regarded politically as +being simply an integral portion of the solid South; but the greatest of +her sons, Clay, was known to his own generation, not as a Southern +statesman, but as "Harry of the West." Of the two presidents, Harrison +and Taylor, whom the Whigs elected, one lived in Ohio and one in +Louisiana; but both were chosen simply as Western men, and, as a matter +of fact, both were born in Virginia. Andrew Jackson's victory over Adams +was in some slight sense a triumph of the South over the North, but it +was far more a triumph of the West over the East. Webster's famous +sneer at old Zachary Taylor was aimed at him as a "frontier colonel;" in +other words, though Taylor had a large plantation in Louisiana, Webster, +and many others besides, looked upon him as the champion of the rough +democracy of the West rather than as the representative of the polished +slave-holders of the South. + +Thus, during the first part of this century, the term "Western" was as +applicable to the states lying south of the Ohio as to those lying north +of it. Moreover, at first the Central, or, as they were more usually +termed, the Border States, were more populous and influential than were +those on either side of them, and so largely shaped the general tone of +Western feeling. While the voters in these states, whether Whigs or +Democrats, accepted as their leaders men like Clay in Kentucky, Benton +in Missouri, and Andrew Jackson in Tennessee, it could be taken for +granted that on the whole they felt for the South against the North, but +much more for the West against the East, and most strongly of all for +the Union as against any section whatsoever. Many influences came +together to start and keep alive this feeling; but one, more potent than +all the others combined, was working steadily, and with ever-increasing +power, against it; and when slavery finally brought about a break +between the Northern and Southern States of the West as complete as that +in the East, then the Democrats of the stamp of Jackson and Benton +disappeared as completely from public life as did the Whigs of the stamp +of Clay. + +Benton's long political career can never be thoroughly understood unless +it is kept in mind that he was primarily a Western and not a Southern +statesman; and it owes its especial interest to the fact that during its +continuance the West first rose to power, acting as a unit, and to the +further fact that it was brought to a close by the same causes which +soon afterwards broke up the West exactly as the East was already +broken. Benton was not one of the few statesmen who have left the +indelible marks of their own individuality upon our history; but he was, +perhaps, the most typical representative of the statesmanship of the +Middle West at the time when the latter gave the tone to the political +thought of the entire Mississippi valley. The political school which he +represented came to its fullest development in the so-called Border +States of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri, and swayed the destinies of +the West so long as the states to the north as well as the states to the +south were content to accept the leadership of those that lay between +them. It came to an end and disappeared from sight when people north of +the Ohio at last set up their own standard, and when, after some +hesitation, the Border States threw in their lot with the other side and +concluded to follow the Southern communities, which they had hitherto +led. Benton was one of those public men who formulate and express, +rather than shape, the thought of the people who stand behind them and +whom they represent. A man of strong intellect and keen energy, he was +for many years the foremost representative of at least one phase of that +thought; being, also, a man of high principle and determined courage, +when a younger generation had grown up and the bent of the thought had +changed, he declined to change with it, bravely accepting political +defeat as the alternative, and going down without flinching a hair's +breadth from the ground on which he had always stood. + +To understand his public actions as well as his political ideas and +principles it is, of course, necessary to know at least a little of the +men among whom he lived and from whom he sprang: the men who were the +first of our people to press out beyond the limits of the thirteen old +states; who filled Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri, and who +for so long a time were the dominant class all through the West, until, +at last, the flood of Northeastern immigration completely swamped their +influence north of the Ohio, while along the Gulf coast the political +control slipped from their hands into the grasp of the great planter +class. + +The wood-choppers, game-hunters, and Indian-fighters, who first came +over the mountains, were only the forerunners of the more regular +settlers who followed them; but these last had much the same attributes +as their predecessors. For many years after the settlements were firmly +rooted, the life of the settlers was still subject to all the perils of +the wilderness. Above all, the constant warfare in which they were +engaged for nearly thirty-five years, and which culminated in the battle +of New Orleans, left a deep and lasting imprint on their character. +Their incessant wars were waged almost wholly by the settlers +themselves, with comparatively little help from the federal government, +and with hardly any regular troops as allies. A backwoods levy, whether +raised to meet an Indian inroad or to march against the disciplined +armies of the British, was merely a force of volunteers, made up from +among the full-grown male settlers, who were induced to join either from +motives of patriotism, or from love of adventure, or because they felt +that their homes and belongings were in danger from which they could +only extricate them by their own prowess. Every settler thus became more +or less of a soldier, was always expert with the rifle, and was taught +to rely upon his own skill and courage for his protection. But the +military service in which he was from time to time engaged was of such a +lawless kind, and was carried on with such utter absence of discipline, +that it did not accustom him in the least to habits of self-command, or +render him inclined to brook the exercise of authority by an outsider; +so that the Western people grew up with warlike traditions and habits of +thought, accustomed to give free rein to their passions, and to take +into their own hands the avenging of real or supposed wrongs, but +without any of the love for order and for acting in concert with their +fellows which characterize those who have seen service in regular +armies. On the contrary, the chief effect of this long-continued and +harassing Border warfare was to make more marked the sullen and almost +defiant self-reliance of the pioneer, and to develop his peculiarly +American spirit of individual self-sufficiency, his impatience of +outside interference or control, to a degree not known elsewhere, even +on this continent. It also gave a distinct military cast to his way of +looking at territory which did not belong to him. He stood where he was +because he was a conqueror; he had wrested his land by force from its +rightful Indian lords; he fully intended to repeat the same feat as soon +as he should reach the Spanish lands lying to the west and southwest; he +would have done so in the case of French Louisiana if it had not been +that the latter was purchased, and was thus saved from being taken by +force of arms. This belligerent, or, more properly speaking, piratical +way of looking at neighboring territory, was very characteristic of the +West, and was at the root of the doctrine of "manifest destiny." + +All the early settlers, and most of those who came after them, were +poor, living narrow lives fraught with great hardship, and varying +between toil and half-aimless roving; even when the conditions of their +life became easier it was some time before the influence of their old +existence ceased to make itself felt in their way of looking at things. +The first pioneers were, it is true, soon followed by great +slave-owners; and by degrees there grew up a clan of large landed +proprietors and stock-raisers, akin to the planter caste which was so +all-powerful along the coast; but it was never relatively either so +large or so influential as the latter, and was not separated from the +rest of the white population by anything like so wide a gap as that +which, in the Southern Atlantic and Gulf States, marked the difference +between the rich growers of cotton, rice, and sugar, and the squalid +"poor whites" or "crackers." + +The people of the Border States were thus mainly composed of small +land-owners, scattered throughout the country; they tilled their small +farms for themselves, were hewers of their own wood, and drawers of +their own water, and for generations remained accustomed to and skillful +in the use of the rifle. The pioneers of the Middle West were not +dwellers in towns; they kept to the open country, where each man could +shift for himself without help or hindrance from his neighbors, scorning +the irksome restraints and the lack of individual freedom of city life. +They built but few cities of any size; the only two really important +ones of whose inhabitants they formed any considerable part, St. Louis +and New Orleans, were both founded by the French long before our people +came across the mountains into the Mississippi valley. Their life was +essentially a country life, alike for the rich and for the bulk of the +population. The few raw frontier towns and squalid, straggling villages +were neither seats of superior culture nor yet centres for the +distribution of educated thought, as in the North. Large tracts of land +remained always populated by a class of backwoodsmen differing but +little from the first comers. Such was the district from which grand, +simple old Davy Crockett went to Washington as a Whig congressman; and +perhaps there was never a quainter figure in our national legislature +than that of the grim old rifleman, who shares with Daniel Boone the +honor of standing foremost in the list of our mighty hunters. Crockett +and his kind had little in common with the men who ruled supreme in the +politics of most of the Southern States; and even at this day many of +their descendants in the wooded mountain land are Republicans; for when +the Middle States had lost the control of the West, and when those who +had hitherto followed such leaders as Jackson, Clay, and Benton, drifted +with the tide that set so strongly to the South, it was only the men of +the type of dogged, stubborn old Crockett who dared to make head against +it. But, indeed, one of the characteristics of the people with whom we +are dealing was the slowness and suspicion with which they received a +new idea, and the tenacity with which they clung to one that they had at +last adopted. + +They were above all a people of strong, virile character, certain to +make their weight felt either for good or for evil. They had many +virtues which can fairly be called great, and their faults were equally +strongly marked. They were not a thrifty people, nor one given to +long-sustained, drudging work; there were not then, nor are there now, +to be found in this land such comfortable, prosperous homes and farms as +those which dot all the country where dwell the men of Northeastern +stock. They were not, as a rule, even ordinarily well educated; the +public school formed no such important feature in their life as it did +in the life of their fellow-citizens farther north. They had narrow, +bitter prejudices and dislikes; the hard and dangerous lives they had +led had run their character into a stern and almost forbidding mould. +They valued personal prowess very highly, and respected no man who did +not possess the strongest capacity for self-help, and who could not +shift for himself in any danger. They felt an intense, although perhaps +ignorant, pride in and love for their country, and looked upon all the +lands hemming in the United States as territory which they or their +children should some day inherit; for they were a race of masterful +spirit, and accustomed to regard with easy tolerance any but the most +flagrant violations of law. They prized highly such qualities as +courage, loyalty, truth, and patriotism, but they were, as a whole, +poor, and not over-scrupulous of the rights of others, nor yet with the +nicest sense of money obligations; so that the history of their state +legislation affecting the rights of debtor and creditor, whether public +or private, in hard times, is not pleasant reading for an American who +is proud of his country. Their passions, once roused, were intense, and +if they really wished anything they worked for it with indomitable +persistency. There was little that was soft or outwardly attractive in +their character: it was stern, rude, and hard, like the lives they led; +but it was the character of those who were every inch men, and who were +Americans through to the very heart's core. + +In their private lives their lawless and arrogant freedom and lack of +self-restraint produced much gross licentiousness and barbarous cruelty; +and every little frontier community could tell its story of animal +savagery as regards the home relations of certain of its members. Yet in +spite of this they, as a whole, felt the family ties strongly, and in +the main had quite a high standard of private morality. Many of them, at +any rate, were, according to their lights, deeply and sincerely +religious; though even their religion showed their strong, +coarse-fibred, narrow natures. Episcopalianism was the creed of the rich +slave-owner, who dwelt along the sea-board; but the Western settlers +belonged to some one or other of the divisions of the great Methodist +and Baptist churches. They were as savagely in earnest about this as +about everything else; meekness, mildness, broad liberality, and gentle +tolerance of difference in religious views were not virtues they +appreciated. They were always ready to do battle for their faith, and, +indeed, had to do it, as it was quite a common amusement for the wilder +and more lawless members of the community to try to break up by force +the great camp-meetings, which formed so conspicuous a feature in the +social and religious life of the country. For even irreligion took the +form of active rebellion against God, rather than disbelief in his +existence. + +Physically they were, and are, especially in Kentucky, the finest +members of our race; an examination of the statistics relating to the +volunteers in the Civil War shows that the natives of no other state, +and the men from no foreign country whatsoever, came up to them in +bodily development. + +Such a people, in choosing men to represent them in the national +councils, would naturally pay small heed to refined, graceful, and +cultivated statesmanship; their allegiance would be given to men of +abounding vitality, of rugged intellect, and of indomitable will. No +better or more characteristic possessor of these attributes could be +imagined than Thomas Benton. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +BENTON'S EARLY LIFE AND ENTRY INTO THE SENATE. + + +Thomas Hart Benton was born on March 14, 1782, near Hillsborough, in +Orange County, North Carolina,--the same state that fifteen years +before, almost to a day, had seen the birth of the great political chief +whose most prominent supporter he in after life became. Benton, however, +came of good colonial stock; and his early surroundings were not +characterized by the squalid poverty that marked Jackson's, though the +difference in the social condition of the two families was of small +consequence on the frontier, where caste was, and is, almost unknown, +and social equality is not a mere figure of speech--particularly it was +not so at that time in the Southwest, where there were no servants, +except black slaves, and where even what in the North would be called +"hired help" was almost an unknown quantity. + +Benton's father, who was a lawyer in good standing at the North Carolina +bar, died when the boy was very young, leaving him to be brought up by +his Virginian mother. She was a woman of force, and, for her time, of +much education. She herself began the training of her son's mind, +studying with him history and biography, while he also, of course, had +access to his father's law library. The home in which he was brought up +was, for that time and for that part of the country, straightlaced; his +mother, though a Virginian, had many traits which belonged rather to the +descendants of the Puritans, and possessed both their strength of +character and their austerely religious spirit. Although living in a +roistering age, among a class peculiarly given to all the coarser kinds +of pleasure, and especially to drink and every form of gambling, she +nevertheless preserved the most rigid decorum and morality in her own +household, frowning especially upon all intemperance, and never +permitting a pack of cards to be found within her doors. She was greatly +beloved and respected by the son, whose mind she did so much to mould, +and she lived to see him become one of the foremost statesmen of the +country. + +Young Benton was always fond of reading. He began his studies at home, +and continued them at a grammar school taught by a young New Englander +of good ability, a very large proportion of the school-teachers of the +country then coming from New England; indeed, school-teachers and +peddlers were, on the whole, the chief contributions made by the +Northeast to the _personnel_ of the new Southwest. Benton then began a +course at Chapel Hill, the University of North Carolina, but broke off +before completing it, as his mother decided to move her family westward +to the almost unbroken wilderness near Nashville, Tennessee, where his +father had left them a large tract of land. But he was such an +insatiable student and reader that he rapidly acquired a very extensive +knowledge, not only of law, but of history and even of Latin and English +literature, and thus became a well-read and cultivated, indeed a +learned, man; though his frequent displays of learning and knowledge +were sometimes marked by a trace of that self-complacent, amusing +pedantry so apt to characterize a really well-educated man who lives in +a community in which he believes, and with which he has thoroughly +identified himself, but whose members are for the most part below the +average in mental cultivation. + +The Bentons founded a little town, named after them, and in which, of +course, they took their position as leaders and rich landed proprietors. +It lay on the very outskirts of the Indian country; indeed, the great +war trail of the Southern Indians led right through the settlement, and +they at all times swarmed around it. The change from the still somewhat +rude civilization of North Carolina to the wildness on the border was +far less abrupt and startling then than would be the case under similar +circumstances now, and the Bentons soon identified themselves completely +with the life and interests of the people around them. They even +abandoned the Episcopalianism of their old home, and became Methodists, +like their neighbors. Young Benton himself had his hands full, at first, +in attending to his great backwoods farm, tilled by slaves, and in +pushing the growth of the settlement by building first a rude log +school-house (he himself taught school at one time, while studying law), +and a meeting-house of the same primitive construction, then mills, +roads, bridges, and so forth. The work hardened and developed him, and +he readily enough turned into a regular frontiersman of the better and +richer sort. The neighboring town of Nashville was a raw, pretentious +place, where horse-racing, cock-fighting, gambling, whiskey-drinking, +and the various coarse vices which masquerade as pleasures in frontier +towns, all throve in rank luxuriance. It was somewhat of a change from +Benton's early training, but he took to it kindly, and though never a +vicious or debauched man, he bore his full share in the savage brawls, +the shooting and stabbing affrays, which went to make up one of the +leading features in the excessively unattractive social life of the +place and epoch. + +At that time dueling prevailed more or less throughout the United +States, and in the South and West to an extent never before or since +attained. On the frontier, not only did every man of spirit expect now +and then to be called on to engage in a duel, but he also had to make up +his mind to take occasional part in bloody street-fights. Tennessee, the +state where Benton then had his home, was famous for the affrays that +took place within its borders; and that they were common enough among +the people at large may be gathered from the fact that they were of +continual occurrence among judges, high state officials, and in the very +legislature itself, where senators and assemblymen were always becoming +involved in undignified rows and foolish squabbles, apparently without +fear of exciting any unfavorable comment, as witness Davy Crockett's +naive account of his early experiences as a backwoods member of the +Tennessee assembly. Like Jackson, Benton killed his man in a duel. This +was much later, in 1817, when he was a citizen of Missouri. His +opponent was a lawyer named Lucas. They fought twice, on Bloody Island, +near St. Louis. On the first occasion both were wounded; on the second +Lucas was killed. The latter came of a truculent family. A recent +biographer of his father, Judge John R. Lucas, remarks, with refreshing +unconsciousness of the grotesque humor of the chronicle: "This gentleman +was one of the most remarkable men who ever settled west of the +Mississippi River.... Towards the close of his life Judge Lucas became +melancholy and dejected--the result of domestic affliction, for six of +his sons met death by violence." One feels curious to know how the other +sons died. + +But the most famous of Benton's affrays was that with Jackson himself, +in 1813. This rose out of a duel of laughable rather than serious +character, in which Benton's brother was worsted by General Carroll, +afterwards one of Jackson's lieutenants at New Orleans. The encounter +itself took place between the Benton brothers on one side, and on the +other, Jackson, General Coffee, also of New Orleans fame, and another +friend. The place was a great rambling Nashville inn, and the details +were so intricate that probably not even the participants themselves +knew exactly what had taken place, while all the witnesses impartially +contradicted each other and themselves. At any rate, Jackson was shot +and Benton was pitched headlong down-stairs, and all the other +combatants were more or less damaged; but it ended in Jackson being +carried off by his friends, leaving the Bentons masters of the field, +where they strutted up and down and indulged in a good deal of loud +bravado. Previous to this Benton and Jackson had been on the best of +terms, and although there was naturally a temporary break in their +friendship, yet it proved strong enough in the end to stand even such a +violent wrench as that given by this preposterously senseless and almost +fatal brawl. They not only became completely reconciled, but eventually +even the closest and warmest of personal and political friends; for +Benton was as generous and forgiving as he was hot-tempered, and +Jackson's ruder nature was at any rate free from any small meanness or +malice. + +In spite of occasional interludes of this kind, which must have given a +rather ferocious fillip to his otherwise monotonous life, Benton +completed his legal studies, was admitted to the bar, and began to +practice as a frontier lawyer at Franklin. Very soon, however, he for +the first time entered the more congenial field of politics, and in 1811 +served a single term in the lower house of the Tennessee legislature. +Even thus early he made his mark. He had a bill passed introducing the +circuit system into the state judiciary, a reform of much importance, +especially to the poorer class of litigants; and he also introduced, and +had enacted into a law, a bill providing that a slave should have the +same right to the full benefit of a jury trial as would a white man +suffering under the same accusation. This last measure is noteworthy as +foreshadowing the position which Benton afterwards took in national +politics, where he appeared as a slave-holder, it is true, but as one of +the most enlightened and least radical of his class. Its passage also +showed the tendency of Southern opinion at the time, which was +undoubtedly in the direction of bettering the condition of the blacks, +though the events of the next few years produced such a violent +revulsion of feeling concerning the negro race that this current of +public opinion was completely reversed. Benton, however, was made of +sturdy stuff, and as he grew older his views on the question did not +alter as did those of most of his colleagues. + +Shortly after he left the legislature the War of 1812 broke out, and its +events impressed on Benton another of what soon became his cardinal +principles. The war was brought on by the South and West, the Democrats +all favoring it, while the Federalists, forming the then +anti-Democratic party, especially in the Northeast, opposed it; and +finally their more extreme members, at the famous Hartford Convention, +passed resolutions supposed to tend towards the dissolution of the +Union, and which brought upon the party the bitter condemnation of their +antagonists. Says Benton himself: "At the time of its first appearance +the right of secession was repulsed and repudiated by the Democracy +generally.... The leading language in respect to it south of the Potomac +was that no state had a right to withdraw from the Union, ... and that +any attempt to dissolve it, or to obstruct the action of constitutional +laws, was treason. If since that time political parties and sectional +localities have exchanged attitudes on this question, it cannot alter +the question of right." For, having once grasped an idea and made it his +own, Benton clung to it with unyielding tenacity, no matter whether it +was or was not abandoned by the majority of those with whom he had been +in the habit of acting. + +Thus early Benton's political character became moulded into the shape +which it ever afterwards retained. He was a slave-holder, but as +advanced as a slave-holder could be; he remained to a certain extent a +Southerner, but his Southernism was of the type prevalent immediately +after the Revolution, and not of the kind that came to the fore prior to +the Rebellion. He was much more a Westerner in his feelings, and more +than all else he was emphatically a Union man. + +Like every other hot spirit of the West--and the West was full of little +but hot spirits--Benton heartily favored the War of 1812. He served as a +colonel of volunteers under Jackson, but never saw actual fighting, and +his short term of soldiership was of no further account than to furnish +an excuse to Polk, thirty-five years later, for nominating him +commanding general in the time of the Mexican War,--an incident which, +as the nomination was rejected, may be regarded as merely ludicrous, the +gross impropriety of the act safely defying criticism. He was of genuine +use, however, in calling on and exciting the volunteers to come forward; +for he was a fluent speaker, of fine presence, and his pompous +self-sufficiency was rather admired than otherwise by the frontiersmen, +while his force, energy, and earnestness commanded their respect. He +also, when Jackson's reckless impetuosity got him into a snarl with the +feeble national administration, whose imbecile incapacity to carry on +the war became day by day more painfully evident, went to Washington, +and there finally extricated his chief by dint of threatening that, if +"justice" was not done him, Tennessee would, in future political +contests, be found ranged with the administration's foes. For Benton +already possessed political influence, and being, like most of his +class, anti-Federalist, or Democratic, in sentiment, was therefore of +the same party as the people at Washington, and was a man whose +representations would have some weight with them. + +During his stay in Tennessee Benton's character was greatly influenced +by his being thrown into close contact with many of the extraordinary +men who then or afterwards made their mark in the strange and +picturesque annals of the Southwest. Jackson even thus early loomed up +as the greatest and arch-typical representative of his people and his +section. The religious bent of the time was shown in the life of the +grand, rugged old Methodist, Peter Cartwright, who, in the far-off +backwoods, was a preacher and practical exponent of "muscular +Christianity" half a century before the day when, under Bishop Selwyn +and Charles Kingsley, it became a cult among the most highly civilized +classes of England. There was David Crockett, rifleman and congressman, +doomed to a tragic and heroic death in that remarkable conflict of which +it was said at the time, that "Thermopylae had its messengers of death, +but the Alamo had none;" and there was Houston, who, after a singular +and romantic career, became the greatest of the statesmen and soldiers +of Texas. It was these men, and their like, who, under the shadow of +world-old forests and in the sunlight of the great, lonely plains, +wrought out the destinies of a nation and a continent, and who, with +their rude war-craft and state-craft, solved problems that, in the +importance of their results, dwarf the issues of all European struggles +since the day of Waterloo as completely as the Punic wars in their +outcome threw into the shade the consequences of the wars waged at the +same time between the different Greek monarchies. + +Benton, in his mental training, came much nearer to the statesmen of the +sea-board, and was far better bred and better educated, than the rest of +the men around him. But he was, and was felt by them to be, thoroughly +one of their number, and the most able expounder of their views; and it +is just because he is so completely the type of a great and important +class, rather than because even of his undoubted and commanding ability +as a statesman, that his life and public services will always repay +study. His vanity and boastfulness were faults which he shared with +almost all his people; and, after all, if they overrated the +consequence of their own deeds, the deeds, nevertheless, did possess +great importance, and their fault was slight compared to that committed +by some of us at the present day, who have gone to the opposite extreme +and try to belittle the actions of our fathers. Benton was deeply imbued +with the masterful, overbearing spirit of the West,--a spirit whose +manifestations are not always agreeable, but the possession of which is +certainly a most healthy sign of the virile strength of a young +community. He thoroughly appreciated that he was helping to shape the +future of a country, whose wonderful development is the most important +feature in the history of the nineteenth century; the non-appreciation +of which fact is in itself sufficient utterly to disqualify any American +statesman from rising to the first rank. + +It was not in Tennessee, however, that Benton rose to political +prominence, for shortly after the close of the war he crossed the +Mississippi and made his permanent home in the territory of Missouri. +Missouri was then our extreme western outpost, and its citizens +possessed the characteristic western traits to an even exaggerated +extent. The people were pushing, restless, and hardy; they were lawless +and violent to a degree. In spite of the culture and education of some +families, society, as a whole, was marked by florid unconventionality +and rawness. The general and widespread intemperance of the judges and +high officials of state was even more marked than their proclivities for +brawling. The lawyers, as usual, furnished the bulk of the politicians; +success at the bar depended less upon learning than upon "push" and +audacity. The fatal feuds between individuals and families were as +frequent and as bloody as among Highland clans a century before. The +following quotations are taken at random from a work on the Bench and +Bar of Missouri, by an ex-judge of its supreme court: "A man by the name +of Hiram K. Turk, and four sons, settled in 1839 near Warsaw, and a +personal difficulty occurred between them and a family of the name of +Jones, resulting in the death of one or two. The people began to take +sides with one or the other, and finally a general outbreak took place, +in which many were killed, resulting in a general reign of terror and of +violence beyond the power of the law to subdue." The social annals of +this pleasant town of Warsaw could not normally have been dull; in 1844, +for instance, they were enlivened by Judge Cherry and Senator Major +fighting to the death on one of its principal streets, the latter being +slain. The judges themselves were by no means bigoted in their support +of law and order. "In those days it was common for people to settle +their quarrels during court week.... Judge Allen took great delight in +these exhibitions, and would at any time adjourn his court to witness +one.... He (Allen) always traveled with a holster of large pistols in +front of his saddle, and a knife with a blade at least a foot long." +Hannibal Chollop was no mere creature of fancy; on the contrary, his +name was legion, and he flourished rankly in every town throughout the +Mississippi valley. But, after all, this ruffianism was really not a +whit worse in its effects on the national character than was the case +with certain of the "universal peace" and "non-resistance" developments +in the Northeastern States; in fact, it was more healthy. A class of +professional non-combatants is as hurtful to the real, healthy growth of +a nation as is a class of fire-eaters; for a weakness or folly is +nationally as bad as a vice, or worse; and, in the long run, a Quaker +may be quite as undesirable a citizen as is a duelist. No man who is not +willing to bear arms and to fight for his rights can give a good reason +why he should be entitled to the privilege of living in a free +community. The decline of the militant spirit in the Northeast during +the first half of this century was much to be regretted. To it is due, +more than to any other cause, the undoubted average individual +inferiority of the Northern compared to the Southern troops; at any +rate, at the beginning of the great war of the Rebellion. The +Southerners, by their whole mode of living, their habits, and their love +of out-door sports, kept up their warlike spirit; while in the North the +so-called upper classes developed along the lines of a wealthy and timid +bourgeoisie type, measuring everything by a mercantile standard (a +peculiarly debasing one if taken purely by itself), and submitting to be +ruled in local affairs by low foreign mobs, and in national matters by +their arrogant Southern kinsmen. The militant spirit of these last +certainly stood them in good stead in the Civil War. The world has never +seen better soldiers than those who followed Lee; and their leader will +undoubtedly rank as without any exception the very greatest of all the +great captains that the English-speaking peoples have brought forth--and +this, although the last and chief of his antagonists may himself claim +to stand as the full equal of Marlborough and Wellington. + +The other Western States still kept touch on the old colonial +communities of the sea-coast, having a second or alternative outlet +through Louisiana, newly acquired by the United States, it is true, but +which was nevertheless an old settled land. Missouri, however, had lost +all connection with the sea-coast, and though, through her great river +towns, swarming with raftsmen and flat-boatmen, she drove her main and +most thriving trade with the other Mississippi cities, yet her restless +and adventure-loving citizens were already seeking other outlets for +their activity, and were establishing trade relations with the Mexicans; +being thus the earliest among our people to come into active contact +with the Hispano-Indian race from whom we afterwards wrested so large a +part of their inheritance. Missouri was thrust out beyond the +Mississippi into the vast plains-country of the Far West, and except on +the river-front was completely isolated, being flanked on every side by +great stretches of level wilderness, inhabited by roaming tribes of +warlike Indians. Thus for the first time the borderers began to number +in their ranks plainsmen as well as backwoodsmen. In such a community +there were sure to be numbers of men anxious to take part in any +enterprise that united the chance of great pecuniary gain with the +certainty of even greater personal risk, and both these conditions were +fulfilled in the trading expeditions pushed out from Missouri across the +trackless wastes lying between it and the fringe of Mexican settlements +on the Rio del Norte. The route followed by these caravans, which +brought back furs and precious metals, soon became famous under the name +of the Santa Fe trail; and the story of the perils, hardships, and gains +of the adventurous traders who followed it would make one of the most +striking chapters of American history. + +Among such people Benton's views and habits of thought became more +markedly Western and ultra-American than ever, especially in regard to +our encroachments upon the territory of neighboring powers. The general +feeling in the West upon this last subject afterwards crystallized into +what became known as the "Manifest Destiny" idea, which, reduced to its +simplest terms, was: that it was our manifest destiny to swallow up the +land of all adjoining nations who were too weak to withstand us; a +theory that forthwith obtained immense popularity among all statesmen of +easy international morality. It cannot be too often repeated that no one +can understand even the domestic, and more especially the foreign, +policy of Benton and his school without first understanding the +surroundings amidst which they had been brought up and the people whose +chosen representatives they were. Recent historians, for instance, +always speak as if our grasping after territory in the Southwest was +due solely to the desire of the Southerners to acquire lands out of +which to carve new slave-holding states, and as if it was merely a move +in the interests of the slave-power. This is true enough so far as the +motives of Calhoun, Tyler, and the other public leaders of the Gulf and +southern sea-board states were concerned. But the hearty Western support +given to the movement was due to entirely different causes, the chief +among them being the fact that the Westerners honestly believed +themselves to be indeed created the heirs of the earth, or at least of +so much of it as was known by the name of North America, and were +prepared to struggle stoutly for the immediate possession of their +heritage. + +One of Benton's earliest public utterances was in regard to a matter +which precisely illustrates this feeling. It was while Missouri was +still a territory, and when Benton, then a prominent member of the St. +Louis bar, had by his force, capacity, and power as a public speaker +already become well known among his future constituents. The treaty with +Spain, by which we secured Florida, was then before the Senate, which +body had to consider it several times, owing to the dull irresolution +and sloth of the Spanish government in ratifying it. The bounds it gave +us were far too narrow to suit the more fiery Western spirits, and these +cheered Benton to the echo when he attacked it in public with fierce +vehemence. "The magnificent valley of the Mississippi is ours, with all +its fountains, springs, and floods; and woe to the statesman who shall +undertake to surrender one drop of its water, one inch of its soil to +any foreign power." So he said, his words ringing with the boastful +confidence so well liked by the masterful men of the West, strong in +their youth, and proudly conscious of their strength. The treaty was +ratified in the Senate, nevertheless, all the old Southern States +favoring it, and the only votes at any stage recorded against it being +of four Western senators, coming respectively from Ohio, Kentucky, +Tennessee, and Louisiana. So that in 1818, at any rate, the desire for +territorial aggrandizement at the expense of Maine or Mexico was common +to the West as a whole, both to the free and the slave states, and was +not exclusively favored by the Southerners. The only effect of Benton's +speech was to give rise to the idea that he was hostile to the Southern +and Democratic administration at Washington, and against this feeling he +had to contend in the course of his successful candidacy for the United +States senatorship the following year, when Missouri was claiming +admittance to the Union. + +It was in reference to this matter of admitting Missouri that the +slavery question for the first time made its appearance in national +politics, where it threw everything into confusion and for the moment +overshadowed all else; though it vanished almost as quickly as it had +appeared, and did not again come to the front for several years. The +Northerners, as a whole, desiring to "restrict" the growth of slavery +and the slave-power, demanded that Missouri, before being admitted as a +state, should abolish slavery within her boundaries. The South was +equally determined that she should be admitted as a slave state; and for +the first time the politicians of the country divided on geographical +rather than on party lines, though the division proved but temporary, +and was of but little interest except as foreshadowing what was to come +a score of years later. Even within the territory itself the same +contest was carried on with the violence bred by political conflicts in +frontier states, there being a very respectable "restriction" party, +which favored abolition. Benton was himself a slave-holder, and as the +question was in no way one between the East and the West, or between the +Union as a whole and any part of it, he naturally gave full swing to his +Southern feelings, and entered with tremendous vigor into the contest on +the anti-restriction side. So successful were his efforts, and so great +was the majority of the Missourians who sympathized with him, that the +restrictionists were completely routed and succeeded in electing but one +delegate to the constitutional convention. In Congress the matter was +finally settled by the passage of the famous Missouri Compromise bill, a +measure Southern in its origin, but approved at the time by many if not +most Northerners, and disapproved by not a few Southerners. Benton +heartily believed in it, announcing somewhat vaguely that he was +"equally opposed to slavery agitation and to slavery extension." By its +terms Missouri was admitted as a slave state, while slavery was +abolished in all the rest of the old province of Louisiana lying north +and west of it and north of the parallel of 36 deg. 30'. Owing to an +objectionable clause in its Constitution, the admission was not fully +completed until 1821, and then only through the instrumentality of Henry +Clay. But Benton took his seat immediately, and entered on his thirty +years' of service in the United States Senate. His appearance in +national politics was thus coincident with the appearance of the +question which, it is true, almost immediately sank out of sight for a +period of fifteen years, but which then reappeared to stay for good and +to become of progressively absorbing importance, until, combining +itself with the still greater question of national unity, it dwarfed all +other issues, cleft the West as well as the East asunder, and, as one of +its minor results, brought about the political downfall of Benton +himself and of his whole school in what were called the Border States. + +Before entering the Senate, Benton did something which well illustrates +his peculiar uprightness, and the care which he took to keep his public +acts free from the least suspicion of improper influence. When he was at +the bar in St. Louis, real estate litigation was much the most important +branch of legal business. The condition of Missouri land-titles was very +mixed, since many of them were based upon the thousands of "concessions" +of land made by the old French and Spanish governments, which had been +ratified by Congress, but subject to certain conditions which the Creole +inhabitants, being ignorant and lawless, had generally failed to +fulfill. By an act of Congress these inchoate claims were to be brought +before the United States recorder of land titles; and the Missouri bar +were divided as to what action should be taken on them, the majority +insisting that they should be held void, while Benton headed the +opposite party, which was averse to forfeiting property on technical +grounds, and advocated the confirmation of every honest claim. Further +and important legislation was needed to provide for these claims. +Benton, being much the most influential member of the bar who had +advocated the confirmation of the claims, and being so able, honest, and +energetic, was the favorite counsel of the claimants, and had hundreds +of their titles under his professional charge. Of course in such cases +the compensation of the lawyer depended solely upon his success; and +success to Benton would have meant wealth. Nevertheless, and though his +action was greatly to his own pecuniary hurt, the first thing he did +when elected senator was to convene his clients, and tell them that +henceforth he could have nothing more to do, as their attorney, with the +prosecution of their claims, giving as his reason that their success +largely depended upon the action of Congress, of which he was now +himself a member, so that he was bound to consult, not any private +interest, but the good of the community as a whole. He even refused to +designate his successor in the causes, saying that he was determined not +only to be quite unbiased in acting upon the subject of these claims as +senator, but not to have, nor to be suspected of having, any personal +interest in the fate of any of them. Many a modern statesman might most +profitably copy his sensitiveness. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +EARLY YEARS IN THE SENATE. + + +When Benton took his seat in the United States Senate, Monroe, the last +president of the great house of Virginia, was about beginning his second +term. He was a courteous, high-bred gentleman, of no especial ability, +but well fitted to act as presidential figure-head during the +politically quiet years of that era of good feeling which lasted from +1816 till 1824. The Federalist party, after its conduct during the war, +had vanished into well-deserved obscurity, and though influences of +various sorts were working most powerfully to split the dominant and +all-embracing Democracy into factional fragments, these movements had +not yet come to a head. + +The slavery question, it cannot be too often said, was as yet of little +or no political consequence. The violent excitement over the admission +of Missouri had subsided as quickly as it had arisen; and though the +Compromise bill was of immense importance in itself, and still more as +giving a hint of what was to come, it must be remembered that its effect +upon general politics, during the years immediately succeeding its +passage, was slight. Later on, the slavery question became of such +paramount consequence, and so completely identified with the movement +for the dissolution of the Union, that it seems impossible for even the +best of recent historians of American politics to understand that such +was not the case at this time. One writer of note even goes so far as to +state that "From the night of March 2, 1820, party history is made up +without interruption or break of the development of geographical [the +context shows this to mean Northern and Southern] parties." There is +very little ground for such a sweeping assertion until a considerable +time after the date indicated; indeed, it was more than ten years later +before any symptom of the development spoken of became at all marked. +Until then, parties divided even less on geographical lines than had +been the case earlier, during the last years of the existence of the +Federalists; and what little division there was had no reference to +slavery. Nor was it till nearly a score of years after the passage of +the Missouri Compromise bill that the separatist spirit began to +identify itself for good with the idea of the maintenance of slavery. +Previously to that there had been outbursts of separatist feeling in +different states, but always due to entirely different causes. Georgia +flared up in hot defiance of the federal government, when the latter +rubbed against her on the question of removing the Cherokees from within +her borders. But her having negro slaves did not affect her feelings in +the least, and her attitude was just such as any Western state with +Indians on its frontier is now apt to assume so far as it dares,--such +an attitude as Arizona, for example, would at this moment take in +reference to the Apaches, if she were able. Slavery was doubtless +remotely one of the irritating causes that combined to work South +Carolina up to a fever heat of insanity over the nullification +excitement. But in its immediate origin nullification arose from the +outcry against the protective tariff, and it is almost as unfair to +ascribe it in any way to the influence of slavery as it would be to +assign a similar cause for the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of +1798, or to say that the absence of slavery was the reason for the +abortively disloyal agitation in New England, which culminated in the +Hartford Convention. The separatist feeling is ingrained in the fibre of +our race, and though in itself a most dangerous failing and weakness, is +yet merely a perversion and distortion of the defiant and self-reliant +independence of spirit which is one of the chief of the race virtues; +and slavery was partly the cause and partly merely the occasion of the +abnormal growth of the separatist movement in the South. Nor was the +tariff question so intimately associated with that of slavery as has +been commonly asserted. This might be easily guessed from the fact that +the originator and chief advocate of a high tariff himself came from a +slave state, and drew many of his warmest supporters from among the +slave-holding sugar-planters. Except in the futile discussion over the +proposed Panama Congress it was not till Benton's third senatorial term +that slavery became of really great weight in politics. + +One of the first subjects that attracted Benton's attention in the +Senate was the Oregon question, and on this he showed himself at once in +his true character as a Western man, proud alike of every part of his +country, and as desirous of seeing the West extended in a northerly as +in a southerly direction. Himself a slave-holder, from a slave state, he +was one of the earliest and most vehement advocates of the extension of +our free territory northwards along the Pacific coast. All the country +stretching north and south of the Oregon River was then held by the +United States in joint possession with Great Britain. But the whole +region was still entirely unsettled, and as a matter of fact our +British rivals were the only parties in actual occupation. The title to +the territory was doubtful, as must always be the case when it rests +upon the inaccurate maps of forgotten explorers, or upon the chance +landings of stray sailors and traders, especially if the land in dispute +is unoccupied and of vast but uncertain extent, of little present value, +and far distant from the powers claiming it. The real truth is that such +titles are of very little practical value, and are rightly enough +disregarded by any nations strong enough to do so. Benton's intense +Americanism, and his pride and confidence in his country and in her +unlimited capacity for growth of every sort, gifted him with the power +to look much farther into the future, as regarded the expansion of the +United States, than did his colleagues; and moreover caused him to +consider the question from a much more far-seeing and statesmanlike +stand-point. The land belonged to no man, and yet was sure to become +very valuable; our title to it was not very good, but was probably +better than that of any one else. Sooner or later it would be filled +with the overflow of our population, and would border on our dominion, +and on our dominion alone. It was therefore just, and moreover in the +highest degree desirable, that it should be made a part of that +dominion at the earliest possible moment. Benton introduced a bill to +enable the president to terminate the arrangement with Great Britain and +make a definite settlement in our favor; and though the Senate refused +to pass it, yet he had the satisfaction of bringing the subject +prominently before the people, and, moreover, of outlining the way in +which it would have to be and was finally settled. In one of his +speeches on the matter he said, using rather highflown language, (for he +was unfortunately deficient in sense of humor): "Upon the people of +Eastern Asia the establishment of a civilized power on the opposite +coast of America could not fail to produce great and wonderful benefits. +Science, liberal principles in government, and the true religion might +cast their lights across the intervening sea. The valley of the Columbia +might become the granary of China and Japan, and an outlet to their +imprisoned and exuberant population." Could he have foreseen how, in the +future, the Americans of the valley of the Columbia would greet the +"imprisoned and exuberant population" of China, he would probably have +been more doubtful as to the willingness of the latter empire to accept +our standard of the true religion and liberal principles of government. +In the course of the same speech he for the first time, and by what was +then considered a bold flight of imagination, suggested the possibility +of sending foreign ministers to the Oriental nations, to China, Japan, +and Persia, "and even to the Grand Turk." + +Better success attended a bill he introduced to establish a trading-road +from Missouri through the Indian country to New Mexico, which, after +much debate, passed both houses and was signed by President Monroe. The +road thus marked out and established became, and remained for many +years, a great thoroughfare, and among the chief of the channels through +which our foreign commerce flowed. Until Benton secured the enactment of +this law, so important to the interests and development of the West, the +overland trade with Mexico had been carried on by individual effort and +at the cost of incalculable hazard, hardship, and risk of life. Mexico, +with its gold and silver mines, its strange physical features, its +population utterly foreign to us in race, religion, speech, and ways of +life, and especially because of the glamour of mystery which surrounded +it and partly shrouded it from sight, always dazzled and strongly +attracted the minds of the Southwesterners, occupying much the same +place in their thoughts that the Spanish Main did in the imagination of +England during the reign of Elizabeth. The young men of the Mississippi +valley looked upon an expedition with one of the bands of armed traders, +who wound their way across Indian-haunted wastes, through deep canyons +and over lofty mountain passes, to Santa Fe, Chihuahua, and Sonora, with +the same feelings of eager excitement and longing that were doubtless +felt by some of their forefathers more than two centuries previously in +regard to the cruises of Drake and Hawkins. The long wagon trains or +pack trains of the traders carried with them all kinds of goods, but +especially cotton, and brought back gold and silver bullion, bales of +furs and droves of mules; and, moreover, they brought back tales of +lawless adventure, of great gains and losses, of fights against Indians +and Mexicans, and of triumphs and privations, which still further +inflamed the minds of the Western men. Where they had already gone as +traders, who could on occasion fight, they all hoped on some future day +to go as warriors, who would acquire gain by their conquests. These +hopes were openly expressed, and with very little more idea of there +being any right or wrong in the matter than so many Norse Vikings might +have felt. The Southwesterners are credited with altogether too complex +motives when it is supposed that they were actuated in regard to the +conquest of northern Mexico by a desire to provide for additional slave +states to offset the growth of the North; their emotions in regard to +their neighbor's land were in the main perfectly simple and purely +piratical. That the Northeast did not share in the greed for new +territory felt by the other sections of the country was due partly to +the decline in its militant spirit, (a decline on many accounts +sincerely to be regretted,) and partly to its geographical situation, +since it adjoined Canada, an unattractive and already well-settled +country, jealously guarded by the might of Great Britain. + +Another question, on which Benton showed himself to be thoroughly a +representative of Western sentiment, was the removal of the Indian +tribes. Here he took a most active and prominent part in reporting and +favoring the bills, and in advocating the treaties, by which the Indian +tribes of the South and West were forced or induced, (for the latter +word was very frequently used as a euphemistic synonym of the former,) +to abandon great tracts of territory to the whites and to move farther +away from the boundaries of their ever-encroaching civilization. Nor was +his action wholly limited to the Senate, for it was at his instance that +General Clark, at St. Louis, concluded the treaties with the Kansas and +Osage tribes, by which the latter surrendered to the United States all +the vast territory which they nominally owned west of Missouri and +Arkansas, except small reserves for themselves. Benton, as was to be +expected, took the frontier view of the Indian question, which, by the +way, though often wrong, is much more apt to be right than is the +so-called humanitarian or Eastern view. But, so far as was compatible +with having the Indians removed, he always endeavored to have them +kindly and humanely treated. There was, of course, much injustice and +wrong inevitably attendant upon the Indian policy advocated by him, and +by the rest of the Southern and Western statesmen; but it is difficult +to see what other course could have been pursued with most of the +tribes. In the Western States there were then sixty millions of acres of +the best land, owned in great tracts by barbarous or half-barbarous +Indians, who were always troublesome and often dangerous neighbors, and +who did not come in any way under the laws of the states in which they +lived. The states thus encumbered would evidently never have been +satisfied until all their soil was under their own jurisdiction and open +to settlement. The Cherokees had advanced far on the road toward +civilization, and it was undoubtedly a cruel grief and wrong to take +them away from their homes; but the only alternative would have been to +deprive them of much of their land, and to provide for their gradually +becoming citizens of the states in which they were. For a movement of +this sort the times were not then, and, unfortunately, are not yet ripe. + +Much maudlin nonsense has been written about the governmental treatment +of the Indians, especially as regards taking their land. For the simple +truth is that they had no possible title to most of the lands we took, +not even that of occupancy, and at the most were in possession merely by +virtue of having butchered the previous inhabitants. For many of its +actions towards them the government does indeed deserve the severest +criticism; but it has erred quite as often on the side of too much +leniency as on the side of too much severity. From the very nature of +things, it was wholly impossible that there should not be much mutual +wrong-doing and injury in the intercourse between the Indians and +ourselves. It was equally out of the question to let them remain as they +were, and to bring the bulk of their number up to our standard of +civilization with sufficient speed to enable them to accommodate +themselves to the changed condition of their surroundings. The policy +towards them advocated by Benton, which was much the same as, although +more humane than, that followed by most other Western men who have had +practically to face the problem, worked harshly in many instances, and +was the cause of a certain amount of temporary suffering. But it was +infinitely better for the nation, as a whole, and, in the end, was +really more just and merciful, than it would have been to attempt +following out any of the visionary schemes which the more impracticable +Indian enthusiasts are fond of recommending. + +It was during Monroe's last term that Henry Clay brought in the first +protective tariff bill, as distinguished from tariff bills to raise +revenue with protection as an incident only. It was passed by a +curiously mixed vote, which hardly indicated any one's future position +on the tariff excepting that of Clay himself; Massachusetts, under the +lead of Webster, joining hands with the Southern sea-coast states to +oppose it, while Tennessee and New York split, and Missouri and +Kentucky, together with most of the North, favored it. Benton voted for +it, but on the great question of internal improvements he stood out +clearly for the views that he ever afterwards held. This was first +brought up by the veto, on constitutional grounds, of the Cumberland +Road bill, which had previously passed both houses with singular +unanimity, Benton's vote being one of the very few recorded against it. +In regard to all such matters Benton was strongly in favor of a strict +construction of the Constitution and of guarding the rights of the +states, in spite of his devoted attachment to the Union. While voting +against this bill, and denying the power or the right of the federal +government to take charge of improvements which would benefit one state +only, Benton was nevertheless careful to reserve to himself the right to +support measures for improving national rivers or harbors yielding +revenues. The trouble is, that however much the two classes of cases may +differ in point of expediency, they overlap so completely that it is +wholly impossible to draw a hard and fast line between them, and the +question of constitutionality, if waived in the one instance, can +scarcely with propriety be raised in the other. + +With the close of Monroe's second term the "era of good feeling" came to +an end, and the great Democratic-Republican party split up into several +fragments, which gradually crystallized round two centres. But in 1824 +this process was still incomplete, and the presidential election of that +year was a simple scramble between four different candidates,--Jackson, +Adams, Clay, and Crawford. Jackson had the greatest number of votes, but +as no one had a majority, the election was thrown into the House of +Representatives, where the Clay men, inasmuch as their candidate was out +of the race, went over to Adams and elected him. Benton at the time, and +afterwards in his "Thirty Years' View," inveighed against this choice as +being a violation of what he called the "principle demos krateo"--a +barbarous phrase for which he had a great fondness, and which he used +and misused on every possible occasion, whether in speaking or writing. +He insisted that, as Jackson had secured the majority of the electoral +vote, it was the duty of the House of Representatives to ratify promptly +this "choice of the people." The Constitution expressly provided that +this need not be done. So Benton, who on questions of state rights and +internal improvements was so pronounced a stickler for a strict +construction of the Constitution, here coolly assumed the absurd +position that the Constitution was wrong on this particular point, and +should be disregarded, on the ground that there was a struggle "between +the theory of the Constitution and the democratic principle." His +proposition was ridiculous. The "democratic principle" had nothing more +to do with the matter than had the law of gravitation. Either the +Constitution was or it was not to be accepted as a serious document, +that meant something; in the former case the election of Adams was +proper in every aspect, in the latter it was unnecessary to have held +any election at all. + +At this period every one was floundering about in efforts to establish +political relations, Benton not less than others; for he had begun the +canvass as a supporter of Clay, and had then gone over to Crawford. But +at the end he had become a Jacksonian Democrat, and during the rest of +his political career he figured as the most prominent representative of +the Jacksonian Democracy in the Senate. Van Buren himself, afterwards +Jackson's prime favorite and political heir, was a Crawford man during +this campaign. + +Adams, after his election, which was owing to Clay's support, gave Clay +the position of secretary of state in his cabinet. The affair +unquestionably had an unfortunate look, and the Jacksonians, especially +Jackson, at once raised a great hue and cry that there had been a +corrupt bargain. Benton, much to his credit, refused to join in the +outcry, stating that he had good and sufficient reasons--which he +gave--to be sure of its falsity; a position which brought him into +temporary disfavor with many of his party associates, and which a man +who had Benton's ambition and bitter partisanship, without having his +sturdy pluck, would have hesitated to take. The assault was directed +with especial bitterness against Clay, whom Jackson ever afterwards +included in the very large list of individuals whom he hated with the +most rancorous and unreasoning virulence. Randolph of Roanoke, the +privileged eccentric of the Senate, in one of those long harangues in +which he touched upon everybody and everything, except possibly the +point at issue, made a rabid onslaught upon the Clay-Adams coalition as +an alliance of "the blackleg and the Puritan." Clay, who was susceptible +enough to the charge of loose living, but who was a man of rigid honor +and rather fond than otherwise of fighting, promptly challenged him, and +a harmless interchange of shots took place. Benton was on the field as +the friend of both parties, and his account of the affair is very +amusing in its description of the solemn, hair-splitting punctilio with +which it is evident that both Randolph and many of his contemporaries +regarded points of dueling honor, which to us seem either absurd, +trivial, or wholly incomprehensible. + +Two tolerably well-defined parties now emerged from the chaos of +contending politicians; one was the party of the administration, whose +members called themselves National Republicans, and later on Whigs; the +other was the Jacksonian Democracy. Adams's inaugural address and first +message outlined the Whig policy as favoring a protective tariff, +internal improvements, and a free construction of the Constitution +generally. The Jacksonians accordingly took the opposite side on all +these points, partly from principle and partly from perversity. In the +Senate they assailed with turgid eloquence every administration measure, +whether it was good or bad, very much of their opposition being purely +factious in character. There has never been a time when there was more +rabid, objectless, and unscrupulous display of partisanship. Benton, +little to his credit, was a leader in these purposeless conflicts. The +most furious of them took place over the proposed Panama mission. This +was a scheme that originated in the fertile brain of Henry Clay, whose +Americanism was of a type quite as pronounced as Benton's, and who was +always inclined to drag us into a position of hostility to European +powers. The Spanish-American States, having succeeded in winning their +independence from Spain, were desirous of establishing some principle of +concert in action among the American republics as a whole, and for this +purpose proposed to hold an international congress at Panama. Clay's +fondness for a spirited and spectacular foreign policy made him grasp +eagerly at the chance of transforming the United States into the head of +an American league of free republics, which would be a kind of +cis-Atlantic offset to the Holy Alliance of European despotisms. Adams +took up the idea, nominated ministers to the Panama Congress, and gave +his reasons for his course in a special message to the Senate. The +administration men drew the most rosy and impossible pictures of the +incalculable benefits which would be derived from the proposed congress; +and the Jacksonians attacked it with an exaggerated denunciation that +was even less justified by the facts. + +Adams's message was properly open to attack on one or two points; +notably in reference to its proposals that we should endeavor to get the +Spanish-American States to introduce religious tolerance within their +borders. It was certainly an unhappy suggestion that we should endeavor +to remove the mote of religious intolerance from our brother's eye while +indignantly resenting the least allusion to the beam of slavery in our +own. It was on this very point of slavery that the real opposition +hinged. The Spanish States had emancipated their comparatively small +negro populations, and, as is usually the case with Latin nations, did +not have a very strong caste feeling against the blacks, some of whom +accordingly had risen to high civic and military rank; and they also +proposed to admit to their congress the negro republic of Hayti. Certain +of the slave-holders of the South fiercely objected to any such +association; and on this occasion Benton for once led and voiced the +ultra-Southern feeling on the subject, announcing in his speech that +diplomatic intercourse with Hayti should not even be discussed in the +senate chamber, and that we could have no association with republics who +had "black generals in their armies and mulatto senators in their +congresses." But this feeling on the part of the slave-holders against +the measure was largely, although not wholly, spurious; and really had +less to do with the attitude of the Jacksonian Democrats than had a mere +factious opposition to Adams and Clay. This was shown by the vote on the +confirmation of the ministers, when the senators divided on party and +not on sectional lines. The nominations were confirmed, but not till +after such a length of time that the ministers were unable to reach +Panama until after the congress had adjourned. + +The Oregon question again came up during Adams's term, the +administration favoring the renewal of the joint occupation convention, +by which we held the country in common with Great Britain. There was +not much public feeling in the matter; in the East there was none +whatever. But Benton, when he opposed the renewal, and claimed the whole +territory as ours, gave expression to the desires of all the Westerners +who thought over the subject at all. He was followed by only half a +dozen senators, all but one from the West, and from both sides of the +Ohio--Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi; the Northwest and +Southwest as usual acting together. + +The vote on the protective tariff law of 1828 furnished another +illustration of the solidarity of the West. New England had abandoned +her free trade position since 1824, and the North went strongly for the +new tariff; the Southern sea-coast states, except Louisiana, opposed it +bitterly; and the bill was carried by the support of the Western States, +both the free and the slave. This tariff bill was the first of the +immediate irritating causes which induced South Carolina to go into the +nullification movement. Benton's attitude on the measure was that of a +good many other men who, in their public capacities, are obliged to +appear as protectionists, but who lack his frankness in stating their +reasons. He utterly disbelieved in and was opposed to the principle of +the bill, but as it had bid for and secured the interest of Missouri by +a heavy duty on lead, he felt himself forced to support it; and so he +announced his position. He simply went with his state, precisely as did +Webster, the latter, in following Massachusetts' change of front and +supporting the tariff of 1828, turning a full and complete somersault. +Neither the one nor the other was to blame. Free traders are apt to look +at the tariff from a sentimental stand-point; but it is in reality +purely a business matter, and should be decided solely on grounds of +expediency. Political economists have pretty generally agreed that +protection is vicious in theory and harmful in practice; but if the +majority of the people in interest wish it, and it affects only +themselves, there is no earthly reason why they should not be allowed to +try the experiment to their hearts' content. The trouble is that it +rarely does affect only themselves; and in 1828 the evil was peculiarly +aggravated on account of the unequal way in which the proposed law would +affect different sections. It purported to benefit the rest of the +country, but it undoubtedly worked real injury to the planter states, +and there is small ground for wonder that the irritation over it in the +region so affected should have been intense. + +During Adams's term Benton began his fight for disposing of the public +lands to actual settlers at a small cost. It was a move of enormous +importance to the whole West; and Benton's long and sturdy contest for +it, and for the right of preemption, entitle him to the greatest credit. +He never gave up the struggle, although repulsed again and again, and at +the best only partially successful; for he had to encounter much +opposition, especially from the short-sighted selfishness of many of the +Northeasterners, who wished to consider the public lands purely as +sources of revenue. He utterly opposed the then existing system of +selling land to the highest bidder--a most hurtful practice; and +objected to the establishment of an arbitrary minimum price, which +practically kept all land below a certain value out of the market +altogether. He succeeded in establishing the preemption system, and had +the system of renting public mines, etc., abolished; and he struggled +for the principle of giving land outright to settlers in certain cases. +As a whole, his theory of a liberal system of land distribution was +undoubtedly the correct one, and he deserves the greatest credit for +having pushed it as he did. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE ELECTION OF JACKSON, AND THE SPOILS SYSTEM. + + +In the presidential election of 1828 Jackson and Adams were pitted +against each other as the only candidates before the people, and Jackson +won an overwhelming victory. The followers of the two were fast +developing respectively into Democrats and Whigs, and the parties were +hardening and taking shape, while the dividing lines were being drawn +more clearly and distinctly. But the contest was largely a personal one, +and Jackson's success was due to his own immense popularity more than to +any party principles which he was supposed to represent. Almost the +entire strength of Adams was in the Northeast; but it is absolutely +wrong to assume, because of this fact, that the election even remotely +foreshadowed the way in which party lines would be drawn in the coming +sectional antagonism over slavery. Adams led Jackson in the two slave +states of Maryland and Delaware; and in the free states outside of New +England Jackson had an even greater lead over Adams. East of the +Alleghanies it may here and there have been taken as in some sort a +triumph of the South over the North; but its sectional significance, as +far as it had any, really came from its being a victory of the West over +the East. Infinitely more important than this was the fact that it +represented the overwhelmingly successful upheaval of the most extreme +democratic elements in the community. + +Until 1828 all the presidents, and indeed almost all the men who took +the lead in public life, alike in national and in state affairs, had +been drawn from what in Europe would have been called the "upper +classes." They were mainly college-bred men of high social standing, as +well educated as any in the community, usually rich or at least +well-to-do. Their subordinates in office were of much the same material. +It was believed, and the belief was acted upon, that public life needed +an apprenticeship of training and experience. Many of our public men had +been able; almost all had been honorable and upright. The change of +parties in 1800, when the Jeffersonian Democracy came in, altered the +policy of the government, but not the character of the officials. In +that movement, though Jefferson had behind him the mass of the people as +the rank and file of his party, yet all his captains were still drawn +from among the men in the same social position as himself. The +Revolutionary War had been fought under the leadership of the colonial +gentry; and for years after it was over the people, as a whole, felt +that their interests could be safely intrusted to and were identical +with those of the descendants of their revolutionary leaders. The +classes in which were to be found almost all the learning, the talent, +the business activity, and the inherited wealth and refinement of the +country, had also hitherto contributed much to the body of its rulers. + +The Jacksonian Democracy stood for the revolt against these rulers; its +leaders, as well as their followers, all came from the mass of the +people. The majority of the voters supported Jackson because they felt +he was one of themselves, and because they understood that his election +would mean the complete overthrow of the classes in power and their +retirement from the control of the government. There was nothing to be +said against the rulers of the day; they had served the country and all +its citizens well, and they were dismissed, not because the voters could +truthfully allege any wrong-doing whatsoever against them, but solely +because, in their purely private and personal feelings and habits of +life, they were supposed to differ from the mass of the people. This +was such an outrageously absurd feeling that the very men who were +actuated by it, or who, like Benton, shaped and guided it, were ashamed +to confess the true reason of their actions, and tried to cloak it +behind an outcry, as vague and senseless as it was clamorous, against +"aristocratic corruption" and other shadowy and spectral evils. Benton +even talked loosely of "retrieving the country from the deplorable +condition in which the enlightened classes had sunk it," although the +country was perfectly prosperous and in its usual state of quiet, +healthy growth. On the other hand, the opponents of Jackson indulged in +talk almost as wild, and fears even more extravagant than his +supporters' hopes; and the root of much of their opposition lay in a +concealed but still existent caste antagonism to a man of Jackson's +birth and bringing up. In fact, neither side, in spite of all their loud +talk of American Republicanism, had yet mastered enough of its true +spirit to be able to see that so long as public officers did their whole +duty to all classes alike, it was not in the least the affair of their +constituents whether they chose to spend their hours of social +relaxation in their shirt-sleeves or in dress coats. + +The change was a great one; it was not a change of the policy under +which the government was managed, as in Jefferson's triumph, but of the +men who controlled it. The two great democratic victories had little in +common; almost as little as had the two great leaders under whose +auspices they were respectively won,--and few men were ever more unlike +than the scholarly, timid, and shifty doctrinaire, who supplanted the +elder Adams, and the ignorant, headstrong, and straightforward soldier, +who was victor over the younger. That the change was the deliberate +choice of the great mass of the people, and that it was one for the +worse, was then, and has been ever since, the opinion of most thinking +men; certainly the public service then took its first and greatest step +in that downward career of progressive debasement and deterioration +which has only been checked in our own days. But those who would, +off-hand, decry the democratic principle on this account would do well +to look at the nearly contemporaneous career of the pet heroes of a +trans-Atlantic aristocracy before passing judgment. A very charming +English historian of our day[1] has compared Wellington with Washington; +it would have been far juster to have compared him with Andrew Jackson. +Both were men of strong, narrow minds and bitter prejudices, with few +statesmanlike qualities, who, for brilliant military services, were +raised to the highest civil positions in the gift of the state. The +feeling among the aristocratic classes of Great Britain in favor of the +Iron Duke was nearly as strong and quite as unreasonable as was the +homage paid by their homelier kinsfolk across the Atlantic to Old +Hickory. Wellington's military successes were far greater, for he had +more chances; but no single feat of his surpassed the remarkable victory +won against his ablest lieutenant and choicest troops by a much smaller +number of backwoods riflemen under Andrew Jackson. As a statesman +Wellington may have done less harm than Jackson, for he had less +influence; but he has no such great mark to his credit as the old +Tennessean's attitude toward the Nullifiers. If Jackson's election is a +proof that the majority is not always right, Wellington's elevation may +be taken as showing that the minority, or a fraction thereof, is in its +turn quite as likely to be wrong. + +[1: Justin McCarthy.] + +This caste antagonism was the distinguishing feature in the election of +1828, and the partially sectional character of the contest was due to +the different degree of development the caste spirit had reached in +different portions of the Union. In New England wealth was quite evenly +distributed, and education and intelligence were nearly universal; so +there the antagonism was slight, the bulk of the New England vote being +given, as usually before and since, in favor of the right candidate. In +the Middle States, on the contrary, the antagonism was very strong. In +the South it was of but little political account as between the whites +themselves, they all being knit together by the barbarous bond of a +common lordship of race; and here the feeling for Jackson was largely +derived from the close kinship still felt for the West. In the West +itself, where Jackson's great strength lay, the people were still too +much on the same plane of thought as well as of material prosperity, and +the wealthy and cultivated classes were of too limited extent to admit +of much caste feeling against the latter; and, accordingly, instead of +hostility to them, the Western caste spirit took the form of hostility +to their far more numerous representatives who had hitherto formed the +bulk of the political rulers of the East. + +New England was not only the most advanced portion of the Union, as +regards intelligence, culture, and general prosperity, but was also most +disagreeably aware of the fact, and was possessed with a self-conscious +virtue that was peculiarly irritating to the Westerners, who knew that +they were looked down upon, and savagely resented it on every occasion; +and, besides, New England was apt to meddle in affairs that more nearly +concerned other localities. Several of Benton's speeches, at this time, +show this irritation against the Northeast, and also incidentally bring +out the solidarity of interest felt throughout the West. In a long and +able speech, favoring the repeal of the iniquitous "salt tax," or high +duty on imported salt (a great hobby of his, in which, after many +efforts, he was finally successful), he brought out the latter point +very strongly, besides complaining of the disproportionate lightness of +the burden imposed upon the Northeast by the high tariff, of which he +announced himself to be but a moderate adherent. In common with all +other Western statesmen, he resented keenly the suspicion with which the +Northeast was then only too apt to regard the West, quoting in one of +his speeches with angry resentment a prevalent New England sneer at "the +savages beyond the Alleghanies." At the time we are speaking of it must +be remembered that many even of the most advanced Easterners were +utterly incapable of appreciating the almost limitless capacity of their +country for growth and expansion, being in this respect far behind their +Western brethren; indeed, many regarded the acquisition of any new +territory in the West with alarm and regret, as tending to make the +Union of such unwieldy size that it would break of its own weight. + +Benton was the leading opponent of a proposal, introduced by Senator +Foot of Connecticut, to inquire into the expediency of limiting the +sales of public lands to such lands as were then in the market. The +limitation would have been most injurious to the entire West, which was +thus menaced by the action of a New Englander, while Benton appeared as +the champion of the whole section, North and South alike, in the speech +wherein he strenuously and successfully opposed the adoption of the +resolution, and at the same time bitterly attacked the quarter of the +country from which it came, as having from the earliest years opposed +everything that might advance the interests of the people beyond the +Alleghanies. Webster came to the assistance of the mover of the measure +in a speech wherein, among other things, he claimed for the North the +merit of the passage of the Ordinance of 1787, in relation to the +Northwest Territory, and especially of the anti-slavery clause therein +contained. But Benton here caught him tripping, and in a very good +speech showed that he was completely mistaken in his facts. The debate +now, however, completely left the point at issue, taking a bitterly +sectional turn, and giving rise to the famous controversy between +Hayne, of South Carolina, who for the first time on the floor of the +Senate announced the doctrine of nullification, and Webster, who, in +response to his antagonist, voiced the feeling of the Union men of the +North in that wonderful and magnificent speech known ever since under +the name of the "Reply to Hayne," and the calling forth of which will +henceforward be Hayne's sole title to fame. Benton, though himself a +strong Union and anti-nullification man, was still too excited over the +subject-matter of the bill and the original discussion over it to +understand that the debate had ranged off upon matters of infinitely +greater importance, and entirely failed to realize that he had listened +to the greatest piece of oratory of the century. On the contrary, +encouraged by his success earlier in the debate, he actually attempted a +kind of reply to Webster, attacking him with invective and sarcasm as an +alarmist, and taunting him with the memory of the Hartford Convention, +which had been held by members of the Federalist party, to which Webster +himself had once belonged. Benton afterwards became convinced that +Webster's views were by no means those of a mere alarmist, and frankly +stated that he had been wrong in his position; but at the time, heated +by his original grievance, as a Western man, against New England, he +failed entirely to understand the true drift of Hayne's speech. Much of +New England's policy to the West was certainly excessively +narrow-minded. + +Jackson's administration derives a most unenviable notoriety as being +the one under which the "spoils system" became, for the first time, +grafted on the civil service of the nation; appointments and removals in +the public service being made dependent upon political qualifications, +and not, as hitherto, upon merit or capacity. Benton, to his honor, +always stoutly opposed this system. It is unfair to assert that Jackson +was the originator of this method of appointment; but he was certainly +its foster-father, and more than any one else is responsible for its +introduction into the affairs of the national government. Despite all +the Eastern sneers at the "savages" of the West, it was from Eastern men +that this most effective method of debauching political life came. The +Jacksonian Democrats of the West, when they introduced it into the +working of the federal government, simply copied the system which they +found already firmly established by their Eastern allies in New York and +Pennsylvania. For many years the course of politics throughout the +country had been preparing and foreshadowing the advent of the "spoils +system." The greatest single stroke in its favor had been done at the +instigation of Crawford, when that scheming politician was seeking the +presidency, and, to further his ends, he procured the passage by +Congress of a law limiting the term of service of all public officials +to four years, thus turning out of office all the fifty thousand public +servants during each presidential term. This law has never been +repealed, every low politician being vitally interested in keeping it as +it is, and accordingly it is to be found on the statute-books at the +present day; and though it has the company of some other very bad +measures, it still remains very much the worst of all, as regards both +the evil it has done and that which it is still doing. This four years' +limitation law was passed without comment or protest, every one voting +in its favor, its probable working not being comprehended in the least. +Says Benton, who, with all his colleagues, voted for it: "The object of +the law was to pass the disbursing officers every four years under the +supervision of the appointing power, for the inspection of their +accounts, in order that defaulters might be detected and dropped, while +the faithful should be ascertained and continued.... It was found to +operate contrary to its intent, and to have become the facile means of +getting rid of faithful disbursing officers, instead of retaining +them." New York has always had a low political standard, one or the +other of its great party and factional organizations, and often both or +all of them, being at all times most unlovely bodies of excessively +unwholesome moral tone. Aaron Burr introduced the "spoils system" into +her state affairs, and his methods were followed and improved upon by +Marcy, Wright, Van Buren, and all the "Albany Regency." In 1829 these +men found themselves an important constituent portion of the winning +party, and immediately, by the help of the only too willing Jackson, +proceeded to apply their system to affairs at Washington. It was about +this time that, in the course of a debate in the Senate, Marcy gave +utterance to the now notorious maxim, "To the victors belong the +spoils." + +Under Adams the non-partisan character of the public service had been +guarded with a scrupulous care that could almost be called exaggerated. +Indeed, Adams certainly went altogether too far in his non-partisanship +when it came to appointing cabinet and other high officers, his views on +such points being not only fantastic, but absolutely wrong. The +colorless character of his administration was largely due to his having, +in his anxiety to avoid blind and unreasoning adherence to party, +committed the only less serious fault of paying too little heed to +party; for a healthy party spirit is prerequisite to the performance of +effective work in American political life. Adams was not elected purely +for himself, but also on account of the men and the principles that he +was supposed to represent; and when he partly surrounded himself with +men of opposite principles, he just so far, though from the best of +motives, betrayed his supporters, and rightly forfeited much of their +confidence. But, under him, every public servant felt that, so long as +he faithfully served the state, his position was secure, no matter what +his political opinions might be. + +With the incoming of the Jacksonians all this changed, and terribly for +the worse. A perfect reign of terror ensued among the office-holders. In +the first month of the new administration more removals took place than +during all the previous administrations put together. Appointments were +made with little or no attention to fitness, or even honesty, but solely +because of personal or political services. Removals were not made in +accordance with any known rule at all; the most frivolous pretexts were +sufficient, if advanced by useful politicians who needed places already +held by capable incumbents. Spying and tale-bearing became prominent +features of official life, the meaner office-holders trying to save +their own heads by denouncing others. The very best men were +unceremoniously and causelessly dismissed; gray-headed clerks, who had +been appointed by the earlier presidents,--by Washington, the elder +Adams, and Jefferson,--being turned off at an hour's notice, although a +quarter of a century's faithful work in the public service had unfitted +them to earn their living elsewhere. Indeed, it was upon the best and +most efficient men that the blow fell heaviest; the spies, tale-bearers, +and tricksters often retained their positions. In 1829 the public +service was, as it always had been, administered purely in the interest +of the people; and the man who was styled the especial champion of the +people dealt that service the heaviest blow it has ever received. + +Benton himself always took a sound stand on the civil service question, +although his partisanship led him at times to defend Jackson's course +when he must have known well that it was indefensible. He viewed with +the greatest alarm and hostility the growth of the "spoils system," and +early introduced, as chairman of a special committee, a bill to repeal +the harmful four years' limitation act. In discussing this proposed bill +afterwards, he wrote, in words that apply as much at this time as they +did then: "The expiration of the four years' term came to be considered +as the termination and vacation of all the offices on which it fell, +and the creation of vacancies to be filled at the option of the +president. The bill to remedy this defect gave legal effect to the +original intention of the law by confining the vacation of office to +actual defaulters. The power of the president to dismiss civil officers +was not attempted to be curtailed, but the restraints of responsibility +were placed upon its exercise by requiring the cause of dismission to be +communicated to Congress in each case. The section of the bill to that +effect was in these words: _That in all nominations made by the +president to the Senate, to fill vacancies occasioned by an exercise of +the president's power to remove from office, the fact of the removal +shall be stated to the Senate at the same time that the nomination is +made, with a statement of the reasons for which such officer may have +been removed._ This was intended to operate as a restraint upon removals +without cause." + +In the "Thirty Years' View" he again writes, in language which would be +appropriate from every advanced civil service reformer of the present +day, that is, from every disinterested man who has studied the workings +of the "spoils system" with any intelligence:-- + + I consider "sweeping" removals, as now practiced by both parties, a + great political evil in our country, injurious to individuals, to + the public service, to the purity of elections, and to the harmony + and union of the people. Certainly no individual has a right to an + office; no one has an estate or property in a public employment; but + when a mere ministerial worker in a subordinate station has learned + its duties by experience and approved his fidelity by his conduct, + it is an injury to the public service to exchange him for a novice + whose only title to the place may be a political badge or partisan + service. It is exchanging experience for inexperience, tried ability + for untried, and destroying the incentive to good conduct by + destroying its reward. To the party displaced it is an injury, he + having become a proficient in that business, expecting to remain in + it during good behavior, and finding it difficult, at an advanced + age, and with fixed habits, to begin a new career in some new walk + of life. It converts elections into scrambles for office, and + degrades the government into an office for rewards and punishments; + and divides the people of the Union into two adverse parties, each + in its turn, and as it becomes dominant, to strip and proscribe the + other. + +Benton had now taken the position which he was for many years to hold, +as the recognized senatorial leader of a great and well-defined party. +Until 1828 the prominent political chiefs of the nation had either been +its presidents, or had been in the cabinets of these presidents. But +after Jackson's time they were in the Senate, and it was on this body +that public attention was concentrated. Jackson's cabinet itself showed +such a falling off, when compared with the cabinets of any of his +predecessors, as to justify the caustic criticism that, when he took +office, there came in "the millennium of the minnows." In the Senate, on +the contrary, there were never before or since so many men of commanding +intellect and powers. Calhoun had been elected as vice-president on the +Jacksonian ticket, and was thus, in 1829, presiding over the body of +which he soon became an active member; Webster and Clay were already +taking their positions as the leaders of the great National Republican, +or, as it was afterwards called, Whig party. + +When the rupture between Calhoun and the Jacksonian Democrats, and the +resignation of the former from the vice-presidency took place, three +parties developed in the United States Senate. One was composed of the +Jacksonian Democrats, with Benton at their head; one was made up of the +little band of Nullifiers, led by Calhoun; and the third included the +rather loose array of the Whigs, under Clay and Webster. The feeling of +the Jacksonians towards Calhoun and the Nullifiers and towards Clay and +the Clay Whigs were largely those of personal animosity; but they had +very little of this sentiment towards Webster and his associates, their +differences with them being on questions of party principle, or else +proceeding from merely sectional causes. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE STRUGGLE WITH THE NULLIFIERS. + + +During both Jackson's presidential terms he and his adherents were +engaged in two great struggles; that with the Nullifiers, and that with +the Bank. Although these struggles were in part synchronous, it will be +easier to discuss each by itself. + +The nullification movement in South Carolina, during the latter part of +the third and early part of the fourth decades in the present century, +had nothing to do, except in the most distant way, with slavery. Its +immediate cause was the high tariff; remotely it sprang from the same +feelings which produced the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798. + +Certain of the Slave States, including those which raised hemp, indigo, +and sugar, were high-tariff states; indeed, it was not till towards the +close of the presidency of Monroe that there had been much sectional +feeling over the policy of protection. Originally, while we were a +purely agricultural and mercantile people, free trade was the only +economic policy which occurred to us as possible to be followed, the +first tariff bill being passed in 1816. South Carolina then was inclined +to favor the system, Calhoun himself supporting the bill, and, his +subsequent denials to the contrary notwithstanding, distinctly +advocating the policy of protection to native industries; while +Massachusetts then and afterwards stoutly opposed its introduction, as +hostile to her interests. However, the bill was passed, and +Massachusetts had to submit to its operation. After 1816 new tariff laws +were enacted about every four years, and soon the coast Slave States, +except Louisiana, realized that their working was hurtful to the +interests of the planters. New England also changed her attitude; and +when the protective tariff bill of 1828 came up, its opponents and +supporters were sharply divided by sectional lines. But these lines were +not such as would have divided the states on the question of slavery. +The Northeast and Northwest alike favored the measure, as also did all +the Southern States west of the Alleghanies, and Louisiana. It was +therefore passed by an overwhelming vote, against the solid opposition +of the belt of Southern coast states stretching from Virginia to +Mississippi, and including these two. + +The states that felt themselves harmed by the tariff did something more +than record their disapproval by the votes of their representatives in +Congress. They nearly all, through their legislatures, entered emphatic +protests against its adoption, as being most harmful to them and +dangerous to the Union; and some accompanied their protests with threats +as to what would be done if the obnoxious laws should be enforced. They +certainly had grounds for discontent. In 1828 the tariff, whether it +benefited the country as a whole or not, unquestionably harmed the +South; and in a federal Union it is most unwise to pass laws which shall +benefit one part of the community to the hurt of another part, when the +latter receives no compensation. The truculent and unyielding attitude +of the extreme protectionists was irritating in the extreme; for cooler +men than the South Carolinians might well have been exasperated at such +an utterance as that of Henry Clay, when he stated that for the sake of +the "American system"--by which title he was fond of styling a doctrine +already ancient in mediaeval times--he would "defy the South, the +president and the devil." + +On the other hand, both the good and the evil effects of the tariff were +greatly exaggerated. Some harm to the planter states was doubtless +caused by it; but their falling back, as compared with the North, in +the race for prosperity, was doubtless caused much more by the presence +of slavery, as Dallas, of Pennsylvania, pointed out in the course of +some very temperate and moderate remarks in the Senate. Clay's +assertions as to what the tariff had done for the West were equally +ill-founded, as Benton showed in a good speech, wherein he described +picturesquely enough the industries and general condition of his portion +of the country, and asserted with truth that its revived prosperity was +due to its own resources, entirely independent of federal aid or +legislation. He said: "I do not think we are indebted to the high tariff +for our fertile lands and our navigable rivers; and I am certain we are +indebted to these blessings for the prosperity we enjoy." "In all that +comes from the soil the people of the West are rich. They have an +abundant supply of food for man and beast, and a large surplus to send +abroad. They have the comfortable living which industry creates for +itself in a rich soil, but beyond this they are poor.... They have no +roads paved or macadamized; no canals or aqueducts; no bridges of stone +across the innumerable streams; no edifices dedicated to eternity; no +schools for the fine arts; not a public library for which an ordinary +scholar would not apologize." Then he went on to speak of the commerce +of the West and its exports, "the marching myriads of living animals +annually taking their departure from the heart of the West, defiling +through the gorges of the Cumberland, the Alleghany, and the Appalachian +mountains, or traversing the plains of the South, diverging as they +march, ... and the flying steamboats and the fleets of floating arks, +loaded with the products of the forest, the farm, and the pasture, +following the courses of our noble rivers, and bearing their freights to +the great city" of New Orleans. + +Unfortunately Benton would interlard even his best speeches with +theories of economics often more or less crude, and, still worse, with a +series of classic quotations and allusions; for he was grievously +afflicted with the rage for cheap pseudo-classicism that Jefferson and +his school had borrowed from the French revolutionists. Nor could he +resist the temptation to drag in allusions to some favorite hobby. The +repeal of the salt-tax was an especial favorite of his. He was perfectly +right in attacking the tax, and deserves the greatest credit for the +persistency which finally won him the victory. But his associates, +unless of a humorous turn of mind, must have found his allusions to it +rather tiresome, as when, apropos of the commerce of the Mississippi, +and without any possible excuse for speaking of the iniquity of taxing +salt, he suddenly alluded to New Orleans as "that great city which +revives upon the banks of the Mississippi the name of the greatest of +the emperors[2] that ever reigned upon the banks of the Tiber, and who +eclipsed the glory of his own heroic exploits by giving an order to his +legions never to levy a contribution of salt upon a Roman citizen!" + +[2: Aurelian.] + +It must be admitted that the tariff did some harm to the South, and that +it was natural for the latter to feel resentment at the way in which it +worked. But it must also be remembered that no law can be passed which +does not distribute its benefits more or less unequally, and which does +not, in all probability, work harm in some cases. Moreover, the South +was estopped from complaining of one section being harmed by a law that +benefited, or was supposed to benefit, the country at large, by her +position in regard to the famous embargo and non-intervention acts. +These inflicted infinitely more damage and loss in New England than any +tariff law could inflict on South Carolina, and, moreover, were put into +execution on account of a quarrel with England forced on by the West and +South contrary to the desire of the East. Yet the Southerners were +fierce in their denunciations of such of the Federalists as went to the +extreme in opposition to them. Even in 1816 Massachusetts had been +obliged to submit with good grace to the workings of a tariff which she +deemed hostile to her interests, and which many Southerners then +advocated. Certainly, even if the new tariff laws were ill-advised, +unjust, and unequal in their working, yet they did not, in the most +remote degree, justify any effort to break up the Union; especially the +South had no business to complain when she herself had joined in laying +heavier burdens on the shoulders of New England. + +Complain she did, however; and soon added threats to complaints, and was +evidently ready to add acts to threats. Georgia, at first, took the lead +in denunciation; but South Carolina soon surpassed her, and finally went +to the length of advocating and preparing for separation from the Union; +a step that produced a revulsion of feeling even among her fellow +anti-tariff states. The South Carolinian statesmen now proclaimed the +doctrine of nullification,--that is, proclaimed that if any state deemed +a federal law improper, it could proceed to declare that law null and +void so far as its own territory was concerned,--and, as a corollary, +that it had the right forcibly to prevent execution of this void law +within its borders. This was proclaimed, not as an exercise of the right +of revolution, which, in the last resort, belongs, of course, to every +community and class, but as a constitutional privilege. Jefferson was +quoted as the father of the idea, and the Kentucky resolutions of +1798-99, which he drew, were cited as the precedent for the South +Carolinian action. In both these last assertions the Nullifiers were +correct. Jefferson was the father of nullification, and therefore of +secession. He used the word "nullify" in the original draft which he +supplied to the Kentucky legislature, and though that body struck it out +of the resolutions which they passed in 1798, they inserted it in those +of the following year. This was done mainly as an unscrupulous party +move on Jefferson's part, and when his side came into power he became a +firm upholder of the Union; and, being constitutionally unable to put a +proper value on truthfulness, he even denied that his resolutions could +be construed to favor nullification--though they could by no possibility +be construed to mean anything else. + +At this time it is not necessary to discuss nullification as a +constitutional dogma; it is an absurdity too great to demand serious +refutation. The United States has the same right to protect itself from +death by nullification, secession, or rebellion, that a man has to +protect himself from death by assassination. Calhoun's hair-splitting +and metaphysical disquisitions on the constitutionality of nullification +have now little more practical interest than have the extraordinary +arguments and discussions of the school-men of the Middle Ages. + +But at the time they were of vital interest, for they were words which +it was known South Carolina was prepared to back up by deeds. Calhoun +was vice-president, the second officer in the federal government, and +yet also the avowed leader of the most bitter disunionists. His state +supported him by an overwhelming majority, although even within its own +borders there was an able opposition, headed by the gallant and loyal +family of the Draytons,--the same family that afterwards furnished the +captain of Farragut's flag-ship, the glorious old Hartford. There was a +strong sentiment in the other Southern States in his favor; the public +men of South Carolina made speech after speech goading him on to take +even more advanced ground. + +In Washington the current at first seemed to be all setting in favor of +the Nullifiers; they even counted on Jackson's support, as he was a +Southerner and a states'-rights man. But he was also a strong Unionist, +and, moreover, at this time, felt very bitterly towards Calhoun, with +whom he had just had a split, and had in consequence remodeled his +cabinet, thrusting out all Calhoun's supporters, and adopting Van Buren +as his political heir,--the position which it was hitherto supposed the +great Carolina separatist occupied. + +The first man to take up the gauntlet the Nullifiers had thrown down was +Webster, in his famous reply to Hayne. He, of course, voiced the +sentiment of the Whigs, and especially of the Northeast, where the high +tariff was regarded with peculiar favor, where the Union feeling was +strong, and where there was a certain antagonism felt towards the South. +The Jacksonian Democrats, whose strength lay in the West, had not yet +spoken. They were, for the most part, neither ultra protectionists nor +absolute free-traders; Jackson's early presidential utterances had given +offense to the South by not condemning all high-tariff legislation, but +at the same time had declared in favor of a much more moderate degree of +protection than suited the Whigs. Only a few weeks after Webster's +speech Jackson's chance came, and he declared himself in unmistakable +terms. It was on the occasion of the Jefferson birthday banquet, April +13, 1830. An effort was then being made to have Jefferson's birthday +celebrated annually; and the Nullifiers, rightly claiming him as their +first and chief apostle, attempted to turn this particular feast into a +demonstration in favor of nullification. Most of the speakers present +were actively or passively in favor of the movement, and the toasts +proposed strongly savored of the new doctrine. But Jackson, Benton, and +a number of other Union men were in attendance also, and when it came to +Jackson's turn he electrified the audience by proposing: "Our federal +Union; it must be preserved." Calhoun at once answered with: "The Union; +next to our liberty the most dear; may we all remember that it can only +be preserved by respecting the rights of the states and distributing +equally the benefit and burden of the Union." The issue between the +president and the vice-president was now complete, and the Jacksonian +Democracy was squarely committed against nullification. Jackson had +risen to the occasion as only a strong and a great man could rise, and +his few, telling words, finely contrasting at every point with Calhoun's +utterances, rang throughout the whole country, and will last as long as +our government. One result, at least, the Nullifiers accomplished,--they +completely put an end to the Jefferson birthday celebrations. + +The South Carolinians had no intention of flinching from the contest +which they had provoked, even when they saw that the North and West were +united against them, and though the tide began to set the same way in +their sister states of the South; North Carolina, among the latter, +being the first and most pronounced in her support of the president and +denunciation of the Nullifiers. The men of the Palmetto State have +always ranked high for hotheaded courage, and they soon showed that they +had wills as fiery as that of Jackson himself. Yet in the latter they +had met an antagonist well worthy of any foeman's steel. In declining an +invitation to be present at Charleston, on July 4, 1831, the president +again defined most clearly his position in favor of the Union, and his +words had an especial significance because he let it be seen that he was +fully determined to back them up by force if necessary. But his letter +only had the effect of inflaming still more the minds of the South +Carolinians. The prime cause of irritation, the tariff, still remained; +and in 1832, Clay, having entered the Senate after a long retirement +from politics, put the finishing stroke to their anger by procuring the +passage of a new tariff bill, which left the planter states almost as +badly off as did the law of 1828. Jackson signed this, although not +believing that it went far enough in the reduction of duties. + +In the presidential election of 1832, Jackson defeated Clay by an +enormous majority; Van Buren was elected vice-president, there being +thus a Northern man on the ticket. South Carolina declined to take part +in the election, throwing away her vote. Again, it must be kept in mind +that the slave question did not shape, or, indeed, enter into this +contest at all, directly, although beginning to be present in the +background as a source of irritation. In 1832 there was ten-fold more +feeling in the North against Masonry, and secret societies generally, +than there was against slavery. + +Benton threw himself in, heart and soul, with the Union party, acting as +Jackson's right-hand man throughout the contest with South Carolina, and +showing an even more resolute and unflinching front than Old Hickory +himself. No better or trustier ally than the Missouri statesman, in a +hard fight for a principle, could be desired. He was intensely national +in all his habits of thought; he took a deep, personal pride in all his +country,--North, South, East, and West. He had been very loath to +believe that any movement hostile to the Union was really on foot; but +once thoroughly convinced of it he chose his own line of action without +an instant's hesitation. + +A fortnight after the presidential election South Carolina passed her +ordinance of nullification, directed against the tariff laws generally, +and against those of 1828 and 1832 in particular. The ordinance was to +take effect on February 1st; and if meantime the federal government +should make any attempt to enforce the laws, the fact of such attempt +was to end the continuance of South Carolina in the Union. + +Jackson promptly issued a proclamation against nullification, composed +jointly by himself and the great Louisiana jurist and statesman, +Livingston. It is one of the ablest, as well as one of the most +important, of all American state papers. It is hard to see how any +American can read it now without feeling his veins thrill. Some claim it +as being mainly the work of Jackson, others as that of Livingston; it is +great honor for either to have had a hand in its production. + +In his annual message the president merely referred, in passing, to the +Nullifiers, expressing his opinion that the action in reducing the +duties, which the extinction of the public debt would permit and +require, would put an end to the proceedings. As matters grew more +threatening, however, South Carolina making every preparation for war +and apparently not being conciliated in the least by the evident desire +in Congress to meet her more than half-way on the tariff question, +Jackson sent a special message to both houses. He had already sent +General Scott to Charleston, and had begun the concentration of certain +military and naval forces in or near the state boundaries. He now asked +Congress to pass a measure to enable him to deal better with possible +resistance to the laws. South Carolina having complained of the +oppressed condition in which she found herself, owing to the working of +the tariff, Jackson, in his message, with some humor, quoted in reply +the last Thanksgiving proclamation of her governor, wherein he dilated +upon the state's unexampled prosperity and happiness. + +It must always be kept in mind in describing the attitude of the +Jacksonian Democrats towards the Nullifiers that they were all along, +especially in the West, hostile to a very high tariff. Jackson and +Benton had always favored a much lower tariff than that established in +1828 and hardly changed in 1832. It was no change of front on their part +now to advocate a reduction of duties. Jackson and Benton both felt that +there was much ground for South Carolina's original complaint, although +as strongly opposed to her nullification attitude as any Northerner. +Most of the Southern senators and representatives, though opposed to +nullification, were almost equally hostile to the high tariff; and very +many others were at heart in sympathy with nullification itself. The +intensely national and anti-separatist tone of Jackson's declaration,--a +document that might well have come from Washington or Lincoln, and that +would have reflected high honor on either,--though warmly approved by +Benton, was very repugnant to many of the Southern Democrats, and was +too much even for certain of the Whigs. In fact, it reads like the +utterance of some great Federalist or Republican leader. The feeling in +Congress, as a whole, was as strong against the tariff as it was against +nullification; and Jackson had to take this into account, all the more +because not only was he in some degree of the same way of thinking, but +also many of his followers entertained the sentiment even more +earnestly. + +Calhoun introduced a series of nullification resolutions into the +Senate, and defended them strongly in the prolonged constitutional +debate that followed. South Carolina meanwhile put off the date at which +her decrees were to take effect, so that she might see what Congress +would do. Beyond question, Jackson's firmness, and the way in which he +was backed up by Benton, Webster, and their followers, was having some +effect. He had openly avowed his intention, if matters went too far, of +hanging Calhoun "higher than Haman." He unquestionably meant to +imprison him, as well as the other South Carolina leaders, the instant +that state came into actual collision with the Union; and to the end of +his life regretted, and with reason, that he had not done so without +waiting for an overt act of resistance. Some historians have treated +this as if it were an idle threat; but such it certainly was not. +Jackson undoubtedly fully meant what he said, and would have acted +promptly had the provocation occurred, and, moreover, he would have been +sustained by the country. He was not the man to weigh minutely what +would and what would not fall just on one side or the other of the line +defining treason; nor was it the time for too scrupulous adherence to +precise wording. Had a collision occurred, neither Calhoun nor his +colleague would ever have been permitted to leave Washington; and brave +though they were, the fact unquestionably had much influence with them. + +Webster was now acting heartily with Benton. He introduced a set of +resolutions which showed that in the matters both of the tariff and of +nullification his position was much the same as was that of the +Missourian. Unfortunately Congress, as a whole, was by no means so +stiff-kneed. A certain number of Whigs followed Webster, and a certain +number of Democrats clung to Benton; but most Southerners were very +reluctant to allow pressure to be brought to bear on South Carolina, and +many Northerners were as willing to compromise as Henry Clay himself. In +accordance with Jackson's recommendations two bills were introduced: one +the so-called "Force bill," to allow the president to take steps to +defend the federal authority in the event of actual collision; and the +other a moderate, and, on the whole, proper tariff bill, to reduce +protective duties. Both were introduced by administration supporters. +Benton and Webster warmly sustained the "Force bill," which was bitterly +attacked by the Nullifiers and by most of the Southerners, who really +hardly knew what stand to take, the leading opponent being Tyler of +Virginia, whose disunion attitude was almost as clearly marked as that +of Calhoun himself. The measure was eminently just, and was precisely +what the crisis demanded; and the Senate finally passed it and sent it +to the House. + +All this time an obstinate struggle was going on over the tariff bill. +Calhoun and his sympathizers were beginning to see that there was real +danger ahead, alike to themselves, their constituents, and their +principles, if they followed unswervingly the course they had laid +down; and the weak-kneed brethren on the other side, headed by Clay, +were becoming even more uneasy. Calhoun wished to avert collision with +the federal government; Clay was quite as anxious to avoid an outbreak +in the South and to save what he could of the protective system, which +was evidently doomed. Calhoun was willing to sacrifice some of his +constitutional theories in regard to protection; Clay was ready greatly +to reduce protection itself. Each, of them, but especially Clay, was +prepared to shift his stand somewhat from that of abstract moral right +to that of expediency. Benton and Webster were too resolute and +determined in their hostility to any form of yielding to South +Carolina's insolent defiance to admit any hope of getting them to accept +a compromise; but the majority of the members were known to be only too +ready to jump at any half-way measure which would patch up the affair +for the present, no matter what the sacrifice of principle or how great +the risk incurred for the future. Accordingly, Clay and Calhoun met and +agreed on a curious bill, in reality recognizing the protective system, +but making a great although gradual reduction of duties; and Clay +introduced this as a "compromise measure." It was substituted in the +House for the administration tariff bill, was passed and sent to the +Senate. It gave South Carolina much, but not all, that she demanded. +Her representatives announced themselves satisfied, and supported it, +together with all their Southern sympathizers. Webster and Benton fought +it stoutly to the last, but it was passed by a great majority; a few +Northerners followed Webster, and Benton received fair support from his +Missouri colleagues and the Maryland senators; the other senators, Whigs +and Democrats alike, voted for the measure. Many of the Southerners were +imbued with separatist principles, although not yet to the extent that +Calhoun was; others, though Union men, did not possess the unflinching +will and stern strength of character that enabled Benton to stand out +against any section of the country, even his own, if it was wrong. Silas +Wright, of New York, a typical Northern "dough-face" politician, gave +exact expression to the "dough-face" sentiment, which induced Northern +members to vote for the compromise, when he stated that he was +unalterably opposed to the principle of the bill, but that on account of +the attitude of South Carolina, and of the extreme desire which he had +to remove all cause of discontent in that state, and in order to enable +her again to become an affectionate member of the Union, he would vote +for what was satisfactory to her, although repugnant to himself. +Wright, Marcy, and their successors in New York politics, almost up to +the present day, certainly carried cringing subserviency to the South to +a pitch that was fairly sublime. + +The "Force bill" and the compromise tariff bill passed both houses +nearly simultaneously, and were sent up to the president, who signed +both on the same day. His signing the compromise bill was a piece of +weakness out of keeping with his whole character, and especially out of +keeping with his previous course towards the Nullifiers. The position +assumed by Benton and Webster, that South Carolina should be made to +submit first and should have the justice of her claims examined into +afterwards, was unquestionably the only proper attitude. + +Benton wrote:-- + + My objections to this bill, and to its mode of being passed, were + deep and abiding, and went far beyond its own obnoxious provisions, + and all the transient and temporary considerations connected with + it.... A compromise made with a state in arms is a capitulation to + that state.... The injury was great then, and a permanent evil + example. It remitted the government to the condition of the old + confederation, acting upon sovereignties instead of individuals. It + violated the feature of our Union which discriminated it from all + confederacies that ever existed, and which was wisely and + patriotically put into the Constitution to save it from the fate + which had attended all confederacies, ancient and modern.... The + framers of our Constitution established a Union instead of a + League--to be sovereign and independent within its sphere, acting + upon persons through its own laws and courts, instead of acting on + communities through persuasion or force. The effect of this + compromise legislation was to destroy this great feature of our + Union--to bring the general and state governments into conflict--and + to substitute a sovereign state for an offending individual as often + as a state chose to make the cause of that individual her own. + +Not only was Benton's interpretation of the Constitution sound, and one +that by the course of events has now come to be universally accepted, +but his criticisms on the wisdom of the compromise bill were perfectly +just. Had the Anti-Nullifiers stood firm, the Nullifiers would probably +have given way, and if not, would certainly have been crushed. Against a +solid North and West, with a divided South, even her own people not +being unanimous, and with Jackson as chief executive, South Carolina +could not have made even a respectable resistance. A salutary lesson +then might very possibly have saved infinite trouble and bloodshed +thereafter. But in Jackson's case it must be remembered that, so far as +his acts depended purely upon his own will and judgment, no fault can be +found with him; he erred only in ratifying a compromise agreed to by the +vast majority of the representatives of the people in both houses of +Congress. + +The battle did not result in a decisive victory for either side. This +was shown by the very fact that each party insisted that it had won a +signal triumph. Calhoun and Clay afterwards quarreled in the senate +chamber as to which had given up the more in the compromise. South +Carolina had declared, first, that the tariff was unconstitutional, and +therefore to be opposed upon principle; second, that it worked injustice +to her interests, and must be abolished forthwith; thirdly, that, if it +were not so abolished, she would assert her power to nullify a federal +law, and, if necessary, would secede from the Union. When her +representatives agreed to the compromise bill, they abandoned the first +point; the second was decided largely in her favor, though protection +was not by any means entirely given up; the third she was allowed to +insist upon with impunity, although the other side, by passing the +"Force bill," showed that in case matters did proceed to extremities +they were prepared to act upon the opposite conviction. Still, she +gained most of that for which she contended, and the victory, as a +whole, rested with her. Calhoun's purposes seem to have been, in the +main, pure; but few criminals have worked as much harm to their country +as he did. The plea of good intentions is not one that can be allowed to +have much weight in passing historical judgment upon a man whose +wrong-headedness and distorted way of looking at things produced, or +helped to produce, such incalculable evil; there is a wide political +applicability in the remark attributed to a famous Texan, to the effect +that he might, in the end, pardon a man who shot him on purpose, but +that he would surely never forgive one who did so accidentally. + +Without doubt, the honors of the nullification dispute were borne off by +Benton and Webster. The latter's reply to Hayne is, perhaps, the +greatest single speech of the nineteenth century, and he deserves the +highest credit for the stubbornness with which he stood by his colors to +the last. There never was any question of Webster's courage; on the +occasions when he changed front he was actuated by self-interest and +ambition, not by timidity. Usually he appears as an advocate rather than +an earnest believer in the cause he represents; but when it came to be a +question of the Union, he felt what he said with the whole strength of +his nature. + +An even greater meed of praise attaches to Benton for the unswerving +fidelity which he showed to the Union in this crisis. Webster was a +high-tariff man, and was backed up by all the sectional antipathies of +the Northeast in his opposition to the Nullifiers; Benton, on the +contrary, was a believer in a low tariff, or in one for revenue merely, +and his sectional antipathies were the other way. Yet, even when +deserted by his chief, and when he was opposed to every senator from +south of the Potomac and the Ohio, he did not flinch for a moment from +his attitude of aggressive loyalty to the national Union. He had a +singularly strong and upright character; this country has never had a +statesman more fearlessly true to his convictions, when great questions +were at stake, no matter what might be the cost to himself, or the +pressure from outside,--even when, as happened later, his own state was +against him. Intellectually he cannot for a moment be compared to the +great Massachusetts senator; but morally he towers much higher. + +Yet, while praising Jackson and Benton for their behavior towards South +Carolina, we cannot forget that but a couple of years previously they +had not raised their voices even in the mildest rebuke of Georgia for +conduct which, though not nearly so bad in degree as that of South +Carolina, was of much the same kind. Towards the close of Adams's term, +Georgia had bid defiance to the mandates of the Supreme Court, and +proceeded to settle the Indian question within her borders without +regard to the authority of the United States, and these matters were +still unsettled when Jackson became president. Unfortunately he let his +personal feelings bias him; and, as he took the Western and Georgian +view of the Indian question, and, moreover, hated the Supreme Court +because it was largely Federalist in its composition, he declined to +interfere. David Crockett, himself a Union man and a nationalist to the +backbone, rated Jackson savagely, and with justice, for the +inconsistency of his conduct in the two cases, accusing him of having, +by his harmful leniency to Georgia, encouraged South Carolina to act as +she did, and ridiculing him because, while he smiled at the deeds of the +one state, when the like acts were done by the other, "he took up the +rod of correction and shook it over her". + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +JACKSON AND BENTON MAKE WAR ON THE BANK. + + +If the struggle with the Nullifiers showed Benton at his best, in the +conflict with the Bank he exhibited certain qualities which hardly place +him in so favorable a light. Jackson's attack upon the Bank was a move +undertaken mainly on his own responsibility, and one which, at first, +most of his prominent friends were alarmed to see him undertake. Benton +alone supported him from the beginning. Captain and lieutenant alike +intensely appreciated the joy of battle; they cared for a fight because +it was a fight, and the certainty of a struggle, such as would have +daunted weaker or more timid men, simply offered to them an additional +inducement to follow out the course they had planned. Benton's +thorough-going support was invaluable to Jackson. The president sorely +needed a friend in the Senate who would uphold him through thick and +thin, and who yet commanded the respect of all his opponents by his +strength, ability, and courage. To be sure, Benton's knowledge of +financial economics was not always profound; but, on the other hand, a +thorough mastery of the laws of finance would have been, in this fight, +a very serious disadvantage to any champion of Jackson. + +The rights and wrongs of this matter have been worn threadbare in +countless discussions. For much of the hostility of Jackson and Benton +towards the Bank, there were excellent grounds; but many of their +actions were wholly indefensible and very harmful in their results to +the country. An assault upon what Benton called "the money power" is apt +to be popular in a democratic republic, partly on account of the vague +fear with which the poorer and more ignorant voters regard a powerful +institution, whose working they do not understand, and partly on account +of the jealousy they feel towards those who are better off than +themselves. When these feelings are appealed to by men who are intensely +in earnest, and who are themselves convinced of the justice and wisdom +of their course, they become very formidable factors in any political +contest. + +The struggle first became important when the question of the re-charter +of the Bank was raised, towards the end of Jackson's first term, the +present charter still having three years to run. This charter had in it +many grave faults; and there might well be a question as to whether it +should be renewed. The Bank itself, beyond doubt, possessed enormous +power; too much power for its own or outsiders' good. Its president, +Biddle, was a man of some ability, but conceited to the last degree, +untruthful, and to a certain extent unscrupulous in the use he made of +the political influence of the great moneyed institution over which he +presided. Some of the financial theories on which he managed the Bank +were wrong; yet, on the whole, it was well conducted, and under its care +the monetary condition of the country was quiet and good, infinitely +better than it had been before, or than, under the auspices of the +Jacksonian Democracy, it afterwards became. + +The two great reasons for Jackson's success throughout his political +career were to be found in the strength of the feeling in his favor +among the poorer and least educated classes of voters, and in the ardent +support given him by the low politicians, who, by playing on his +prejudices and passions, moulded him to their wishes, and who organized +and perfected in their own and his interests a great political machine, +founded on the "spoils system"; and both the Jacksonian rank and file +and the Jacksonian politicians soon agreed heartily in their opposition +to the Bank. Jackson and Benton opposed it for the same reasons that the +bulk of their followers did; that is to say, partly from honest and +ignorant prejudice and partly from a well-founded feeling of distrust as +to some of its actions. The mass of their fellow party-leaders and +henchmen assailed it with the cry that it was exerting its influence to +debauch politics, while at the same time they really sought to use it as +a power in politics on their own side. + +Jackson, in his first annual message in 1829, had hinted that he was +opposed to the re-charter of the Bank, then a question of the future and +not to arise for four or five years. At the same time he had called in +question the constitutionality and expediency of the Bank's existence, +and had criticised as vicious its currency system. The matter of +constitutionality had been already decided by the Supreme Court, the +proper tribunal, and was, and had been for years, an accepted fact; it +was an absurdity to call it in question. As regards the matter of +expediency, certainly the Jacksonians failed signally to put anything +better in its place. Yet it was undeniable that there were grave defects +in the currency system. + +The president's message roused but little interest, and what little it +did rouse was among the Bank's friends. At once these began to prepare +the way for the re-charter by an active and extensive agitation in its +favor. The main bank was at Philadelphia, but it had branches +everywhere, and naturally each branch bank was a centre of opposition to +the president's proposed policy. As the friends of the Bank were greatly +interested, and as the matter did not immediately concern those who +afterwards became its foes, the former, for the time, had it all their +own way, and the drift of public opinion seemed to be strongly in its +favor. + +Benton was almost the only public man of prominence who tried to stem +this tide from the beginning. Jackson's own party associates were +originally largely against him, and so he stood all the more in need of +the vigorous support which he received from the Missouri senator. +Indeed, it would be unfair in the matter of the attack on the Bank to +call Benton Jackson's follower; he might with more propriety be called +the leader in the assault, although of course he could accomplish little +compared with what was done by the great popular idol. He had always +been hostile to the Bank, largely as a matter of Jeffersonian tradition, +and he had shown his hostility by resolutions introduced in the Senate +before Jackson was elected president. + +Early in 1831 he asked leave to introduce a resolution against the +re-charter of the Bank; his purpose being merely to give formal notice +of war against it, and to attempt to stir up a current of feeling +counter to that which then seemed to be generally prevailing in its +favor. In his speech he carefully avoided laying stress upon any such +abstract point as that of constitutionality, and dwelt instead upon the +questions that would affect the popular mind; assailing the Bank "as +having too much power over the people and the government, over business +and politics, and as too much disposed to exercise that power to the +prejudice of the freedom and equality which should prevail in a +republic, to be allowed to exist in our country." The force of such an +argument in a popular election will be acknowledged by all practical +politicians. But, although Benton probably believed what he said, or at +any rate most of it, he certainly ought not to have opened the +discussion of a great financial measure with a demagogic appeal to caste +prejudices. He wished to substitute a gold currency in the place of the +existing bank-notes, and was not disturbed at all as to how he would +supply the place of the Bank, saying: "I am willing to see the charter +expire, without providing any substitute for the present Bank. I am +willing to see the currency of the federal government left to the hard +money mentioned and intended in the Constitution; ... every species of +paper might be left to the state authorities, unrecognized by the +federal government!" Of the beauties of such a system as the last the +country later on received practical demonstration. Some of his +utterances, however, could be commended to the friends of greenbacks and +of dishonest money even at the present day, as when he says: "Gold and +silver are the best currency for a republic; it suits the men of middle +property and the working people best; and if I was going to establish a +workingman's party it should be on the basis of hard money--a hard-money +party against a paper party." The Bank was in Philadelphia; much of the +stock was held in the East, and a good deal was held abroad, which gave +Benton a chance to play on sectional feelings, as follows: "To whom is +all the power granted? To a company of private individuals, many of them +foreigners, and the mass of them residing in a remote and narrow corner +of the Union, unconnected by any sympathy with the fertile regions of +the Great Valley, in which the natural power of this Union--the power of +numbers--will be found to reside long before the renewed term of a +second charter would expire." Among the other sentences occurs the +following bit of pure demagogic pyrotechnics: "It [the Bank] tends to +aggravate the inequality of fortunes; to make the rich richer and the +poor poorer; to multiply nabobs and paupers; and to deepen and widen the +gulf which separates Dives from Lazarus. A great moneyed power is +favorable to great capitalists, for it is the principle of money to +favor money. It is unfavorable to small capitalists, for it is the +principle of money to eschew the needy and unfortunate. It is injurious +to the laboring classes." Altogether it was not a speech to be proud of. +The Senate refused permission to introduce the resolution by the close +vote of twenty-three to twenty. + +Benton lived only a generation after that one which had itself +experienced oppression from a king, from an aristocratic legislature and +from a foreign power; and so his rant about the undue influence of +foreigners in our governmental affairs, and his declamation over the +purely supposititious powers that were presumed to be conspiring against +the welfare of the poorer classes probably more nearly expressed his +real feelings than would be the case with the similar utterances of any +leading statesman nowadays. He was an enthusiastic believer in the +extreme Jeffersonian doctrinaire views as to the will of the majority +being always right, and as to the moral perfection of the average +voter. Like his fellow-statesmen he failed to see the curious absurdity +of supporting black slavery, and yet claiming universal suffrage for +whites as a divine right, not as a mere matter of expediency resulting +on the whole better than any other method. He had not learned that the +majority in a democracy has no more right to tyrannize over a minority +than, under a different system, the latter would have to oppress the +former; and that, if there is a moral principle at stake, the saying +that the voice of the people is the voice of God may be quite as untrue, +and do quite as much mischief, as the old theory of the divine right of +kings. The distinguishing feature of our American governmental system is +the freedom of the individual; it is quite as important to prevent his +being oppressed by many men as it is to save him from the tyranny of +one. + +This speech on the re-charter showed a great deal of wide reading and +much information; but a good part of it was sheer declamation, in the +turgid, pompous style that Benton, as well as a great many other +American public speakers, was apt to mistake for genuine oratory. His +subsequent speech on the currency, however, was much better. This was +likewise delivered on the occasion of asking leave to present a joint +resolution, which leave was refused. The branch draft system was the +object of the assault. These branch drafts were for even sums of small +denomination, circulating like bank-notes; they were drawn on the parent +bank at Philadelphia to the order of some officer of the branch bank and +were indorsed by the latter to bearer. Thus paper was issued at one +place which was payable at another and a distant place; and among other +results there ensued a constant inflation of credit. They were very +mischievous in their workings; they had none of the marks of convertible +bank-notes or money, and so long as credit was active there could be no +check on the inflation of the currency by them. Payment could be +voluntarily made at the branch banks whence issued, but if it was +refused the owner had only the right to go to Philadelphia and sue the +directors there. Most of these drafts were issued at the most remote and +inaccessible branches, the payment of them being, therefore, much +delayed by distance and difficulty; nor were the directors liable for +excessive issues. They constituted the bulk of all the paper seen in +circulation; they were supposed to be equivalent to money, but being +bills of exchange they were merely negotiable instruments; they did not +have the properties of bank-notes, which are constantly and directly +interchangeable with money. In their issue Biddle had laid himself open +to attack; and in defending them he certainly did not always speak the +truth, willfully concealing or coloring facts. Moreover, his +self-satisfaction and the foolish pride in his own power, which he could +not conceal, led him into making imprudent boasts as to the great power +the Bank could exercise over other local banks, and over the general +prosperity of the country, while dilating upon its good conduct in not +using this power to the disadvantage of the public. All this was playing +into Benton's hands. He showed some of the evils of the branch draft +system, although apparently not seeing others that were quite as +important. He attacked the Bank for some real and many imaginary +wrongdoings; and quoted Biddle himself as an authority for the existence +of powers dangerous to the welfare of the state. + +The advocates of the Bank were still in the majority in both houses of +Congress, and soon began preparations for pushing through a bill for the +re-charter. The issue began to become political. Webster, Clay, and most +of the other anti-administration men were for the Bank; and so when the +convention of the National Republicans, who soon afterwards definitely +assumed the name of Whigs, took place, they declared heartily in its +favor, and nominated for the presidency its most enthusiastic +supporter, Henry Clay. The Bank itself unquestionably preferred not to +be dragged into politics; but Clay, thinking he saw a chance for a +successful stroke, fastened upon it, and the convention that nominated +him made the fight against Jackson on the ground that he was hostile to +the Bank. Even had this not already been the case no more certain method +of insuring his hostility could have been adopted. + +Still, however, many of Jackson's supporters were also advocates of +re-charter; and the bill for that purpose commanded the majority in +Congress. Benton took the lead in organizing the opposition, not with +the hope of preventing its passage, but "to attack incessantly, assail +at all points, display the evil of the institution, rouse the people, +and prepare them to sustain the veto." In other words, he was preparing +for an appeal to the people, and working to secure an anti-Bank majority +in the next Congress. He instigated and prepared the investigation into +the affairs of the Bank, which was made in the House, and he led the +harassing parliamentary warfare carried on against the re-chartering +bill in the Senate. He himself seems to have superintended the +preparation of the charges which were investigated by the House. A great +flurry was made over them, Benton and all his friends claiming that +they were fully substantiated; but the only real point scored was that +against the branch drafts. Benton, with the majority of the committee of +investigation, had the loosest ideas as to what a bank ought to do, loud +though they were in denunciation of what this particular Bank was +alleged to have done. + +Webster made the great argument in favor of the re-charter bill. Benton +took the lead in opposition, stating, what was probably true,--that the +bill was brought up so long before the charter expired for political +reasons, and criticising it as premature; a criticism unfortunately +applicable with even greater force to Jackson's message. His speech was +largely mere talking against time, and he wandered widely from the +subject. Among other things he invoked the aid of the principle of +states'-rights, because the Bank then had power to establish branches in +any state, whether the latter liked it or not, and free from state +taxation. He also appealed to the Western members as such, insisting +that the Bank discriminated against their section of the country in +favor of the East; the facts being that the shrewdness and commercial +morality of the Northeast, particularly of New England, saved them from +the evils brought on the Westerners by the foolishness with which they +abused their credit and the laxness with which they looked on monetary +obligations. But in spite of all that Benton could do the bill passed +both houses, the Senate voting in its favor by twenty-eight ayes against +twenty nays. + +Jackson, who never feared anything, and was more than ready to accept +the fight which was in some measure forced on him, yet which in some +degree he had courted, promptly vetoed the bill in a message which +stated some truths forcibly and fearlessly, which developed some very +queer constitutional and financial theories, and which contained a +number of absurdities, evidently put in, not for the benefit of the +Senate, but to influence voters at the coming presidential election. The +leaders of the opposition felt obliged to make a show of trying to pass +the bill over the veto in order to get a chance to answer Jackson. +Webster again opened the argument. Clay made the fiercest onslaught, +assailing the president personally, besides attacking the veto power, +and trying to discredit its use. But the presidential power of veto is +among the best features of our government, and Benton had no difficulty +in making a good defense of it; although many of the arguments adduced +by him in its favor were entirely unsound, being based on the wholly +groundless assumption that the function of the president corresponded +to that of the ancient Roman tribune of the people, and was supposed to +be exercised in the interests of the people to control the +legislature--thus willfully overlooking the fact that the legislature +also was elected by the people. When on his ultra-democratic hobby +Benton always rode very loose in the saddle, and with little knowledge +of where he was going. Clay and Benton alike drew all sorts of analogies +between the state of affairs in the United States and that formerly +prevailing in France, England, and above all in the much-suffering +republics of antiquity. Benton insisted that the Bank had wickedly +persuaded the West to get in debt to it so as to have that section in +its power, and that the Western debt had been created with a view to +political engineering; the fact being that the Westerners had run into +debt purely by their own fault, and that the Bank itself was seriously +alarmed at the condition of its Western branches. The currency being in +much worse shape in the West than in the Northeast, gold and silver +naturally moved towards the latter place; and this result of their own +shortcomings was again held up as a grievance of the Westerners against +the Bank. He also read a severe lecture on the interests of party +discipline to the Democrats who had voted for the re-charter, assuring +them that they could not continue to be both for the Bank and for +Jackson. The Jacksonian Democracy, nominally the party of the multitude, +was in reality the nearest approach the United States has ever seen to +the "one man power;" and to break with Jackson was to break with the +Democratic party. The alternative of expulsion or of turning a +somersault being thus plainly presented to the recalcitrant members, +they for the most part chose the latter, and performed the required feat +of legislative acrobatics with the most unobtrusive and submissive +meekness. The debate concluded with a sharp and undignified interchange +of personalities between the Missouri and Kentucky senators, Clay giving +Benton the lie direct, and the latter retorting in kind. Each side, of +course, predicted the utter ruin of the country, if the other prevailed. +Benton said that, if the Bank conquered, the result would be the +establishment of an oligarchy, and then of a monarchy, and finally the +death of the Republic by corruption. Webster stated as his belief that, +if the sentiments of the veto message received general approbation, the +Constitution could not possibly survive its fiftieth year. Webster, +however, in that debate, showed to good advantage. Benton was no match +for him, either as a thinker or as a speaker; but with the real leader +of the Whig party, Henry Clay, he never had much cause to fear +comparison. + +All the state banks were of course rabidly in favor of Jackson; and the +presidential election of 1832 was largely fought on the bank issue. In +Pennsylvania, however, the feeling for the Bank was only less strong +than that for Jackson; and accordingly that Boeotian community sapiently +cast its electoral votes for the latter, while instructing its senators +and representatives to support the former. But the complete and hopeless +defeat of Clay by Jackson sealed the fate of the Bank. Jackson was not +even content to let it die naturally by the lapse of its charter. His +attitude towards it so far had been one for which much could be said; +indeed, very good grounds can be shown for thinking his veto proper. But +of the impropriety of his next step there could be no possible question. +Congress had passed a resolution declaring its belief in the safety of +the United States deposits in the Bank; but the president, in the summer +of 1833, removed these deposits and placed them in certain state banks. +He experienced some difficulty in getting a secretary of the treasury +who would take such a step; finally he found one in Taney. + +The Bank memorialized Congress at once; and the anti-administration +majority in the Senate forthwith took up the quarrel. They first +rejected Jackson's nominations for bank directors, and then refused to +confirm Taney himself. Two years later Jackson made the latter Chief +Justice of the Supreme Court, in which position he lived to do even more +mischief than he had time or opportunity to accomplish as secretary of +the treasury. + +Benton was the administration champion in the Senate. Opposed to him +were Webster and Clay, as leaders of the Whigs, supported for the time +being by Calhoun. The feeling of Clay and Calhoun against the president +was bitterly personal, and was repaid by his rancorous hatred. But +Webster, though he was really on most questions even more antagonistic +to the ideas of the Jacksonian school, always remained personally on +good terms with its leaders. + +Clay introduced a resolution directing the return of the deposits; +Benton opposed it; it passed by a vote of twenty-eight to eighteen, but +was lost in the House. Clay then introduced a resolution demanding to +know from the president whether the paper alleged to have been published +by his authority as having been read to the cabinet, in relation to the +removal of the deposits, was genuine or not; and, if it was, asking for +a copy. Benton opposed the motion, which nevertheless passed. But the +president refused to accede to the demand. Meanwhile the new departure +in banking, inaugurated by the president, was working badly. One of the +main grounds for removing the deposits was the allegation that they were +used to debauch politics. This was never proved against the old United +States Bank; but under Jackson's administration, which corrupted the +public service in every way, the deposits became fruitful sources of +political reward and bribery. + +Clay then introduced his famous resolution censuring the president for +his action, and supported it in a long and fiery speech; a speech which, +like most of Clay's, was received by his followers at the time with +rapture, but in which this generation fails to find the sign of that +remarkable ability with which his own contemporaries credited the great +Kentuckian. He attacked Jackson with fierce invective, painting him as +an unscrupulous tyrant, who was inaugurating a revolution in the +government of the Union. But he was outdone by Calhoun, who, with +continual interludes of complacent references to the good already done +by the Nullifiers, assailed Jackson as one of a band of artful, corrupt, +and cunning politicians, and drew a picture even more lurid than Clay's +of the future of the country, and the danger of impending revolution. +Webster's speeches were more self-contained in tone. Benton was the only +Jacksonian senator who could contend with the great Nullifier and the +two great Whigs; and he replied at length, and in much the same style as +they had spoken. + +The Senate was flooded with petitions in favor of the Bank, which were +presented with suitable speeches by the leading Whigs. Benton ridiculed +the exaggerated tone of alarm in which these petitions were drawn, and +declared that the panic, excitement, and suffering existing in business +circles throughout the country were due to the deliberate design of the +Bank, and afforded a fresh proof that the latter was a dangerous power +to the state. + +The resolution of censure was at last passed by a vote of twenty-six to +twenty, and Jackson, in a fury, sent in a written protest against it, +which the Senate refused to receive. The excitement all over the country +was intense throughout the struggle. The suffering, which was really +caused by the president's act, but which was attributed by his +supporters to the machinations of the Bank, was very real; even Benton +admitted this, although contending that it was not a natural result of +the policy pursued, but had been artificially excited--or, as he very +clumsily phrased it, "though fictitious and forged, yet the distress +was real, and did an immensity of damage." Neither Jackson nor Benton +yielded an inch to the outside pressure; the latter was the soul of the +fight in Congress, making over thirty speeches during the struggle. + +During the debate on receiving the president's protest, Benton gave +notice of his intention at an early day to move to expunge from the +journal the resolution of censure. This idea was entirely his own, and +he gave the notice without having consulted anybody. It was, however, a +motion after Jackson's own heart, as the latter now began to look upon +the affair as purely personal to himself. His party accepted this view +of the matter with a servile alacrity only surpassed by the way in which +its leaders themselves bowed down before the mob; and for the next two +years the state elections were concerned purely with personal politics, +the main point at issue in the choice for every United States senator +being, whether he would or would not support Benton's expunging +resolution. The whole affair seems to us so puerile that we can hardly +understand the importance attached to it by the actors themselves. But +the men who happened at that period to be the leaders in public affairs +were peculiarly and frankly incapable of separating in their minds +matters merely affecting themselves from matters affecting their +constituents. Each firmly believed that if he was not the whole state, +he was at least a most important fraction of it; and this was as plainly +seen in Webster's colossal egoism and the frank vanity of Henry Clay as +in Benton's ponderous self-consciousness and the all-pervading +personality of Andrew Jackson. + +Some of the speeches on the expunging resolution show delicious, +although entirely unconscious, humor. If there ever was a wholly +irrational state of mind it was that in which the Jacksonians +perpetually kept themselves. Every canvass on Jackson's behalf was one +of sound, fury, and excitement, of appeal to the passions, prejudices, +and feelings, but never the reason, of the people. A speech for him was +generally a mere frantic denunciation of whatever and whoever was +opposed to him, coupled with fulsome adulation of "the old hero." His +supporters rarely indeed spoke to the cool judgment of the country, for +the very excellent reason that the cool judgment of the country was apt +to be against them. Such being the case, it is amusing to read in +Benton's speech on receiving the protest the following sentences, +apparently uttered in solemn good faith, and with sublime +unconsciousness of irony:-- + + To such a community [the American body politic]--in an appeal on a + great question of constitutional law to the understandings of such a + people--declamation, passion, epithets, opprobrious language, will + stand for nothing. They will float harmless and unheeded through the + empty air, and strike in vain upon the ear of a sober and + dispassionate tribunal. Indignation, real or affected; wrath, + however hot; fury, however enraged; asseverations, however violent; + denunciation, however furious, will avail nothing. Facts, inexorable + facts, are all that will be attended to; reason, calm and + self-possessed, is all that will be listened to. + +The description of the mass of Jacksonian voters as forming "a sober and +dispassionate tribunal" is an artistic touch of fancy quite unique, but +admirably characteristic of Benton, whose statements always rose +vigorously to the necessities of the occasion. + +Webster, in an effort to make the best of untoward circumstances, +brought in a bill to re-charter the Bank for a short period, at the same +time doing away with some of the features that were objectionable in the +old charter. This bill might have passed, had it not been opposed by the +extreme Bank men, including Clay and Calhoun. In the course of the +debate over it Benton delivered a very elaborate and carefully studied +speech in favor of hard money and a currency of the precious metals; a +speech which is to this day well worth careful reading. Some of his +financial theories were crude and confused; but on the main question he +was perfectly sound. Both he and Jackson deserve great credit for having +done much to impress the popular mind with the benefit of hard, that is +to say honest, money. Benton was the strongest hard-money man then in +public life, being, indeed, popularly nicknamed "Old Bullion." He +thoroughly appreciated that a metallic currency was of more vital +importance to the laboring men and to men of small capital generally +than to any of the richer classes. A metallic currency is always surer +and safer than a paper currency; where it exists a laboring man +dependent on his wages need fear less than any other member of the +community the evils of bad banking. Benton's idea of the danger to the +masses from "the money power" was exaggerated; but in advocating a sound +gold currency he took the surest way to overcome any possible dangerous +tendency. A craze for "soft," or dishonest, money--a greenback movement, +or one for short weight silver dollars--works more to the disadvantage +of the whole mass of the people than even to that of the capitalists; it +is a move directly in the interests of "the money power," which its +loud-mouthed advocates are ostensibly opposing in the interests of +democracy. + +Benton continued his speeches. The panic was now subsiding; there had +not been time for Jackson's ruinous policy of making deposits in +numerous state banks, and thereby encouraging wild inflation of credit, +to bear fruit and, as it afterwards did, involve the whole country in +financial disaster. Therefore Benton was able to exult greatly over the +favorable showing of affairs in the report of the secretary of the +treasury. He also procured the passage of a gold currency law, which, +however, fixed the ratio of value between gold and silver at sixteen to +one; an improper proportion, but one which had prevailed for three +centuries in the Spanish-American countries, from which he copied it. In +consequence of this law gold, long banished, became once more a +circulating medium of exchange. + +The Bank of the United States afterwards was turned into the State Bank +of Pennsylvania; it was badly managed and finally became insolvent. The +Jacksonians accepted its downfall as a vindication of their policy; but +in reality it was due to causes not operative at the time of the great +struggle between the president and the Senate over its continued +existence. Certainly by no possible financial policy could it have +produced such widespread ruin and distress as did the system introduced +by Jackson. + +Long after the Bank controversy had lost all practical bearing it +continued to be agitated by the chief parties to it, who still felt sore +from the various encounters. Jackson assailed it again in his message; a +friendly committee of the Senate investigated it and reported in its +favor, besides going out of their way to rake up charges against Jackson +and Benton. The latter replied in a long speech, and became involved in +personalities with the chairman, Tyler of Virginia. Neither side paid +attention to any but the partisan aspect of the question, and the +discussions were absolutely profitless. + +The whole matter was threshed over again and again, long after nothing +but chaff was left, during the debates on Benton's expunging resolution. +Few now would defend this resolution. The original resolution of censure +may have been of doubtful propriety; but it was passed, was entered on +the record, and had become a part of the journal of the Senate. It would +have been perfectly proper to pass another resolution condemning or +reversing the original one, and approving the course of the president; +but it was in the highest degree improper to set about what was in form +falsifying the record. Still, Benton found plenty of precedents in the +annals of other legislative bodies for what he proposed to do, and the +country, as a whole, backed him up heartily. He was further stimulated +by the knowledge that there was probably no other legislative act in +which Jackson took such intense interest, or which could so gratify his +pride; the mortification to Clay and Calhoun would be equally great. +Benton's motion failed more than once, but the complexion of the Senate +was rapidly changed by the various states substituting Democratic for +Whig or anti-Jackson senators. Some of the changes were made, as in +Virginia, by senators refusing to vote for the expunging resolution, as +required by the state legislatures, and then resigning their seats, +pursuant to a ridiculous theory of the ultra Democrats, which, if +carried out, would completely nullify the provision for a six year's +senatorial term. Finally, at the very close of Jackson's administration, +Benton found himself with a fair majority behind him, and made the final +move. His speech was of course mainly filled with a highly colored +account of the blessings wrought for the American people by Andrew +Jackson, and equally of course the latter was compared at length to a +variety of ancient Roman worthies. The final scene in the Senate had an +element of the comic about it. The expungers held a caucus and agreed to +sit the session out until the resolution was passed; and with prudent +forethought Benton, well aware that when hungry and tired his followers +might show less inflexibility of purpose, provided in an adjoining +committee-room "an ample supply of cold hams, turkeys, rounds of beef, +pickles, wines, and cups of hot coffee," wherewith to inspirit the +faint-hearted. + +Fortified by the refreshments, the expungers won a complete victory. If +the language of Jackson's admirers was overdrawn and strained to the +last degree in lauding him for every virtue that he had or had not, it +must be remembered that his opponents went quite as far wrong on the +other side in their denunciations and extravagant prophecies of gloom. +Webster made a very dignified and forcible speech in closing the +argument against the resolution, but Calhoun and Clay were much less +moderate,--the latter drawing a vivid picture of a rapidly approaching +reign of lawless military violence, and asserting that his opponents had +"extinguished one of the brightest and purest lights that ever burnt at +the altar of civil liberty." As a proper finale Jackson, to show his +appreciation, gave a great dinner to the expungers and their wives, +Benton sitting at the head of the table. Jackson and Benton solemnly +thought that they were taking part in a great act of justice, and were +amusingly unable to see the comic side of their acts. They probably +really believed most of their own denunciations of the Bank, and very +possibly thought that the wickedness of its followers might tempt them +to do any desperate deed. At any rate they enjoyed posing alike to +themselves and to the public as persons of antique virtue, who had +risked both life and reputation in a hazardous but successful attempt to +save the liberties of the people from the vast and hostile forces of the +aristocratic "money power." + +The best verdict on the expunging resolution was given by Webster when +he characterized the whole affair as one which, if it were not regarded +as a ruthless violation of a sacred instrument, would appear to be +little elevated above the character of a contemptible farce. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE DISTRIBUTION OF THE SURPLUS. + + +Benton was supremely self-satisfied with the part he had played in the +struggle with the Bank. But very few thinking men would now admit that +his actions, as a whole, on the occasion in question, were to his +credit, although in the matter of the branch drafts he was perfectly +right, and in that of the re-charter at least occupied defensible +ground. His general views on monetary matters, however, were sound, and +on some of the financial questions that shortly arose he occupied a +rather lonely pre-eminence of good sense among his fellow senators; such +being particularly the case as regards the various mischievous schemes +in relation to disposing of the public lands, and of the money drawn +from their sale. The revenue derived from all sources, including these +sales of public lands, had for some years been much in excess of the +governmental expenses, and a surplus had accumulated in the treasury. +This surplus worked more damage than any deficit would have done. + +There were gold mines in the Southern States, which had been growing +more and more productive; and, as the cost of freighting the bullion was +excessive, a bill was introduced to establish branch mints at New +Orleans and in the gold regions of Georgia and North Carolina. Benton +advocated this strongly, as a constitutional right of the South and +West, and as greatly in the interest of those two sections; and also as +being another move in favor of a hard-money currency as opposed to one +of paper. There was strong opposition to the bill; many of the Whigs +having been carried so far by their heated devotion to the United States +Bank in its quarrel that they had become paper-money men. But the vote +was neither sectional nor partisan in its character. Clay led the +opposition, while Webster supported Benton. + +Before this time propositions to distribute among the states the revenue +from the public lands had become common; and they were succeeded by +propositions to distribute the lands themselves, and then by others to +distribute all the surplus revenue. Calhoun finally introduced an +amendment to the Constitution to enable the surplus in the treasury +during the next eight years to be distributed among the various states; +the estimate being that for the time mentioned there would be about nine +millions surplus annually. Benton attacked the proposal very ably, +showing the viciousness of a scheme which would degrade every state +government into the position of a mendicant, and would allow money to be +collected from the citizens with one hand in order to be given back to +them with the other; and also denying that the surplus would reach +anything like the dimensions indicated. He ridiculed the idea of making +a constitutional amendment to cover so short a period of time; and +stated that he would greatly prefer to see the price paid for public +lands by incoming settlers reduced, and what surplus there was expended +on strengthening the defenses of the United States against foreign +powers. This last proposition was eminently proper. We were then, as +always, in our chronic state of utter defenselessness against any +hostile attack, and yet were in imminent danger of getting embroiled +with at least one great power--France. Our danger is always that we +shall spend too little, and not too much, in keeping ourselves prepared +for foreign war. Calhoun's resolution was a total failure, and was never +even brought to a vote. + +Benton's proposed method of using the surplus came in with peculiar +propriety on account of the conduct of the Whigs and Nullifiers in +joining to oppose the appropriation of three millions of dollars for +purposes of defense, which was provided for in the general fortification +bill. The House passed this bill by a great majority. It was eminently +proper that we should at once take steps to provide for the very +possible contingency of a war with France, as the relations with that +power were growing more threatening every day; but the opposition of the +anti-Jackson men to the administration and to all its measures had +become so embittered that they were willing to run the risk of seriously +damaging the national credit and honor, if they could thereby score a +point against their political adversaries. Accordingly, under the lead +of Webster, Clay, and Calhoun, they defeated the bill in the Senate, in +spite of all that could be done to save it by Benton, who, whatever his +faults, was always patriotic. The appropriation had been very irregular +in form, and under ordinary circumstances there would have been good +justification for inquiring into it before permitting its passage; but +under the circumstances its defeat at the moment was most unfortunate. +For the president had been pressing France, even to the point of +tolerably plain threats, in order to induce or compel her to fulfill the +conditions of the recent treaty by which she had bound herself to pay a +considerable indemnity, long owing by her to the United States for +depredations on our commerce. Now she menaced war, avowedly on the +ground that we were unprepared to resist her; and this vote in the +Senate naturally led the French government to suppose that Jackson was +not sustained by the country in the vigorous position which he had +assumed. In speaking on the message of the president which alluded to +this state of affairs, Benton strongly advocated our standing firmly for +our rights, making a good speech, which showed much historical learning. +He severely reproached the anti-administration senators for their +previous conduct in causing the loss of the defense appropriation bill, +and for preferring to do worse than waste the surplus by distributing it +among the different states instead of applying it according to the +provisions of that wise measure. + +This brought on a bitter wrangle, in which Benton certainly had the best +of it. Calhoun was in favor of humiliating non-resistance; he never +advocated warlike measures when the dignity of the nation was at stake, +fond though he was of threatening violence on behalf of slavery or that +form of secession known as nullification. Benton quoted from speeches in +the French Chamber of Deputies to show that the French were encouraged +to take the position that they did on account of the action of the +Senate, and the disposition shown by a majority among the senators +rather to pull down the president in a party struggle than to uphold him +in his efforts to save the national honor in a contest with France. A +curious feature of his speech was that in which he warned the latter +power that, in the event of a conflict, it would have to do with a +branch of the same race which, "from the days of Agincourt and Crecy, of +Blenheim and Ramillies, down to the days of Salamanca and Waterloo, has +always known perfectly well how to deal with the impetuous and fiery +courage of the French." This sudden out-cropping of what, in Bentonian +English, might be called Pan-Anglo-Saxon sentiment was all the more +surprising inasmuch as both Benton himself and the party to which he +belonged were strongly anti-English in their way of looking at our +foreign policy, at least so far as North America was concerned. In the +end France yielded, though trying to maintain her dignity by stating +that she had not done so, and the United States received what was due +them. + +Benton strongly opposed the payment by the United States of the private +claims of its citizens for damages arising from the French spoliations +at the end of the last century. He pointed out that the effort to pay +such claims, scores of years after the time of their accruing, rarely +benefits any of the parties originally in interest, and can only do real +service to dishonest speculators. His speech on this matter would not be +bad reading for some of the pension-jobbing congressmen of the present +day, and their supporters; but as concerned these French claims he could +have been easily answered. + +In the controversy over the bill introduced by Clay, to distribute the +revenue derived from the public lands among the states for the next five +years, Benton showed to great advantage compared both to the introducer +of the bill himself, and to Webster, his supporter. He had all along +taken the view of the land question that would be natural to a +far-seeing Western statesman desirous of encouraging immigration. He +wished the public lands to be sold in small parcels to actual settlers, +at prices that would allow any poor man who was thrifty to take up a +claim. He had already introduced a bill to sell them at graduated +prices, the minimum being established at a dollar and twenty-five cents +an acre; but if land remained unsold at this rate for three years it was +then to be sold for what it would bring in the market. This bill passed +the Senate, but failed in the House. + +In opposing Clay's distribution scheme Benton again brought forward his +plan of using the surplus to provide for the national defenses; and in +his speech showed the strongly national turn of his mind, saying:-- + + In this great system of national defense the whole Union is equally + interested; for the country, in all that concerns its defenses, is + but a unit, and every section is interested in the defense of every + other section, and every individual citizen is interested in the + defense of the whole population. It is in vain to say that the navy + is on the sea, and the fortifications on the sea-board, and that the + citizens in the interior states, or in the valley of the + Mississippi, have no interest in these remote defenses. Such an idea + is mistaken and delusive; the inhabitant of Missouri or of Indiana + has a direct interest in keeping open the mouths of the rivers, + defending the sea-port towns, and preserving a naval force that will + protect the produce of his labor in crossing the ocean and arriving + safely in foreign markets. + +Benton's patriotism always included the whole country in spite of the +strength of his local sympathies. + +The bill passed the Senate by a rather close vote, and went to the +House, where it soon become evident that it was doomed to failure. There +was another bill, practically of much the same import, before the +Senate, providing for the distribution of the surplus among the states +in proportion to their electoral votes, but omitting the excellent +proviso concerning the defenses. To suit the views of Calhoun and the +sticklers for strict construction generally, the form of this rival bill +was changed, so that the "distribution" purported to be a "deposit" +merely; the money being nominally only loaned to the states, who pledged +their faith to return it when Congress should call for it. As it was of +course evident that such a loan would never be repaid, the substitution +of "deposit" for "distribution" can only be regarded as a verbal change +to give the doctrinaires a loop-hole for escape from their previous +position; they all took advantage of it, and the bill received +overwhelming support, and was passed by both houses. + +Benton, however, stood out against it to the last, and in a very +powerful speech foretold the evils which the plan would surely work. He +scornfully exposed the way in which some of the members were trying, by +a trick of wording, to hide the nature of the bill they were enacting +into a law, and thus to seem to justify themselves for the support they +were giving it. "It is in name a deposit; in form, a loan; in essence +and design, a distribution," said Benton. He ridiculed the attitude of +the hair-splitting strict constructionists, like Calhoun, who had +always pretended most scrupulously to respect the exact wording of the +Constitution, and who had previously refused to vote for distribution on +the ground that it was unconstitutional:-- + + At the commencement of the present session a proposition was made + [by Calhoun] to amend the Constitution, to permit this identical + distribution to be made. That proposition is now upon our calendar, + for the action of Congress. All at once it is discovered that a + change of name will do as well as a change of the Constitution. + Strike out the word "distribute" and insert the word "deposit," and + incontinently the impediment is removed; the constitutional + difficulty is surmounted, and the distribution can be made. + +He showed that to the states themselves the moneys distributed would +either be useless, or else--and much more probably--they would be +fruitful sources of corruption and political debauchery. He was quite +right. It would have been very much better to have destroyed the surplus +than to have distributed it as was actually done. None of the states +gained any real benefit by the transaction; most were seriously harmed. +At the best, the money was squandered in the rage for public +improvements that then possessed the whole people; often it was stolen +outright, or never accounted for. In the one case, it was an incentive +to extravagance; in the other, it was a corruption fund. Yet the +popular feeling was strongly in favor of the measure at the time, and +Benton was almost the only public man of note who dared to resist it. On +this occasion, as in the closing act of the struggle with the +Nullifiers, he showed more backbone than did his great chief; for +Jackson signed the bill, although criticising it most forcibly and +pungently. + +The success of this measure naturally encouraged the presentation of +others. Clay attempted to revive his land-money distribution bill, but +was defeated, mainly through Benton's efforts. Three or four other +similar schemes, including one of Calhoun's, also failed. Finally a +clause providing for a further "deposit" of surplus moneys with the +states was tacked to a bill appropriating money for defenses, thereby +loading it down so that it was eventually lost. In the Senate the +"deposit" amendment was finally struck out, in spite of the opposition +of Clay, Calhoun, and Webster. Throughout the whole discussion of the +distribution of the surplus Benton certainly shines by comparison with +any one of his three great senatorial rivals. + +He shows to equally great advantage compared to them in the part taken +by him in reference to Jackson's so-called specie circulars. The craze +for speculation had affected the sales of public lands, which were +increasing at an extraordinary rate, nearly twenty-five million dollars' +worth being sold in 1836. As a rule, the payments were made in the notes +of irresponsible banks, gotten up in many cases by the land speculators +themselves. The sales were running up to five millions a month, with +prospect of a boundless increase, so that all the public land bade fair +to be converted into inconvertible paper. Benton had foreseen the evil +results attending such a change, and, though well aware that he was +opposing powerful interests in his own section of the country, had +already tried to put a stop to it by law. In his speech he had stated +that the unprecedented increase in the sale of public lands was due to +the accommodations received by speculators from worthless banks, whose +notes in small denominations would be taken to some distant part of the +country, whence it would be a long time before they were returned and +presented for payment. The speculators, with paper of which the real +value was much below par, could outbid settlers and cultivators who +could only offer specie, or notes that were its equivalent. He went on +to say that "the effect was equally injurious to every interest +concerned--except the banks and the speculators: it was injurious to the +treasury, which was filling up with paper; to the new states, which +were flooded with paper; and to settlers and cultivators, who were +outbid by speculators loaded with this borrowed paper. A return to +specie payments for lands was the remedy for all these evils." + +Benton's reasoning was perfectly sound. The effects on settlers, on the +new states, and on the government itself were precisely such as he +described, and the proposed remedy was the right one. But his bill +failed; for the Whigs, including even Webster, had by this time worked +themselves up until they were fairly crazy at the mere mention of +paper-money banks. + +Jackson, however, not daunted by the fate of the bill, got Benton to +draw up a treasury order, and had it issued. This served the same +purpose, as it forbade the land-offices to receive anything but gold and +silver in payment for land. It was not issued until Congress had +adjourned, for fear that body might counteract it by a law; and this was +precisely what was attempted at the next session, when a joint +resolution was passed rescinding the order, and practically endeavoring +to impose the worthless paper currency of the states upon the federal +government. Benton stood almost alone in the fight he made against this +resolution, although the right of the matter was so plainly on his +side. In his speech he foretold clearly the coming of the great +financial crisis that was then near at hand. The resolution, however, +amounted to nothing, as it turned out, for it was passed so late in the +session that the president, by simply withholding his signature from it, +was enabled to prevent it from having effect. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE SLAVE QUESTION APPEARS IN POLITICS. + + +Towards the close of Jackson's administration, slavery for the first +time made its permanent appearance in national politics; although for +some years yet it had little or no influence in shaping the course of +political movements. In 1833 the abolition societies of the North came +into prominence; they had been started a couple of years previously. + +Black slavery was such a grossly anachronistic and un-American form of +evil, that it is difficult to discuss calmly the efforts to abolish it, +and to remember that many of these efforts were calculated to do, and +actually did, more harm than good. We are also very apt to forget that +it was perfectly possible and reasonable for enlightened and virtuous +men, who fully recognized it as an evil, yet to prefer its continuance +to having it interfered with in a way that would produce even worse +results. Black slavery in Hayti was characterized by worse abuse than +ever was the case in the United States; yet, looking at the condition +of that republic now, it may well be questioned whether it would not +have been greatly to her benefit in the end to have had slavery continue +a century or so longer,--its ultimate extinction being certain,--rather +than to have had her attain freedom as she actually did, with the +results that have flowed from her action. When an evil of colossal size +exists, it is often the case that there is no possible way of dealing +with it that will not itself be fraught with baleful results. Nor can +the ultra-philanthropic method be always, or even often, accepted as the +best. If there is one question upon which the philanthropists of the +present day, especially the more emotional ones, are agreed, it is that +any law restricting Chinese immigration is an outrage; yet it seems +incredible that any man of even moderate intelligence should not see +that no greater calamity could now befall the United States than to have +the Pacific slope fill up with a Mongolian population. + +The cause of the Abolitionists has had such a halo shed round it by the +after course of events, which they themselves in reality did very little +to shape, that it has been usual to speak of them with absurdly +exaggerated praise. Their courage, and for the most part their +sincerity, cannot be too highly spoken of, but their share in +abolishing slavery was far less than has commonly been represented; any +single non-abolitionist politician, like Lincoln or Seward, did more +than all the professional Abolitionists combined really to bring about +its destruction. The abolition societies were only in a very restricted +degree the causes of the growing feeling in the North against slavery; +they are rather to be regarded as themselves manifestations or +accompaniments of that feeling. The anti-slavery outburst in the +Northern States over the admission of Missouri took place a dozen years +before there was an abolition society in existence; and the influence of +the professional abolitionists upon the growth of the anti-slavery +sentiment as often as not merely warped it and twisted it out of proper +shape,--as when at one time they showed a strong inclination to adopt +disunion views, although it was self-evident that by no possibility +could slavery be abolished unless the Union was preserved. Their +tendency towards impracticable methods was well shown in the position +they assumed towards him who was not only the greatest American, but +also the greatest man, of the nineteenth century; for during all the +terrible four years that sad, strong, patient Lincoln worked and +suffered for the people, he had to dread the influence of the extreme +Abolitionists only less than that of the Copperheads. Many of their +leaders possessed no good qualities beyond their fearlessness and +truth--qualities that were also possessed by the Southern fire-eaters. +They belonged to that class of men that is always engaged in some +agitation or other; only it happened that in this particular agitation +they were right. Wendell Phillips may be taken as a very good type of +the whole. His services against slavery prior to the war should always +be remembered with gratitude; but after the war, and until the day of +his death, his position on almost every public question was either +mischievous or ridiculous, and usually both. + +When the abolitionist movement started it was avowedly designed to be +cosmopolitan in character; the originators looked down upon any merely +national or patriotic feeling. This again deservedly took away from +their influence. In fact, it would have been most unfortunate had the +majority of the Northerners been from the beginning in hearty accord +with the Abolitionists; at the best it would have resulted at that time +in the disruption of the Union and the perpetuation of slavery in the +South. + +But after all is said, the fact remains, that on the main issue the +Abolitionists were at least working in the right direction. Sooner or +later, by one means or another, slavery had to go. It is beyond doubt a +misfortune that in certain districts the bulk of the population should +be composed of densely ignorant negroes, often criminal or vicious in +their instincts; but such is the case, and the best, and indeed the only +proper course to pursue, is to treat them with precisely the same +justice that is meted out to whites. The effort to do so in time +immediately past has not resulted so successfully as was hoped and +expected; but nevertheless no other way would have worked as well. + +Slavery was chiefly responsible for the streak of coarse and brutal +barbarism which ran through the Southern character, and which marked the +ferocious outcry instantly raised by the whole Southern press against +the Abolitionists. There had been an abortive negro rising in Virginia +almost at the same time that the abolitionist movement first came into +prominence; and this fact added to the rage and terror with which the +South regarded the latter. The clamor against the North was deafening; +and though it soon subsided for the time being, it never afterwards +entirely died away. As has been shown already, there had always been a +strong separatist feeling in the South; but hitherto its manifestations +had been local and sporadic, never affecting all the states at the same +time; for it had never happened that the cause which called forth any +particular manifestation was one bearing on the whole South alike. The +alien and sedition laws were more fiercely resented in Virginia and +Kentucky than in South Carolina; the tariff, which so angered the +latter, pleased Louisiana; and Georgia and Alabama alone were affected +by the presence of great Indian communities within their borders. But +slavery was an interest common to the whole South. When it was felt to +be in any way menaced, all Southerners came together for its protection; +and, from the time of the rise of the Abolitionists onward, the +separatist movement throughout the South began to identify itself with +the maintenance of slavery, and gradually to develop greater and greater +strength. Its growth was furthered and hastened by the actions of the +more ambitious and unscrupulous of the Southern politicians, who saw +that it offered a chance for them to push themselves forward, and who +were perfectly willing to wreak almost irreparable harm to the nation if +by so doing they could advance their own selfish interests. It was in +reference to these politicians that Benton quoted with approval a letter +from ex-President Madison, which ran:-- + + The danger is not to be concealed, that the sympathy arising from + known causes, and the inculcated impression of a permanent + incompatibility of interests between the South and the North may put + it in the power of popular leaders, aspiring to the highest + stations, to unite the South, on some critical occasion, in a course + that will end by creating a new theatre of great, though inferior, + interest. In pursuing this course the first and most obvious step is + nullification, the next secession, and the last a farewell + separation. + +This was a pretty good forecast of the crisis that was precipitated by +the greedy and reckless ambition of the secessionist leaders in 1860. +The moral difference between Benedict Arnold on the one hand, and Aaron +Burr or Jefferson Davis on the other, is precisely the difference that +obtains between a politician who sells his vote for money and one who +supports a bad measure in consideration of being given some high +political position. + +The Abolitionists immediately contrived to bring themselves before the +notice of Congress in two ways; by the presentation of petitions for the +abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia, and by sending out to +the Southern States a shoal of abolition pamphlets, newspapers, and +rather ridiculous illustrated cuts. What the precise point of the last +proceeding was no one can tell; the circulation of such writings as +theirs in the South could not possibly serve any good purpose. But they +had a right to send what they wished, and the conduct of many of the +Southerners in trying to get a federal law passed to prohibit their +writings from being carried in the mail was as wrong as it was foolish; +while the brutal clamor raised in the South against the whole North as +well as against the Abolitionists, and the conduct of certain Southern +legislatures in practically setting prices on the heads of the leaders +in the objectionable movement, in turn angered the North and gave the +Abolitionists ten-fold greater strength than they would otherwise have +had. + +The question first arose upon the presentation of a perfectly proper and +respectful petition sent to the Senate by a society of Pennsylvania +Quakers, and praying for the abolition of slavery in the District of +Columbia. The District was solely under the control of Congress, and was +the property of the nation at large, so that Congress was the proper and +the only body to which any petition concerning the affairs of the +District could be sent; and if the right of petition meant anything, it +certainly meant that the people, or any portion thereof, should have the +right to petition their representatives in regard to their own affairs. +Yet certain Southern extremists, under the lead of Calhoun, were +anxious to refuse to receive the paper. Benton voted in favor of +receiving it, and was followed in his action by a number of other +Southern senators. He spoke at length on the subject, and quite +moderately, even crediting the petitioners, or many of them, with being +"good people, aiming at benevolent objects, and endeavoring to +ameliorate the condition of one part of the human race, without +inflicting calamities on another part," which was going very far indeed +for a slave-holding senator of that time. He was of course totally +opposed to abolition and the Abolitionists, and showed that the only +immediate effect of the movement had been to make the lot of the slaves +still worse, and for the moment to do away with any chance of +intelligently discussing the question of emancipation. For, like many +other Southerners, he fondly cherished the idea of gradual peaceful +emancipation,--an idea which the course of events made wholly visionary, +but which, under the circumstances, might well have been realized. He +proceeded to give most questionable praise to the North for some acts as +outrageous and disgraceful as were ever perpetrated by its citizens, +stating that-- + + Their conduct was above all praise, above all thanks, above all + gratitude. They had chased off the foreign emissaries, silenced the + gabbling tongues of female dupes, and dispersed the assemblages, + whether fanatical, visionary, or incendiary, of all that congregated + to preach against evils that affected others, not themselves; and to + propose remedies to aggravate the disease which they had pretended + to cure. They had acted with a noble spirit. They had exerted a + vigor beyond all law. They had obeyed the enactments, not of the + statute-book, but of the heart. + +These fervent encomiums were fully warranted by the acts of various +Northern mobs, that had maltreated abolitionist speakers, broken up +anti-slavery meetings, and committed numerous other deeds of lawless +violence. But however flattered the Northerners of that generation may +have been, in feeling that they thoroughly deserved Benton's eulogy, it +is doubtful if their descendants will take quite the same pride in +looking back to it. An amusing incident of the debate was Calhoun's +attack upon one of the most subservient allies the South ever had in the +Northern States; he caused to be sent up to the desk and read an +abolition paper published in New Hampshire, which contained a bitter +assault upon Franklin Pierce, then a member of Congress. Nominally he +took this course to show that there was much greater strength in the +abolition movement, and therefore much greater danger to the South, than +the Northern senators were willing to admit; in reality he seems to +have acted partly from wanton malice, partly from overbearing contempt +for the truckling allies and apologists of slavery in the North, and +partly from a desire not to see the discussion die out, but rather, in +spite of his continual profession to the contrary, to see it maintained +as a standing subject of irritation. He wished to refuse to receive the +petitions, on the ground that they touched a subject that ought not even +to be discussed; yet he must have known well that he was acting in the +very way most fitted to give rise to discussion,--a fact that was +pointed out to him by Benton, in a caustic speech. He also took the +ground that the question of emancipation affected the states +exclusively, and that Congress had no more jurisdiction over the subject +in the District of Columbia than she had in the State of North Carolina. +This precious contribution to the true interpretation of the +Constitution was so farcically and palpably false that it is incredible +that he should himself have believed what he was saying. He was still +smarting from the nullification controversy; he had seceded from his +party, and was sore with disappointed ambition; and it seems very +improbable that he was honest in his professions of regret at seeing +questions come up which would disturb the Union. On the contrary, much +of the opposition he was continually making to supposititious federal +and Northern encroachments on the rights of the South must have been +merely factious, and it seems likely that, partly from a feeling of +revenge and partly with the hope of gratifying his ambition, he was +anxious to do all he could to work the South up to the highest pitch of +irritation, and keep her there until there was a dissolution of the +Union. Benton evidently thought that this was the case; and in reading +the constant threats of nullification and secession which run through +all Calhoun's speeches, and the innumerable references he makes to the +alleged fact that he had come off victorious in his treasonable struggle +over the tariff in 1833, it is difficult not to accept Benton's view of +the matter. He always spoke of Calhoun with extreme aversion, and there +were probably moments when he was inclined heartily to sympathize with +Jackson's death-bed regret that he had not hung the South Carolina +Nullifier. Doubtless in private life, or as regards any financial +matters, Calhoun's conduct was always blameless; but it may well be that +he has received far more credit for purity of motive in his public +conduct than his actions fairly entitle him to. + +Calhoun was also greatly exercised over the circulation of abolition +documents in the South. At his request a committee of five was appointed +to draft a bill on the subject; he was chairman, and three of the other +four members were from the Slave States; yet his report was so extreme +that only one of the latter would sign it with him. He introduced into +it a long argument to the effect that the Constitution was a mere +compact between sovereign states, and inferentially that nullification +and secession were justifiable and constitutional; and then drew a vivid +picture of the unspeakable horrors with which, as he contended, the +action of the Northern Abolitionists menaced the South. The bill +subjected to penalties any postmaster who should knowingly receive and +put into the mail any publication touching slavery, to go into any state +which had forbidden by law the circulation of such a publication. In +discussing this bill he asserted that Congress, in refusing to pass it, +would be cooeperating with the Abolitionists; and then he went on to +threaten as usual that in such case nullification or secession would +become necessary. Benton had become pretty well tired of these threats, +his attachment to the Union even exceeding his dislike to seeing slavery +meddled with; and he headed the list of half a dozen Southern senators +who joined with the bulk of the Northerners in defeating the bill, +which was lost by a vote of twenty-five to nineteen. A few of the +Northern "dough-faces" voted with Calhoun. There is a painfully striking +contrast between the courage shown by Benton, a slave-holder with a +slave-holding constituency, in opposing this bill, and the obsequious +subserviency to the extreme Southern feeling shown on the same occasion +by Wright, Van Buren, and Buchanan--fit representatives of the sordid +and odious political organizations of New York and Pennsylvania. + +Several other questions came up towards the end of Jackson's +administration which were more or less remotely affected by the feeling +about slavery. Benton succeeded in getting a bill through to extend the +boundaries of the State of Missouri so as to take in territory lying +northwest of her previous limit, the Indian title to which was +extinguished by treaty. This annexed land lay north of the boundary for +slave territory established by the Missouri Compromise; but Benton +experienced no difficulty in getting his bill through. It was not, +however, in the least a move designed in the interests of the slave +power. Missouri's feeling was precisely that which would actuate Oregon +or Washington Territory to-day, if either wished to annex part of +Northern Idaho. + +The territories of Arkansas and Michigan had applied for admission into +the Union as states; and as one would be a free and the other a slave +state, it was deemed proper that they should come in together. Benton +himself urged the admission of the free state of Michigan, while the +interests of Arkansas were confided to Buchanan of Pennsylvania. The +slavery question entered but little into the matter; although some +objections were raised on that score, as well as on account of the +irregular manner in which the would-be states had acted in preparing for +admission. The real ground of opposition to the admission of the two new +states was political, as it was known that they could both be relied +upon for Democratic majorities at the approaching presidential election. +Many Whigs, therefore, both from the North and the South, opposed it. + +The final removal of the Cherokees from Georgia and Alabama was brought +about in 1836 by means of a treaty with those Indians. Largely through +the instrumentality of Benton, and in spite of the opposition of Clay, +Calhoun, and Webster, this instrument was ratified in the Senate by the +close vote of thirty-one to fifteen. Although new slave territory was +thus acquired, the vote on the treaty was factional and not sectional, +being equally divided between the Northern and the Southern States, +Calhoun and six other Southern senators opposing it, chiefly from +hostility to the administration. The removal of the Indians was probably +a necessity; undoubtedly it worked hardship in individual instances, but +on the whole it did not in the least retard the civilization of the +tribe, which was fully paid for its losses; and moreover, in its new +home, continued to make progress in every way until it became involved +in the great civil war, and received a setback from which it has not yet +recovered. These Cherokees were almost the last Indians left in any +number east of the Mississippi, and their removal solved the Indian +problem so far as the old states were concerned. + +Later on Benton went to some trouble to disprove the common statement +that we have robbed the original Indian occupants of their lands. He +showed by actual statistics that up to 1840 we had paid to the Indians +eighty-five millions of dollars for land purchases, which was over five +times as much as the United States gave the great Napoleon for +Louisiana; and about three times as much as we paid France, Spain, and +Mexico together for the purchase of Louisiana, Florida, and California; +while the amount of land received in return would not equal any one of +these purchases, and was but a fractional part of Louisiana or +California. We paid the Cherokees for their territory exactly as much as +we paid the French, at the height of their power, for Louisiana; while +as to the Creek and Choctaw nations, we paid each more for their lands +than we paid for Louisiana and Florida combined. The dealings of the +government with the Indian have often been unwise, and sometimes unjust; +but they are very far indeed from being so black as is commonly +represented, especially when the tremendous difficulties of the case are +taken into account. + +Far more important than any of these matters was the acknowledgment of +the independence of Texas; and in this, as well as in the troubles with +Mexico which sprang from it, slavery again played a prominent part, +although not nearly so important at first as has commonly been +represented. Doubtless the slave-holders worked hard to secure +additional territory out of which to form new slave states; but Texas +and California would have been in the end taken by us, had there not +been a single slave in the Mississippi valley. The greed for the +conquest of new lands which characterized the Western people had nothing +whatever to do with the fact that some of them owned slaves. Long before +there had been so much as the faintest foreshadowing of the importance +which the slavery question was to assume, the West had been eagerly +pressing on to territorial conquest, and had been chafing and fretting +at the restraint put upon it, and at the limits set to its strivings by +the treaties established with foreign powers. The first settlers beyond +the Alleghanies, and their immediate successors, who moved down along +the banks of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, and thence out +to the Mississippi itself, were not generally slave-holders; but they +were all as anxious to wrest the Mississippi valley from the control of +the French as their descendants were to overrun the Spanish lands lying +along the Rio Grande. In other words, slavery had very little to do with +the Western aggressions on Mexican territory, however it might influence +the views of Southern statesmen as to lending support to the Western +schemes. + +The territorial boundaries of all the great powers originally claiming +the soil of the West--France, Spain, and the United States--were very +ill-defined, there being no actual possession of the lands in dispute, +and each power making a great showing on its own map. If the extreme +views of any one were admitted, its adversary, for the time being, +would have had nothing. Thus before the treaty of 1819 with Spain our +nominal boundaries and those of the latter power in the West overlapped +each other; and the extreme Western men persisted in saying that we had +given up some of the territory which belonged to us because we had +consented to adopt a middle line of division, and had not insisted +upon being allowed the full extent of our claims. Benton always took +this view of it, insisting that we had given up our rights by the +adoption of this treaty. Many Southerners improved on this idea, and +spoke of the desirability of "re-annexing" the territory we had +surrendered,--endeavoring by the use of this very inappropriate word +to give a color of right to their proceedings. As a matter of fact it +was inevitable, as well as in the highest degree desirable for the good +of humanity at large, that the American people should ultimately crowd +out the Mexicans from their sparsely populated Northern provinces. But +it was quite as desirable that this should not be done in the interests +of slavery. + +American settlers had begun to press into the outlying Spanish province +of Texas before the treaty of 1819 was ratified. Their numbers went on +increasing, and at first the Mexican government, having achieved +independence of Spain, encouraged their incoming. But it soon saw that +their presence boded danger, and forbade further immigration; without +effect, however, as the settlers and adventurers came thronging in as +fast as ever. The Americans had brought their slaves with them, and when +the Mexican government issued a decree liberating all slaves, they +refused to be bound by it; and this decree was among the reasons alleged +for their revolt. It has been represented as the chief if not the sole +cause of the rebellion; but in reality it was not the cause at all; it +was merely one of the occasions. Long before slavery had been abolished +in Mexico, and before it had become an exciting question in the United +States, the infant colony of Texas, when but a few months old, had made +an abortive attempt at insurrection. Any one who has ever been on the +frontier, and who knows anything whatever of the domineering, masterful +spirit and bitter race prejudices of the white frontiersmen, will +acknowledge at once that it was out of the question that the Texans +should long continue under Mexican rule; and it would have been a great +misfortune if they had. It was out of the question to expect them to +submit to the mastery of the weaker race, which they were supplanting. +Whatever might be the pretexts alleged for revolt, the real reasons were +to be found in the deeply-marked difference of race, and in the absolute +unfitness of the Mexicans then to govern themselves, to say nothing of +governing others. During the dozen years that the American colony in +Texas formed part of Mexico, the government of the latter went through +revolution after revolution,--republic, empire, and military +dictatorship following one another in bewildering succession. A state of +things like this in the central government, especially when the latter +belonged to a race alien in blood, language, religion, and habits of +life, would warrant any community in determining to shift for itself. +Such would probably have been the result even on people as sober and +peaceable as the Texan settlers were warlike, reckless, and overbearing. + +But the majority of those who fought for Texan independence were not men +who had already settled in that territory, but, on the contrary, were +adventurers from the States, who had come to help their kinsmen and to +win for themselves, by their own prowess, homes on what was then Mexican +soil. It may as well be frankly admitted that the conduct of the +American frontiersmen all through this contest can be justified on no +possible plea of international morality or law. Still, we cannot judge +them by the same standard we should apply to the dealings between highly +civilized powers of approximately the same grade of virtue and +intelligence. Two nations may be contemporaneous so far as mere years +go, and yet, for all that, may be existing among surroundings which +practically are centuries apart. The nineteenth century on the banks of +the Thames, the Seine, and the Rhine, or even of the Hudson and the +Potomac, was one thing; the nineteenth century in the valley of the Rio +Grande was another and quite a different thing. + +The conquest of Texas should properly be classed with conquests like +those of the Norse sea-rovers. The virtues and faults alike of the +Texans were those of a barbaric age. They were restless, brave, and +eager for adventure, excitement, and plunder; they were warlike, +resolute, and enterprising; they had all the marks of a young and hardy +race, flushed with the pride of strength and self-confidence. On the +other hand they showed again and again the barbaric vies of +boastfulness, ignorance, and cruelty; and they were utterly careless of +the rights of others, looking upon the possessions of all weaker races +as simply their natural prey. A band of settlers entering Texas was +troubled by no greater scruples of conscience than, a thousand years +before, a ship-load of Knut's followers might have felt at landing in +England; and when they were engaged in warfare with the Mexicans they +could count with certainty upon assistance from their kinsfolk who had +been left behind, and for the same reasons that had enabled Rolf's +Norsemen on the sea-coast of France to rely confidently on Scandinavian +help in their quarrels with their Karling over-lords. The great Texan +hero, Houston, who drank hard and fought hard, who was mighty in battle +and crafty in council, with his reckless, boastful courage and his +thirst for changes and risks of all kinds, his propensity for private +brawling, and his queerly blended impulses for good and evil, might, +with very superficial alterations of character, stand as the type of an +old-world Viking--plus the virtue of a deep and earnestly patriotic +attachment to his whole country. Indeed his career was as picturesque +and romantic as that of Harold Hardraada himself, and, to boot, was much +more important in its results. + +Thus the Texan struggle for independence stirred up the greatest +sympathy and enthusiasm in the United States. The administration +remained nominally neutral, but obviously sympathized with the Texans, +permitting arms and men to be sent to their help, without hindrance, and +indeed doing not a little discreditable bullying in the diplomatic +dealing with Mexico, which that unfortunate community had her hands too +full to resent. Still we did not commit a more flagrant breach of +neutrality than, for instance, England was at the same time engaged in +committing in reference to the civil wars in Spain. The victory of San +Jacinto, in which Houston literally annihilated a Mexican force twice +the strength of his own, virtually decided the contest; and the Senate +at once passed a resolution recognizing the independence of Texas. +Calhoun wished that body to go farther, and forthwith admit Texas as a +state into the Union; but Benton and his colleagues were not prepared to +take such a step at so early a date, although intending of course that +in the end she should be admitted. There was little opposition to the +recognition of Texan independence, although a few members of the lower +house, headed by Adams, voted against it. While a cabinet officer, and +afterwards as president, Adams had done all that he could to procure by +purchase or treaty the very land which was afterwards the cause of our +troubles with Mexico. + +Much the longest and most elaborate speech in favor of the recognition +of Texan independence was made by Benton, to whom the subject appealed +very strongly. He announced emphatically that he spoke as a Western +senator, voicing the feeling of the West; and he was right. The +opposition to the growth of our country on its southwestern frontier +was almost confined to the Northeast; the West as a whole, free states +as well as slave, heartily favored the movement. The settlers of Texas +had come mainly, it is true, from the slave states; but there were also +many who had been born north of the Ohio. It was a matter of comment +that the guns used at San Jacinto had come from Cincinnati--and so had +some of those who served them. + +In Benton's speech he began by pointing out the impropriety of doing +what Calhoun had done in attempting to complicate the question of the +recognition of Texan independence with the admission of Texas as a +state. He then proceeded to claim for us a good deal more credit than we +were entitled to for our efforts to preserve neutrality; drew a very +true picture of the commercial bonds that united us to Mexico, and of +the necessity that they should not be lightly broken; gave a spirited +sketch of the course of the war hitherto, condemning without stint the +horrible butcheries committed by the Mexicans, but touching gingerly on +the savage revenge taken by the Americans in their turn; and ended by a +eulogy of the Texans themselves, and their leaders. + +It was the age of "spread-eagle" speeches, and many of Benton's were no +exception to the rule. As a people we were yet in a condition of raw, +crude immaturity; and our very sensitiveness to foreign criticism--a +sensitiveness which we now find it difficult to understand--and the +realization of our own awkwardness made us inclined to brag about and +exaggerate our deeds. Our public speakers and writers acquired the +abominable habit of speaking of everything and everybody in the United +States in the superlative; and therefore, as we claimed the highest rank +for all our fourth-rate men, we put it out of our power to do justice to +the really first-rate ones; and on account of our continual +exaggerations we were not believed by others, and hardly even believed +ourselves, when we presented estimates that were truthful. When every +public speaker was declared to be a Demosthenes or a Cicero, people +failed to realize that we actually had, in Webster, the greatest orator +of the century; and when every general who whipped an Indian tribe was +likened to Napoleon, we left ourselves no words with which properly to +characterize the really heroic deeds done from time to time in the grim +frontier warfare. All Benton's oratory took on this lurid coloring; and +in the present matter his final eulogy of the Texan warriors was greatly +strained, though it would hardly have been in his power to pay too high +a tribute to some of the deeds they had done. It was the heroic age of +the Southwest; though, as with every other heroic age, there were plenty +of failings, vices, and weaknesses visible, if the stand-point of +observation was only close enough. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THE CHILDREN'S TEETH ARE SET ON EDGE. + + +In his dealings with the Bank and his disposal of the deposits Jackson +ate sour grapes to his heart's content; and now the teeth of his adopted +child Van Buren were to be set on edge. + +Van Buren was the first product of what are now called "machine +politics" that was put into the presidential chair. He owed his +elevation solely to his own dexterous political manipulation, and to the +fact that, for his own selfish ends, and knowing perfectly well their +folly, he had yet favored or connived at all the actions into which the +administration had been led either through Jackson's ignorance and +violence, or by the crafty unscrupulousness and limited knowledge of the +Kitchen Cabinet. The people at large would never have thought of him for +president of their own accord; but he had become Jackson's political +legatee, partly because he had personally endeared himself to the +latter, and partly because the politicians felt that he was a man whom +they could trust. The Jacksonian Democracy was already completely ruled +by a machine, of which the most important cogs were the countless +office-holders, whom the spoils system had already converted into a band +of well-drilled political mercenaries. A political machine can only be +brought to a state of high perfection in a party containing very many +ignorant and uneducated voters; and the Jacksonian Democracy held in its +ranks the mass of the ignorance of the country. Besides this such an +organization requires, in order that it may do its most effective work, +to have as its leader and figure-head a man who really has a great hold +on the people at large, and who yet can be managed by such politicians +as possess the requisite adroitness; and Jackson fulfilled both these +conditions. The famous Kitchen Cabinet was so called because its members +held no official positions, and yet were known to have Jackson more +under their influence than was the case with his nominal advisers. They +stood as the first representatives of a type common enough afterwards, +and of which Thurlow Weed was perhaps the best example. They were men +who held no public position, and yet devoted their whole time to +politics, and pulled the strings in obedience to which the apparent +public leaders moved. + +Jackson liked Van Buren because the latter had served him both +personally and politically--indeed Jackson was incapable of +distinguishing between a political and a personal service. This liking, +however, would not alone have advanced Van Buren's interests, if the +latter, who was himself a master in the New York state machine, had not +also succeeded in enlisting the good-will and self-interest of the +members of the Kitchen Cabinet and the other intimate advisers of the +president. These first got Jackson himself thoroughly committed to Van +Buren, and then used his name and enormous influence with the masses, +coupled with their own mastery of machine methods, to bring about the +New Yorker's nomination. In both these moves they had been helped, and +Van Buren's chances had been immensely improved, by an incident that had +seemed at the time very unfortunate for the latter. When he was +secretary of state, in carrying on negotiations with Great Britain +relative to the West India trade, he had so far forgotten what was due +to the dignity of the nation as to allude disparagingly, while thus +communicating with a foreign power, to the course pursued by the +previous administration. This extension of party lines into our +foreign diplomacy was discreditable to the whole country. The +anti-administration men bitterly resented it, and emphasized their +resentment by rejecting the nomination of Van Buren when Jackson wished +to make him minister to England. Their action was perfectly proper, and +Van Buren, by right, should have suffered for his undignified and +unpatriotic conduct. But instead of this, and in accordance with the +eternal unfitness of things, what really happened was that his rejection +by the Senate actually helped him; for Jackson promptly made the quarrel +his own, and the masses blindly followed their idol. Benton exultingly +and truthfully said that the president's foes had succeeded in breaking +a minister only to make a president. + +Van Buren faithfully served the mammon of unrighteousness, both in his +own state and, later on, at Washington; and he had his reward, for he +was advanced to the highest offices in the gift of the nation. He had no +reason to blame his own conduct for his final downfall; he got just as +far along as he could possibly get; he succeeded because of, and not in +spite of, his moral shortcomings; if he had always governed his actions +by a high moral standard he would probably never have been heard of. +Still, there is some comfort in reflecting that, exactly as he was made +president for no virtue of his own, but simply on account of being +Jackson's heir, so he was turned out of the office, not for personal +failure, but because he was taken as scapegoat, and had the sins of his +political fathers visited on his own head. + +The opposition to the election of Van Buren was very much disorganized, +the Whig party not yet having solidified,--indeed it always remained a +somewhat fluid body. The election did not have the slightest sectional +significance, slavery not entering into it, and both Northern and +Southern States voting without the least reference to the geographical +belongings of the candidates. He was the last true Jacksonian +Democrat--Union Democrat--who became president; the South Carolina +separatists and many of their fellows refused to vote for him. The +Democrats who came after him, on the contrary, all had leanings to the +separatist element which so soon obtained absolute control of the party, +to the fierce indignation of men like Benton, Houston, and the other old +Jacksonians, whose sincere devotion to the Union will always entitle +them to the gratitude of every true American. As far as slavery was +concerned, however, the Southerners had hitherto had nothing whatever to +complain of in Van Buren's attitude. He was careful to inform them in +his inaugural address that he would not sanction any attempt to +interfere with the institution, whether by abolishing it in the +District of Columbia or in any other way distasteful to the South. He +also expressed a general hope that he would be able throughout to follow +in the footsteps of Jackson. + +He had hardly been elected before the ruinous financial policy to which +he had been party, but of which the effects, it must in justice be said, +were aggravated by many of the actions of the Whigs, began to bear fruit +after its kind. The use made of the surplus was bad enough, but the +withdrawal of the United States deposits from one responsible bank and +their distribution among scores of others, many of which were in the +most rickety condition, was a step better calculated than any other to +bring about a financial crash. It gave a stimulus to extravagance, and +evoked the wildest spirit of speculation that the country had yet seen. +The local banks, to whom the custody of the public moneys had been +intrusted, used them as funds which they and their customers could +hazard for the chance of gain; and the gambling spirit, always existent +in the American mercantile community, was galvanized into furious life. +The public dues were payable in the paper of these deposit banks and of +the countless others that were even more irresponsible. The deposit +banks thus became filled up with a motley mass of more or less worthless +bank paper, which thus formed the "surplus," of which the distribution +had caused Congress so much worry. Their condition was desperate, as +they had been managed with the most reckless disregard for the morrow. +Many of them had hardly kept as much specie in hand as would amount to +one fiftieth of the aggregate of their deposits and other immediate +liabilities. + +The people themselves were of course primarily responsible for the then +existing state of affairs; but the government had done all in its power +to make matters worse. Panics were certain to occur more or less often +in so speculative and venturesome a mercantile community, where there +was such heedless trust in the future and such recklessness in the use +of credit. But the government, by its actions, immensely increased the +severity of this particular panic, and became the prime factor in +precipitating its advent. Benton tried to throw the blame mainly on the +bankers and politicians, who, he alleged, had formed an alliance for the +overthrow of the administration; but he made the plea more +half-heartedly than usual, and probably in his secret soul acknowledged +its puerility. + +The mass of the people were still happy in the belief that all things +were working well, and that their show of unexampled prosperity and +business activity denoted a permanent and healthy condition. Yet all the +signs pointed to a general collapse at no distant date; an era of +general bank suspensions, of depreciated currency, and of insolvency of +the federal treasury was at hand. No one but Benton, however, seemed +able to read the signs aright, and his foreboding utterances were +laughed at or treated with scorn by his fellow statesmen. He recalled +the memory of the times of 1818-19, when the treasury reports of one +year showed a superfluity of revenue of which there was no want, and +those of the next showed a deficit which required to be relieved by a +loan; and he foretold an infinitely worse result from the inflation of +the paper system, saying:-- + + Are we not at this moment, and from the same cause, realizing the + first part--the elusive and treacherous part--of this picture? and + must not the other, the sad and real sequel, speedily follow? The + day of revulsion in its effects may be more or less disastrous; but + come it must. The present bloat in the paper system cannot continue; + violent contraction must follow enormous expansion; a scene of + distress and suffering must ensue--to come of itself out of the + present state of things, without being stimulated and helped on by + our unwise legislation.... _I_ am one of those who _promised_ gold, + not paper; _I did not join in putting down the Bank of the United_ + _States to put up a wilderness of local banks. I did not join in + putting down the currency of a national bank to put up a national + paper currency of a thousand local banks._ I did not strike Caesar to + make Antony master of Rome. + +These last sentences referred to the passage of the act repealing the +specie circular and making the notes of the banks receivable in payment +of federal dues. The act was most mischievous, and Benton's criticisms +both of it and of the great Whig senator who pressed it were perfectly +just; but they apply with quite as much weight to Jackson's dealings +with the deposits, which Benton had defended. + +Benton foresaw the coming of the panic so clearly, and was so +particularly uneasy about the immediate effects upon the governmental +treasury, that he not only spoke publicly on the matter in the Senate, +but even broached the subject in the course of a private conversation +with the president-elect, to get him to try to make what preparations he +could. Van Buren, cool, skillful, and far-sighted politician though he +was, on this occasion showed that he was infected with the common +delusion as to the solidity of the country's business prosperity. He was +very friendly with Benton, and was trying to get him to take a position +in his cabinet, which the latter refused, preferring service in the +Senate; but now he listened with scant courtesy to the warning, and +paid no heed to it. Benton, an intensely proud man, would not speak +again; and everything went on as before. The law distributing the +surplus among the states began to take effect; under its operations +drafts for millions of dollars were made on the banks containing the +deposits, and these banks, already sinking, were utterly unable to honor +them. It would have been impossible, under any circumstances, for the +president to ward off the blow, but he might at least, by a little +forethought and preparation, have saved the government from some galling +humiliations. Had Benton's advice been followed, the moneys called for +by the appropriation acts might have been drawn from the banks, and the +disbursing officers might have been prevented from depositing in them +the sums which they drew from the treasury to provide for their ordinary +expenses; thus the government would have been spared the disgrace of +being obliged to stop the actual daily payments to the public servants; +and the nation would not have seen such a spectacle as its rulers +presented when they had not a dollar with which to pay even a day +laborer, while at the same time a law was standing on the statute-book +providing for the distribution of forty millions of nominal surplus. + +No effort was made to stave off even so much of the impending disaster +as was at that late date preventable; and a few days after Van Buren's +inauguration the country was in the throes of the worst and most +widespread financial panic it has ever seen. The distress was fairly +appalling both in its intensity and in its universal distribution. All +the banks stopped payment, and bankruptcy was universal. Bank paper +depreciated with frightful rapidity, especially in the West; specie +increased in value so that all the coin in the country, down to the +lowest denomination, was almost immediately taken out of circulation, +being either hoarded, or gathered for shipment abroad as bullion. For +small change every kind of device was made use of,--tokens, bank-bills +for a few cents each, or brass and iron counters. + +Benton and others pretended to believe that the panic was the result of +a deep-laid plot on the part of the rich classes, who controlled the +banks, to excite popular hostility against the Jacksonian Democracy, on +account of the caste antagonism which these same richer classes were +supposed to feel towards the much-vaunted "party of the people;" and as +Benton's mental vision was singularly warped in regard to some subjects, +it is possible that the belief was not altogether a pretense. It is +entirely unnecessary now seriously to discuss the proposition that it +would be possible to drag the commercial classes into so widespread and +profoundly secret a conspiracy, with such a vague end in view, and with +the certainty that they themselves would be, from a business +stand-point, the main sufferers. + +The efforts made by Benton and the other Jacksonians to stem the tide of +public feeling and direct it through the well-worn channel of suspicious +fear of, and anger at, the banks, as the true authors of the general +wretchedness, were unavailing; the stream swelled into a torrent and ran +like a mill-race in the opposite way. The popular clamor against the +administration was deafening; and if much of it was based on good +grounds, much of it was also unreasonable. But a very few years before +the Jacksonians had appealed to a senseless public dislike of the +so-called "money power," in order to help themselves to victory; and now +they had the chagrin of seeing an only less irrational outcry raised +against themselves in turn, and used to oust them from their places, +with the same effectiveness which had previously attended their own +frothy and loud-mouthed declamations. The people were more than ready to +listen to any one who could point out, or pretend to point out, the +authors of, and the reasons for, the calamities that had befallen them. +Their condition was pitiable; and this was especially true in the newer +and Western states, where in many places there was absolutely no money +at all in circulation, even the men of means not being able to get +enough coin or its equivalent to make the most ordinary purchases. Trade +was at a complete stand-still; laborers were thrown out of employment +and left almost starving; farmers, merchants, mechanics, craftsmen of +every sort,--all alike were in the direst distress. They naturally, in +seeking relief, turned to the government, it being almost always the +case that the existing administration receives more credit if the +country is prosperous, and greater blame if it is not, than in either +case it is rightfully entitled to. The Democracy was now held to strict +reckoning, not only for some of its numerous real sins but also for a +good many imaginary ones; and the change in the political aspect of many +of the commonwealths was astounding. Jackson's own home State of +Tennessee became strongly Whig; and Van Buren had the mortification of +seeing New York follow suit; two stinging blows to the president and the +ex-president. The distress was a godsend to the Whig politicians. They +fairly raved in their anger against the administration, and denounced +all its acts, good and bad alike, with fluent and incoherent +impartiality. Indeed, in their speeches, and in the petitions which they +circulated and then sent to the president, they used language that was +to the last degree absurd in its violence and exaggeration, and drew +descriptions of the iniquities of the rulers of the country which were +so overwrought as to be merely ridiculous. The speeches about the panic, +and in reference to the proposed laws to alleviate it, were remarkable +for their inflation, even in that age of windy oratory. + +Van Buren, Benton, and their associates stood bravely up against the +storm of indignation which swept over the whole country, and lost +neither head nor nerve. They needed both to extricate themselves with +any credit from the position in which they were placed. In deference to +the urgent wish of almost all the people an extra session of Congress +was called especially to deal with the panic. Van Buren's message to +this body was a really statesmanlike document, going exhaustively into +the subject of the national finances. The Democrats still held the +majority in both houses, but there was so large a floating vote, and the +margins were so narrow, as to make the administration feel that its hold +was precarious. + +The first thing to be done was to provide for the immediate wants of +the government, which had not enough money to pay even its most +necessary running expenses. To make this temporary provision two plans +were proposed. The fourth instalment of the surplus--ten millions--was +due to the states. As there was really no surplus, but a deficit +instead, it was proposed to repeal the deposit law so far as it affected +their fourth payment; and treasury notes were to be issued to provide +for immediate and pressing needs. + +The Whigs frantically attacked the president's proposals, and held him +and his party accountable for all the evils of the panic; and in truth +it was right enough to hold them so accountable for part; but, after +all, the harm was largely due to causes existing throughout the +civilized world, and especially to the speculative folly rife among the +whole American people. But it is always an easy and a comfortable thing +to hold others responsible for what is primarily our own fault. + +Benton did not believe, as a matter of principle, in the issue of +treasury notes, but supported the bill for that purpose on account of +the sore straits the administration was in, and its dire need of +assistance from any source. He treated it as a disagreeable but +temporary makeshift, only allowable on the ground of the sternest and +most grinding necessity, He stated that he supported the issue only +because the treasury notes were made out in such a form that they could +not become currency; they were merely loan notes. Their chief +characteristic was that they bore interest; they were transferable only +by indorsement; were payable at a fixed time; were not reissuable, nor +of small denominations; and were to be canceled when paid. Such being +the case he favored their issue, but expressly stated that he only did +so on account of the urgency of the governmental wants; and that he +disapproved of any such issue until the ordinary resources of taxes and +loans had been tried to the utmost and failed. "I distrust, dislike, and +would fain eschew this treasury-note resource; I prefer the direct loans +of 1820-21. I could only bring myself to support this present measure +when it was urged that there was not time to carry a loan through in its +forms; nor even then would I consent to it until every feature of a +currency character had been eradicated from the bill." + +A sharp struggle took place over the bill brought in by the friends of +the administration and advocated by Benton, to repeal the obligation to +deposit the fourth instalment of the surplus with the states. This +scheme of a distribution, thinly disguised under the name of deposit to +soothe the feelings of Calhoun and the other strict constructionist +pundits, had worked nothing but mischief from the start; and now that +there was no surplus to distribute, it would seem incredible that there +should have been opposition to its partial repeal. Yet Webster, Clay, +and their followers strenuously opposed even such repeal. It is possible +that their motives were honest, but much more probable that they were +actuated by partisan hostility to the administration, or that they +believed they would increase their own popularity by favoring a plan +that seemingly distributed money as a gift among the states. The bill +was finally amended so as to make it imperative to pay this fourth +instalment in a couple of years; yet it was not then paid, since on the +date appointed the national treasury was bankrupt and the states could +therefore never get the money,--which was the only satisfactory incident +in the whole proceeding. The financial theories of Jackson and Benton +were crude and vicious, it is true, but Webster, Clay, and most other +public men of the day seem to have held ideas on the subject that were +almost, if not quite, as mischievous. + +The great financial measures advocated by the administration of Van +Buren, and championed with especial zeal by Benton, were those providing +for an independent treasury and for hard-money payments; that is, +providing that the government should receive nothing but gold and silver +for its revenues, and that this gold and silver should be kept by its +own officers in real, not constructive, treasuries,--in strong +buildings, with special officers to hold the keys. The treasury was to +be at Washington, with branches or sub-treasuries at the principal +points of collection and disbursement. + +These measures, if successful, meant that there would be a total +separation of the federal government from all banks; in the political +language of the times they became known as those for the divorce of bank +and state. Hitherto the local banks chosen by Jackson to receive the +deposits had been actively hostile to Biddle's great bank and to its +friends; but self-interest now united them all in violent opposition to +the new scheme. Webster, Clay, and the Whigs generally fought it +bitterly in the Senate; but Calhoun now left his recent allies and +joined with Benton in securing its passage. However, it was for the time +being defeated in the House of Representatives. Most of the opposition +to it was characterized by sheer loud-mouthed demagogy--cries that the +government was too aristocratic to accept the money that was thought +good enough for the people, and similar claptrap. Benton made a very +earnest plea for hard money, and especially denounced the doctrine that +it was the government's duty to interfere in any way in private +business; for, as usual in times of general distress, a good many people +had a vague idea that in some way the government ought to step in and +relieve them from the consequences of their own folly. + +Meanwhile the banks had been endeavoring to resume specie payment. Those +of New York had taken steps in that direction but little more than three +months after the suspension. Their weaker Western neighbors, however, +were not yet in condition to follow suit; and the great bank at +Philadelphia also at first refused to come in with them. But the New +York banks persisted in their purpose, resumed payment a year after they +had suspended, and eventually the others had to fall into line; the +reluctance to do so being of course attributed by Benton to "the +factious and wicked machinations" of a "powerful combined political and +moneyed confederation"--a shadowy and spectral creation of vivid +Jacksonian imaginations, in the existence of which he persisted in +believing. + +Clay, always active as the friend of the banks, introduced a resolution, +nominally to quicken the approach of resumption, but really to help out +precisely those weak banks which did not deserve help, making the notes +of the resuming banks receivable in payment of all dues to the federal +government. This was offered after the banks of New York had resumed, +and when all the other solvent banks were on the point of resuming also; +so its nominal purpose was already accomplished, as Benton, in a caustic +speech, pointed out. He then tore the resolution to shreds, showing that +it would be of especial benefit to the insolvent and unsound banks, and +would insure a repetition of the worst evils under which the country was +already suffering. He made it clear that the proposition practically was +to force the government to receive paper promises to pay from banks that +were certain to fail, and therefore to force the government in turn to +pay out this worthless paper to its honest creditors. Benton's speech +was an excellent one, and Clay's resolution was defeated. + +All through this bank controversy, and the other controversies relating +to it, Benton took the leading part, as mouthpiece of the +administration. He heartily supported the suggestion of the president, +that a stringent bankrupt law against the banks should be passed. +Webster stood out as the principal opponent of this measure, basing his +objections mainly upon constitutional grounds; that is, questioning the +right, rather than the expediency, of the proposed remedy. Benton +answered him at length in a speech showing an immense amount of careful +and painstaking study and a wide range of historical reading and legal +knowledge; he replied point by point, and more than held his own with +his great antagonist. His speech was an exhaustive study of the history +and scope of bankruptcy laws against corporations. Benton's capacity for +work was at all times immense; he delighted in it for its own sake, and +took a most justifiable pride in his wide reading, and especially in his +full acquaintance with history, both ancient and modern. He was very +fond of illustrating his speeches on American affairs with continual +allusions and references to events in foreign countries or in old times, +which he considered to be more or less parallel to those he was +discussing; and indeed he often dragged in these comparisons when there +was no particular need for such a display of his knowledge. He could +fairly be called a learned man, for he had studied very many subjects +deeply and thoroughly; and though he was too self-conscious and pompous +in his utterances not to incur more than the suspicion of pedantry, yet +the fact remains that hardly any other man has ever sat in the Senate +whose range of information was as wide as his. + +He made another powerful and carefully wrought speech in favor of what +he called the act to provide for the divorce of bank and state. This +bill, as finally drawn, consisted of two distinct parts, one portion +making provision for the keeping of the public moneys in an independent +treasury, and the other for the hard-money currency, which was all that +the government was to accept in payment of revenue dues. This last +provision, however, was struck out, and the bill thereby lost the +support of Calhoun, who, with Webster, Clay, and the other Whigs, voted +against it; but, mainly through Benton's efforts, it passed the Senate, +although by a very slender majority. Benton, in his speech, dwelt with +especial admiration on the working of the monetary system of France, and +held it up as well worthy to be copied by us. Most of the points he made +were certainly good ones, although he overestimated the beneficent +results that would spring from the adoption of the proposed system, +believing that it would put an end for the future to all panics and +commercial convulsions. In reality it would have removed only one of the +many causes which go to produce the latter, leaving the others free to +work as before; the people at large, not the government, were mainly to +blame, and even with them it was in some respects their misfortune as +much as their fault. Benton's error, however, was natural; like most +other men he was unable fully to realize that hardly any phenomenon, +even the most simple, can be said to spring from one cause only, and not +from a complex and interwoven tissue of causation--and a panic is one of +the least simple and most complex of mercantile phenomena. Benton's +deep-rooted distrust of and hostility to such banking as then existed in +the United States certainly had good grounds for existence. + +This distrust was shown again when the bill for the re-charter of the +district banks came up. The specie basis of many of them had been +allowed to become altogether too low; and Benton showed himself more +keenly alive than any other public man to the danger of such a state of +things, and argued strongly that a basis of specie amounting to one +third the total of liabilities was the only safe proportion, and should +be enforced by law. He made a most forcible argument, using numerous and +apt illustrations to show the need of his amendment. + +Nor was the tireless Missouri senator satisfied even yet; for he +introduced a resolution asking leave to bring in a bill to tax the +circulation of banks and bankers, and of all corporations, companies, or +individuals, issuing paper currency. One object of the bill was to raise +revenue; but even more he aimed at the regulation of the currency by +the suppression of small notes; and for this end the tax was proposed to +be made heaviest on notes under twenty dollars, and to be annually +augmented until it had accomplished its object and they had been driven +out of circulation. In advocating his measure he used, as was perhaps +unavoidable, some arguments that savored strongly of demagogy; but on +the whole he made a strong appeal, using as precedents for the law he +wished to see enacted both the then existing banking laws in England and +those that had obtained previously in the history of the United States. + +Taken altogether, while the Jacksonians, during the period of Van +Buren's presidency, rightly suffered for their previous financial +misdeeds, yet so far as their actions at the time were concerned, they +showed to greater advantage than the Whigs. Nor did they waver in their +purpose even when the tide of popular feeling changed. The great +financial measure of the administration, in which Benton was most +interested, the independent treasury bill, he succeeded in getting +through the Senate twice; the first time it was lost in the House of +Representatives; but on the second occasion, towards the close of Van +Buren's term, firmness and perseverance met their reward. The bill +passed the Senate by an increased majority, scraped through the House +after a bitter contest, and became a law. It developed the system known +as that of the sub-Treasury, which has proved satisfactory to the +present day. + +It was during Van Buren's term that Biddle's great bank, so long the +pivot on which turned the fortunes of political parties, finally +tottered to its fall. It was ruined by unwise and reckless management; +and Benton sang a paean over its downfall, exulting in its fate as a +justification of all that he had said and done. Yet there can be little +doubt that its mismanagement became gross only after all connection with +the national government had ceased; and its end, attributable to causes +not originally existent or likely to exist, can hardly be rightly +considered in passing judgment upon the actions of the Jacksonians in +reference to it. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +LAST DAYS OF THE JACKSONIAN DEMOCRACY. + + +The difficulty and duration of a war with an Indian tribe depend less +upon the numbers of the tribe itself than upon the nature of the ground +it inhabits. The two Indian tribes that have caused the most irritating +and prolonged struggle are the Apaches, who live in the vast, waterless, +mountainous deserts of Arizona and New Mexico, and whom we are at this +present moment engaged in subduing, and the Seminoles, who, from among +the impenetrable swamps of Florida, bade the whole United States army +defiance for seven long years; and this although neither Seminoles nor +Apaches ever brought much force into the field, nor inflicted such +defeats upon us as have other Indian tribes, like the Creeks and Sioux. + +The conflict with the Seminoles was one of the legacies left by Jackson +to Van Buren; it lasted as long as the Revolutionary War, cost thirty +millions of dollars, and baffled the efforts of several generals and +numerous troops, who had previously shown themselves equal to any in +the world. The expense, length, and ill-success of the struggle, and a +strong feeling that the Seminoles had been wronged, made it a great +handle for attack on the administration; and the defense was taken up by +Benton, who always accepted completely the Western estimate of any form +of the Indian question. + +As is usually the case in Indian wars there had been much wrong done by +each side; but in this instance we were the more to blame, although the +Indians themselves were far from being merely harmless and suffering +innocents. The Seminoles were being deprived of their lands in pursuance +of the general policy of removing all the Indians west of the +Mississippi. They had agreed to go, under pressure, and influenced, +probably, by fraudulent representations; but they declined to fulfill +their agreement. If they had been treated wisely and firmly they might +probably have been allowed to remain without serious injury to the +surrounding whites. But no such treatment was attempted, and as a result +we were plunged in one of the most harassing Indian wars we ever waged. +In their gloomy, tangled swamps, and among the unknown and untrodden +recesses of the everglades the Indians found a secure asylum; and they +issued from their haunts to burn and ravage almost all the settled part +of Florida, fairly depopulating five counties; while the soldiers could +rarely overtake them, and when they did, were placed at such a +disadvantage that the Indians repulsed or cut off detachment after +detachment, generally making a merciless and complete slaughter of each. +The great Seminole leader, Osceola, was captured only by deliberate +treachery and breach of faith on our part, and the Indians were worn out +rather than conquered. This was partly owing to their remarkable +capacities as bush-fighters, but infinitely more to the nature of their +territory. + +Our troops generally fought with great bravery; but there is very little +else in the struggle, either as regards its origin or the manner in +which it was carried on, to which an American can look back with any +satisfaction. We usually group all our Indian wars together, in speaking +of their justice or injustice; and thereby show flagrant ignorance. The +Sioux and Cheyennes, for instance, have more often been sinning than +sinned against; for example, the so-called Chivington or Sandy Creek +Massacre, in spite of certain most objectionable details, was on the +whole as righteous and beneficial a deed as ever took place on the +frontier. On the other hand, the most cruel wrongs have been perpetrated +by whites upon perfectly peaceable and unoffending tribes like those of +California, or the Nez Perces. Yet the emasculated professional +humanitarians mourn as much over one set of Indians as over the +other--and indeed, on all points connected with Indian management, are +as untrustworthy and unsafe leaders as would be an equal number of the +most brutal white borderers. But the Seminole War was one of those where +the Eastern, or humanitarian view was more nearly correct than was any +other; although even here the case was far from being entirely +one-sided. + +Benton made an elaborate but not always candid defense of the +administration, both as to the origin and as to the prosecution of the +war. He attempted to show that the Seminoles had agreed to go West, had +broken their treaty without any reason, had perpetrated causeless +massacres, had followed up their successes with merciless butcheries, +which last statement was true; and that Osceola had forfeited all claim +or right to have a flag of truce protect him. There was a certain +justice in his position even on these questions, and when he came to +defend the conduct of our soldiers he had the right entirely with him. +They were led by the same commander, and belonged to the same regiments, +that in Canada had shown themselves equal to the famous British +infantry; they had to contend with the country, rather than with their +enemies, as the sweltering heat, the stagnant lagoons, the quaking +morasses, and the dense forests of Florida made it almost impossible for +an army to carry on a successful campaign. Moreover, the Seminoles were +well armed; and many tribes of North American Indians show themselves, +when with good weapons and on their own ground, more dangerous +antagonists than would be an equal number of the best European troops. +Indeed, under such conditions they can only be contended with on equal +terms if the opposing white force is made up of frontiersmen who are as +good woodsmen and riflemen as themselves, and who, moreover, have been +drilled by some man like Jackson, who knows how to handle them to the +best advantage, both in disciplining their lawless courage and in +forcing them to act under orders and together,--the lack of which +discipline and power of supporting each other has often rendered an +assemblage of formidable individual border-fighters a mere disorderly +mob when brought into the field. + +The war dragged on tediously. The troops--regulars, volunteers, and +militia alike--fought the Indians again and again; there were pitched +battles, surprises, ambuscades, and assaults on places of unknown +strength; hundreds of soldiers were slain in battle or by treachery, +hundreds of settlers were slaughtered in their homes, or as they fled +from them; the bloody Indian forays reached even to the outskirts of +Tallahatchee and to within sight of the walls of quaint old St. +Augustine. Little by little, however, the power of the Seminoles was +broken; their war bands were scattered and driven from the field, +hundreds of their number were slain in fight, and five times as many +surrendered and were taken west of the Mississippi. The white troops +marched through Florida down to and into the everglades, and crossed it +backwards and forwards, from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean; +they hunted their foes from morass to morass and from hummock to +hummock; they mapped out the whole hitherto unknown country; they +established numerous posts; opened hundreds of miles of wagon road; and +built very many causeways and bridges. But they could not end the war. +The bands of Indians broke up and entirely ceased to offer resistance to +bodies of armed whites; but as individuals they continued as dangerous +to the settlers as ever, prowling out at night like wild beasts from +their fastnesses in the dark and fetid swamps, murdering, burning, and +ravaging in all the outlying settlements, and destroying every lonely +farm-house or homestead. + +There was but one way in which the war could be finally ended, and that +was to have the territory occupied by armed settlers; in other words, to +have it won and held exactly as almost all the land of the United States +has been in the beginning. Benton introduced a bill to bring this about, +giving to every such settler a good inheritance in the soil as a reward +for his enterprise, toil, and danger; and the war was finished only by +the adoption of this method. He supported his bill in a very effective +speech, showing that the proposed way was the only one by which a +permanent conquest could be effected; he himself had, when young, seen +it put into execution in Tennessee and Kentucky, where the armed +settlers, with their homesteads in the soil, formed the vanguard of the +white advance: where the rifle-bearing backwoodsmen went forth to fight +and to cultivate, living in assemblages of block-houses at first and +separating into individual settlements afterwards. The work had to be +done with axe, spade, and rifle alike. Benton rightly insisted that +there was no longer need of a large army in Florida:-- + + Why, the men who are there now can find nobody to fight! It is two + years since a fight has been had. Ten men who will avoid surprises + and ambuscades can now go from one end of Florida to the other. As + warriors, these Indians no longer appear; it is only as assassins, + as robbers, as incendiaries, that they lurk about. What is now + wanted is not an army to fight, but settlers and cultivators to take + possession and keep possession; and the armed cultivator is the man + for that. The block-house is the first house to be built in an + Indian country; the stockade the first fence to be put up. Within + that block-house, or within a hollow square of block-houses, two + miles long on each side, two hundred yards apart, and inclosing a + good field, safe habitations are to be found for families. + Cultivation and defense then go hand in hand. The heart of the + Indian sickens when he hears the crowing of the cock, the barking of + the dog, the sound of the axe, and the crack of the rifle. These are + the true evidences of the dominion of the white man; these are the + proofs that the owner has come and means to stay, and then the + Indians feel it to be time for them to go. While soldiers alone are + in the country they feel their presence to be temporary; that they + are mere sojourners in the land, and sooner or later must go away. + It is the settler alone, the armed settler, whose presence announces + the dominion, the permanent dominion, of the white man. + +Benton's ideas were right, and were acted upon. It is impossible even to +subdue an Indian tribe by the army alone; the latter can only pave the +way for and partially protect the armed settlers who are to hold the +soil. + +Benton continued to take a great interest in the disposal of the public +lands, as was natural in a senator from the West, where the bulk of +these lands lay. He was always a great advocate of a homestead law. +During Van Buren's administration, he succeeded in getting two or three +bills on the subject through the Senate. One of these allowed lands that +had been five years in the market to be reduced in price to a dollar an +acre, and if they stood five years longer to go down to seventy-five +cents. The bill was greatly to the interest of the Western farmer in the +newer, although not necessarily the newest, parts of the country. The +man who went on the newest land was in turn provided for by the +preemption bill, which secured the privilege of first purchase to the +actual settler on any lands to which the Indian title had been +extinguished; to be paid for at the minimum price of public lands at the +time. An effort was made to confine the benefits of this proposed law to +citizens of the United States, excluding unnaturalized foreigners from +its action. Benton, as representing the new states, who desired +immigrants of every kind, whether foreign or native, successfully +opposed this. He pointed out that there was no question of conferring +political rights, which involved the management of the government, and +which should not be conferred until the foreigner had become a +naturalized citizen; it was merely a question of allowing the alien a +right to maintain himself and to support his family. He especially +opposed the amendment on account of the class of foreigners it would +affect. Aliens who wished to take up public lands were not paupers or +criminals, and did not belong to the shiftless and squalid foreign mob +that drifted into the great cities of the sea-board and the interior; +but on the contrary were among our most enterprising, hardy, and thrifty +citizens, who had struck out for themselves into the remote parts of the +new states and had there begun to bring the wilderness into subjection. +Such men deserved to be encouraged in every way, and should receive from +the preemption laws the same benefits that would enure to native-born +citizens. The third bill introduced, which passed the Senate but failed +in the House, was one to permit the public lands sold to be immediately +taxed by the states in which they lay. Originally these lands had been +sold upon credit, the total amount not being paid, nor the title passed, +until five years after the sale; and during this time it would have been +unjust to tax them, as failure in paying the installments to the +government would have let the lands revert to the latter; but when the +cash system was substituted for credit Benton believed that there was no +longer reason why the new lands should not bear their share of the +state burdens. + +During Van Buren's administration the standard of public honesty, which +had been lowering with frightful rapidity ever since, with Adams, the +men of high moral tone had gone out of power, went almost as far down as +it could go; although things certainly did not change for the better +under Tyler and Polk. Not only was there the most impudent and +unblushing rascality among the public servants of the nation, but the +people themselves, through their representatives in the state +legislatures, went to work to swindle their honest creditors. Many +states, in the rage for public improvements, had contracted debts which +they now refused to pay; in many cases they were unable, or at least so +professed themselves, even to pay the annual interest. The debts of the +states were largely held abroad; they had been converted into stock and +held in shares, which had gone into a great number of hands, and now, of +course, became greatly depreciated in value. It is a painful and +shameful page in our history; and every man connected with the +repudiation of the states' debts ought, if remembered at all, to be +remembered only with scorn and contempt. However, time has gradually +shrouded from our sight both the names of the leaders in the +repudiation and the names of the victims whom they swindled. Two alone, +one in each class, will always be kept in mind. Before Jefferson Davis +took his place among the arch-traitors in our annals he had already long +been known as one of the chief repudiators; it was not unnatural that to +dishonesty towards the creditors of the public he should afterwards add +treachery towards the public itself. The one most prominent victim was +described by Benton himself: "The Reverend Sydney Smith, of witty +memory, but amiable withal, was accustomed to lose all his amiability, +but no part of his wit, when he spoke of his Pennsylvania bonds--which, +in fact, was very often." + +Many of the bond-holders, however, did not manifest their grief by +caustic wit, but looked to more substantial relief; and did their best +to bring about the assumption of the state debts, in some form, whether +open or disguised, by the federal government. The British capitalists +united with many American capitalists to work for some such action; and +there were plenty of people in the states willing enough to see it done. +Of course it would have been criminal folly on the part of the federal +government to take any such step; and Benton determined to meet and +check the effort at the very beginning. The London Bankers' Circular had +contained a proposition recommending that the Congress of the United +States should guarantee, or otherwise provide for, the ultimate payment +of the debts which the states had contracted for state or local +purposes. Benton introduced a series of resolutions declaring utter +opposition to the proposal, both on the ground of expediency and on that +of constitutionality. The resolutions were perfectly proper in their +purpose, but were disfigured by that cheap species of demagogy which +consists in denouncing purely supposititious foreign interference, +complicated by an allusion to Benton's especial pet terror, the +inevitable money power. As he put it: "Foreign interference and +influence are far more dangerous in the invidious intervention of the +moneyed power than in the forcible invasions of fleets and armies." + +An attempt was made directly to reverse the effect of the resolutions by +amending them so as to provide that the public land revenue should be +divided among the states, to help them in the payment of these debts. +Both Webster and Clay supported this amendment, but it was fortunately +beaten by a large vote. + +Benton's speech, like the resolutions in support of which he spoke, was +right in its purpose, but contained much matter that was beside the +mark. He had worked himself into such a condition over the +supposititious intrigues of the "money power"--an attack on which is +almost always sure to be popular--that he was very certain to discover +evidence of their existence on all, even the most unlikely, occasions; +and it is difficult to think that he was not himself aware how overdrawn +was his prophecy of the probable interference of foreign powers in our +affairs, if the resolutions he had presented were not adopted. + +The tariff had once more begun to give trouble, and the South was again +complaining of its workings, aware that she was falling always more to +the rear in the race for prosperity, and blindly attributing her failure +to everything but the true reason,--the existence of slavery. Even +Benton himself showed a curiously pathetic eagerness to prove both to +others and himself that the cause of the increasing disparity in growth, +and incompatibility in interest between the two sections, must be due to +some temporary and artificial cause, and endeavored to hide from all +eyes, even from his own, the fact that the existence of slavery was +working, slowly but surely, and with steadily increasing rapidity, to +rend in sunder the Union which he loved and served with such heartfelt +devotion. He tried to prove that the main cause of discontent was to be +found in the tariff and other laws, which favored the North at the +expense of the South. At the same time he entered an eloquent plea for a +warmer feeling between the sections, and pointed out the absolute +hopelessness of attempting to better the situation in any way by +disunion. The great Missourian could look back with fond pride and +regret to the condition of the South as it was during and immediately +after the colonial days, when it was the seat of wealth, power, high +living, and free-handed hospitality, and was filled to overflowing with +the abounding life of its eager and turbulent sons. The change for the +worse in its relative condition was real and great. He reproved his +fellow-Southerners for attributing this change to a single cause, the +unequal working of the federal government, "which gave all the benefits +of the Union to the South and all its burdens to the North;" he claimed +that it was due to many other causes as well. Yet those whom he rebuked +were as near right as he was; for the change _was_ due in the main to +only one cause--but that cause was slavery. It is almost pitiful to see +the strong, stern, self-reliant statesman refusing, with nervous and +passionate willfulness, to look the danger in the face, and, instead +thereof, trying to persuade himself into the belief that "the remedy +lies in the right working of the Constitution; in the cessation of +unequal legislation; in the reduction of the inordinate expenses of the +government; in its return to the simple, limited, and economical machine +it was intended to be; and in the revival of fraternal feelings and +respect for each other's rights and just complaints." Like many another +man he thought, or tried to think, that by sweeping the dust from the +door-sill he could somehow stave off the whirling rush of the +sand-storm. + +The compromise tariff of 1833 had abolished all specific duties, +establishing _ad valorem_ ones in their place; and the result had been +great uncertainty and injustice in its working. Now whether a protective +tariff is right or wrong may be open to question; but if it exists at +all, it should work as simply and with as much certainty and exactitude +as possible; if its interpretation varies, or if it is continually +meddled with by Congress, great damage ensues. It is in reality of far +less importance that a law should be ideally right than that it should +be certain and steady in its workings. Even supposing that a high tariff +is all wrong, it would work infinitely better for the country than would +a series of changes between high and low duties. Benton strongly +advocated a return to specific duties, as being simpler, surer, and +better on every account. In commenting on the _ad valorem_ duties, he +showed how they had been adopted blindly and without discussion by the +frightened, silent multitude of congressmen and senators, who jumped at +Clay's compromise bill in 1833 as giving them a loop-hole of escape from +a situation where they would have had to face evil consequences, no +matter what stand they took. Benton's comment on men of this stamp +deserves chronicling, from its justice and biting severity: "It (the +compromise act) was passed by the aid of the votes of those--always a +considerable _per centum_ in every public body--to whom the name of +compromise is an irresistible attraction; amiable men, who would do no +wrong of themselves, and without whom the designing could also do but +little wrong." + +He not only devoted himself to the general subject of the tariff in +relation to specific duties, but he also took up several prominent +abuses. One subject, on which he was never tired of harping with +monotonous persistency, was the duty on salt. The idea of making salt +free had become one which he was almost as fond of bringing into every +discussion, no matter how inappropiate to the matter in hand, as he was +of making irrelevant and abusive allusions to his much-enduring and +long-suffering hobby, the iniquitous "money power." Benton had all the +tenacity of a snapping turtle, and was as firm a believer in the policy +of "continuous hammering" as Grant himself. His tenacity and his +pertinacious refusal to abandon any contest, no matter what the odds +were against him, and no matter how often he had to return to the +charge, formed two of his most invaluable qualities, and when called +into play on behalf of such an object as the preservation of the Union, +cannot receive too high praise at our hands; for they did the country +services so great and lasting that they should never be forgotten. It +would have been fortunate indeed if Clay and Webster had possessed the +fearless, aggressive courage and iron will of the rugged Missourian, who +was so often pitted against them in the political arena. But when +Benton's attention was firmly fixed on the accomplishment of something +comparatively trivial, his dogged, stubborn, and unyielding earnestness +drew him into making efforts of which the disproportion to the result +aimed at was rather droll. Nothing could thwart him or turn him aside; +and though slow to take up an idea, yet, if it was once in his head, to +drive it out was a simply hopeless task. These qualities were of such +invaluable use to the state on so many great occasions that we can well +afford to treat them merely with a good-humored laugh, when we see them +exercised on behalf of such a piece of foolishness as, for example, the +expunging resolution. + +The repeal of the salt tax, then, was a particular favorite in Benton's +rather numerous stable of hobbies, because it gave free scope for the +use of sentimental as well as of economic arguments. He had the right of +the question, and was not in the least daunted by his numerous rebuffs +and the unvarying ill success of his efforts. Speaking in 1840, he +stated that he had been urging the repeal for twelve years; and for the +purpose of furnishing data with which to compare such a period of time, +and without the least suspicion that there was anything out of the way +in the comparison, he added, in a solemn parenthesis, that this was two +years longer than the siege of Troy lasted. In the same speech was a +still choicer morsel of eloquence about salt: "The Supreme Ruler of the +Universe has done everything to supply his creatures with it; man, the +fleeting shadow of an instant, invested with his little brief authority, +has done much to deprive them of it." After which he went on to show a +really extensive acquaintance with the history of salt taxes and +monopolies, and with the uses and physical structure and surroundings of +the mineral itself--all which might have taught his hearers that a man +may combine much erudition with a total lack of the sense of humor. The +salt tax is dragged, neck and heels, into many of Benton's speeches +much as Cooper manages, on all possible occasions, throughout his +novels, to show the unlikeness of the Bay of Naples to the Bay of New +York--not the only point of resemblance, by the way, between the +characters of the Missouri statesman and the New York novelist. Whether +the subject under discussion was the taxation of bank-notes, or the +abolition of slavery, made very little difference to Benton as to +introducing an allusion to the salt monopoly. One of his happy arguments +in favor of the repeal, which was addressed to an exceedingly practical +and commonplace Congress, was that the early Christian disciples had +been known as the salt of the earth--a biblical metaphor, which Benton +kindly assured his hearers was very expressive; and added that a salt +tax was morally as well as politically wrong, and in fact "was a species +of impiety." + +But in attacking some of the abuses which had developed out of the +tariff of 1833 Benton made a very shrewd and practical speech, without +permitting himself to indulge in any such intellectual pranks as +accompanied his salt orations. He especially aimed at reducing the +drawbacks on sugar, molasses, and one or two other articles. In +accordance with our whole clumsy, hap-hazard system of dealing with the +tariff we had originally put very high duties on the articles in +question, and then had allowed correspondingly heavy drawbacks; and yet, +when in 1833, by Clay's famous compromise tariff bill, the duties were +reduced to a fractional part of what they had previously been, no +parallel reduction was made in the drawbacks, although Benton (supported +by Webster) made a vain effort even then, while the compromise bill was +on its passage, to have the injustice remedied. As a consequence, the +exporters of sugar and rum, instead of drawing back the exact amounts +paid into the treasury, drew back several times as much; and the +ridiculous result was that certain exporters were paid a naked bounty +out of the treasury, and received pay for doing and suffering nothing. +In 1839 the drawback paid on the exportation of refined sugar exceeded +the amount of revenue derived from imported sugar by over twenty +thousand dollars. Benton showed this clearly, by unimpeachable +statistics, and went on to prove that in that year the whole amount of +the revenue from brown and clayed sugar, plus the above-mentioned twenty +thousand dollars, was paid over to twenty-nine sugar refiners; and that +these men thus "drew back" from the treasury what they had never put +into it. Abuses equally gross existed in relation to various other +articles. But in spite of the clear justice of his case Benton was able +at first to make but little impression on Congress; and it was some time +before matters were straightened out, as all the protective interests +felt obliged to make common cause with each other, no matter what evils +might be perpetrated by their taking such action. + +Towards the close of Van Buren's administration, when he was being +assailed on every side, as well for what Jackson as for what he himself +had done or left undone, one of the chief accusations brought against +him was that he had squandered the public money, and that, since Adams +had been ousted from the presidency, the expenses of running the +government had increased out of all proportion to what was proper. There +was good ground for their complaint, as the waste and peculation in some +of the departments had been very great; but Benton, in an elaborate +defense of both Jackson and Van Buren, succeeded in showing that at +least certain of the accusations were unfounded--although he had to +stretch a point or two in trying to make good his claim that the +administration was really economical, being reduced to the rather lame +expedient of ruling out about two thirds of the expenditures on the +ground that they were "extraordinary." + +The charge of extravagance was one of the least of the charges urged +against the Jacksonian Democrats during the last days of their rule. +While they had been in power the character of the public service had +deteriorated frightfully, both as regarded its efficiency and infinitely +more as regarded its honesty; and under Van Buren the amount of money +stolen by the public officers, compared to the amount handed in to the +treasury, was greater than ever before or since. For this the +Jacksonians were solely and absolutely responsible; they drove out the +merit system of making appointments, and introduced the "spoils" system +in its place; and under the latter they chose a peculiarly dishonest and +incapable set of officers, whose sole recommendation was to be found in +the knavish trickery and low cunning that enabled them to manage the +ignorant voters who formed the backbone of Jackson's party. The +statesmen of the Democracy in after days forgot the good deeds of the +Jacksonians; they lost their attachment to the Union, and abandoned +their championship of hard money; but they never ceased to cling to the +worst legacy their predecessors had left them. The engrafting of the +"spoils" system on our government was, of all the results of Jacksonian +rule, the one which was most permanent in its effects. + +All these causes--the corruption of the public officials, the +extravagance of the government, and the widespread distress, which might +be regarded as the aftermath of its ruinous financial policy--combined +with others that were as little to the discredit of the Jacksonians as +they were to the credit of the Whigs, brought about the overthrow of the +former. There was much poetic justice in the fact that the presidential +election which decided their fate was conducted on as purely irrational +principles, and was as merely one of sound and fury, as had been the +case in the election twelve years previously, when they came into power. +The Whigs, having exhausted their language in denouncing their opponents +for nominating a man like Andrew Jackson, proceeded to look about in +their own party to find one who should come as near him as possible in +all the attributes that had given him so deep a hold on the people; and +they succeeded perfectly when they pitched on the old Indian fighter, +Harrison. "Tippecanoe" proved quite as effective a war-cry in bringing +about the downfall of the Jacksonians as "Old Hickory" had shown itself +to be a dozen years previously in raising them up. General Harrison had +already shown himself to be a good soldier, and a loyal and honest +public servant, although by no means standing in the first rank either +as regards war-craft or state-craft; but the mass of his supporters +apparently considered the facts, or supposed facts, that he lived in a +log-cabin the walls of which were decorated with coon-skins, and that he +drank hard cider from a gourd, as being more important than his capacity +as a statesman or his past services to the nation. + +The Whigs having thus taken a shaft from the Jacksonians' quiver, it was +rather amusing to see the latter, in their turn, hold up their hands in +horror at the iniquity of what would now be called a "hurrah" canvass; +blandly ignoring the fact that it was simply a copy of their own +successful proceedings. Says Benton, with amusing gravity: "The class of +inducements addressed to the passions and imaginations of the people was +such as history blushes to record," a remark that provokes criticism, +when it is remembered that Benton had been himself a prominent actor on +the Jacksonian side in the campaigns of '28 and '32, when it was +exclusively to "the passions and imaginations of the people" that all +arguments were addressed. + +The Democrats did not long remain out of power; and they kept the +control of the governmental policy in their hands pretty steadily until +the time of the civil war; nevertheless it is true that with the defeat +of Van Buren the Jacksonian Democracy, as such, lost forever its grip on +the direction of national affairs. When, under Polk, the Democrats came +back, they came under the lead of the very men whom the original +Jacksonians had opposed and kept down. With all their faults, Jackson +and Benton were strong Union men, and under them their party was a Union +party. Calhoun and South Carolina, and the disunionists in the other +Southern States were their bitter foes. But the disunion and extreme +slavery elements within the Democratic ranks were increasing rapidly all +the time; and they had obtained complete and final control when the +party reappeared as victors after their defeat in 1840. Until Van +Buren's overthrow the nationalists had held the upper hand in shaping +Democratic policy; but after that event the leadership of the party +passed completely into the hands of the separatists. + +The defeat of Van Buren marks an era in more ways than one. During his +administration slavery played a less prominent part in politics than did +many other matters; this was never so again. His administration was the +last in which this question, or the question springing from it, did not +overtop and dwarf in importance all others. Again, the presidential +election of 1840 was the last into which slavery did not enter as a most +important, and in fact as the vital and determining factor. In the +contest between Van Buren and Harrison it did not have the least +influence upon the result. Moreover, Van Buren was the last Democratic +president who ruled over a Union of states; all his successors, up to +the time of Lincoln's election, merely held sway over a Union of +sections. The spirit of separation had identified itself with the +maintenance of slavery, and the South was rapidly uniting into a compact +array of states with interests that were hostile to the North on the +point most vitally affecting the welfare of the whole country. + +No great question involving the existence of slavery was brought before +the attention of Congress during Van Buren's term of office; nor was the +matter mooted except in the eternal wrangles over receiving the +abolitionist petitions. Benton kept silent in these discussions, +although voting to receive the petitions. As he grew older he +continually grew wiser, and better able to do good legislative work on +all subjects; but he was not yet able to realize that the slavery +question was one which could not be kept down, and which was bound to +force itself into the sphere of national politics. He still insisted +that it was only dragged before Congress by a few fanatics at the +North, and that in the South it was made the instrument by which +designing and unscrupulous men wished to break up the federal republic. +His devotion to the Union, ever with him the chief and overmastering +thought, made him regard with horror and aversion any man, at the North +or at the South, who brought forward a question so fraught with peril to +its continuance. He kept trying to delude himself into the belief that +the discussion and the danger would alike gradually die away, and the +former state of peaceful harmony between the sections, and freedom from +disunion excitement, would return. + +But the time for such an ending already lay in the past; thereafter the +outlook was to grow steadily darker year by year. Slavery lowered like a +thunder-storm on the horizon; and though sometimes it might seem for a +moment to break away, yet in reality it had reached that stage when, +until the final all-engulfing outburst took place, the clouds were bound +for evermore to return after the rain. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +THE PRESIDENT WITHOUT A PARTY. + + +The Whigs in 1840 completely overthrew the Democrats, and for the first +time elected a president and held the majority in both houses of +Congress. Yet, as it turned out, all that they really accomplished was +to elect a president without a party, for Harrison died when he had +hardly more than sat in the presidential chair, and was succeeded by the +vice-president, Tyler of Virginia. + +Harrison was a true Whig; he was, when nominated, a prominent member of +the Whig party, although of course not to be compared with its great +leader, Henry Clay, or with its most mighty intellectual chief and +champion in the Northeast, Daniel Webster, whose mutual rivalry had done +much to make his nomination possible. Tyler, however, could hardly be +called a Whig at all; on the contrary, he belonged rightfully in the +ranks of those extreme Democrats who were farthest removed from the Whig +standard, and who were as much displeased with the Union sentiments of +the Jacksonians as they were with the personal tyranny of Jackson +himself. He was properly nothing but a dissatisfied Democrat, who hated +the Jacksonians, and had been nominated only because the Whig +politicians wished to strengthen their ticket and insure its election by +bidding for the votes of the discontented in the ranks of their foes. +Now a chance stroke of death put the presidency in the hands of one who +represented this, the smallest, element in the coalition that overthrew +Van Buren. + +The principles of the Whigs were hazily outlined at the best, and the +party was never a very creditable organization; indeed, throughout its +career, it could be most easily defined as the opposition to the +Democracy. It was a free constructionist party, believing in giving a +liberal interpretation to the doctrines of the Constitution; otherwise, +its principles were purely economic, as it favored a high tariff, +internal improvements, a bank, and kindred schemes; and its leaders, +however they might quarrel among themselves, agreed thoroughly in their +devout hatred of Jackson and all his works. + +It was on this last point only that Tyler came in. His principles had +originally been ultra-Democratic. He had been an extreme strict +constructionist, had belonged to that wing of the Democracy which +inclined more and more towards separation, and had thus, on several +grounds, found himself opposed to Jackson, Benton, and their followers. +Indeed, he went into opposition to his original party for reasons akin +to those that influenced Calhoun; and Seward's famous remark about the +"ill-starred coalition between Whigs and Nullifiers" might with certain +changes have been applied to the presidential election of 1840 quite as +well as to the senatorial struggles to which it had reference. + +Tyler, however, had little else in common with Calhoun, and least of all +his intellect. He has been called a mediocre man; but this is +unwarranted flattery. He was a politician of monumental littleness. +Owing to the nicely-divided condition of parties, and to the sheer +accident which threw him into a position of such prominence that it +allowed him to hold the balance of power between them, he was enabled to +turn politics completely topsy-turvy; but his chief mental and moral +attributes were peevishness, fretful obstinacy, inconsistency, +incapacity to make up his own mind, and the ability to quibble +indefinitely over the most microscopic and hair-splitting plays upon +words, together with an inordinate vanity that so blinded him to all +outside feeling as to make him really think that he stood a chance to be +renominated for the presidency. + +The Whigs, especially in the Senate, under Henry Clay, prepared at once +to push through various measures that should undo the work of the +Jacksonians. Clay was boastfully and domineeringly sure of the necessity +of applying to actual governmental work the economic theories that +formed the chief stock in trade of his party. But it was precisely on +these economic theories that Tyler split off from the Whigs. The result +was that very shortly the real leader of the dominant party, backed by +almost all his fellow party men in both houses of Congress, was at +daggers drawn with the nominal Whig president, who in his turn was +supported only by a "corporal's guard" of followers in the House of +Representatives, by all the office-holders whom fear of removal reduced +to obsequious subserviency, and by a knot of obscure politicians who +used him for their own ends, and worked alternately on his vanity and on +his fears. The Democrats, led by Benton, played out their own game, and +were the only parties to the three-cornered fight who came out of it +with profit. The details now offer rather dry reading, as the economic +theories of all the contestants were more or less crude, the results of +the conflict indecisive, and the effects upon our history ephemeral. + +Clay began by a heated revival of one of Jackson's worst ideas, namely, +that when the people elect a president they thereby mark with the seal +of their approval any and every measure with which that favored mortal +or his advisers may consider themselves identified, and indorse all his +and their previous actions. He at once declared that the people had +shown, by the size of Harrison's majority, that they demanded the repeal +of the independent treasury act, and the passage of various other laws +in accordance with some of his own favorite hobbies, two out of three +voters, as a matter of fact, probably never having given a second +thought to any of them. Accordingly he proceeded to introduce a whole +batch of bills, which he alleged that it was only yielding due respect +to the spirit of Democracy to pass forthwith. + +Benton, however, even outdid Clay in paying homage to what he was +pleased to call the "democratic idea." At this time he speaks of the +last session of the Twenty-Sixth Congress as being "barren of measures, +and necessarily so, as being the last of an administration superseded by +the popular voice and soon to expire; and therefore restricted by a +sense of propriety, during the brief remainder of its existence, to the +details of business and the routine of service." According to this +theory an interregnum of some sixteen weeks would intervene between the +terms of service of every two presidents. He also speaks of Tyler as +having, when the legislature of Virginia disapproved of a course he +wished to follow, resigned his seat "in obedience to the democratic +principle," which, according to his views, thus completely nullified the +section of the Constitution providing for a six years' term of service +in the Senate. In truth Benton, like most other Jacksonian and +Jeffersonian leaders, became both foolish and illogical when he began to +talk of the bundle of vague abstractions, which he knew collectively as +the "democratic principle." Although not so bad as many of his school he +had yet gradually worked himself up to a belief that it was almost +impious to pay anything but servile heed to the "will of the majority;" +and was quite unconscious that to surrender one's own manhood and +judgment to a belief in the divine right of kings was only one degree +more ignoble, and was not a shadow more logical, and but little more +defensible, than it was blindly to deify a majority--not of the whole +people, but merely of a small fraction consisting of those who happened +to be of a certain sex, to have reached a certain age, to belong to a +certain race, and to fulfill some other conditions. In fact there is no +natural or divine law in the matter at all; how large a portion of the +population should be trusted with the control of the government is a +question of expediency merely. In any purely native American community +manhood suffrage works infinitely better than would any other system of +government, and throughout our country at large, in spite of the large +number of ignorant foreign-born or colored voters, it is probably +preferable as it stands to any modification of it; but there is no more +"natural right" why a white man over twenty-one should vote than there +is why a negro woman under eighteen should not. "Civil rights" and +"personal freedom" are not terms that necessarily imply the right to +vote. People make mistakes when governing themselves, exactly as they +make mistakes when governing others; all that can be said is, that in +the former case their self-interest is on the side of good government, +whereas in the latter it always may be, and often must be, the reverse; +so that, when any people reaches a certain stage of mental development +and of capacity to take care of its own concerns, it is far better that +it should itself take the reins. The distinctive features of the +American system are its guarantees of personal independence and +individual freedom; that is, as far as possible, it guarantees to each +man his right to live as he chooses and to regulate his own private +affairs as he wishes, without being interfered with or tyrannized over +by an individual, or by an oligarchic minority, or by a democratic +majority; while, when the interests of the whole community are at stake, +it is found best in the long run to let them be managed in accordance +with the wishes of the majority of those presumably concerned. + +Clay's flourish of trumpets foreboded trouble and disturbance to the +Jacksonian camp. At last he stood at the head of a party controlling +both branches of the legislative body, and devoted to his behests; and, +if a little doubtful about the president, he still believed he could +frighten him into doing as he was bid. He had long been in the minority, +and had seen his foes ride roughshod over all he most believed in; and +now he prepared to pay them back in their own coin and to leave a heavy +balance on his side of the reckoning. Nor could any Jacksonian have +shown himself more domineering and influenced by a more insolent +disregard for the rights of others than Clay did in his hour of triumph. +On the other side, Benton braced himself with dogged determination for +the struggle; for he was one of those men who fight a losing or a +winning battle with equal resolution. + +Tyler's first message to Congress read like a pretty good Whig document. +It did not display any especial signs of his former strict construction +theories, and gave little hope to the Democrats. The leader of the +latter, indeed, Benton, commented upon both it and its author with +rather grandiloquent severity, on account of its latitudinarian bias, +and of its recommendation of a bank of some sort. However, the ink with +which the message was written could hardly have been dry before the +president's mind began to change. He himself probably had very little +idea what he intended to do, and so contrived to give the Whigs the +impression that he would act in accordance with their wishes; but the +leaven had already begun working in his mind, and, not having much to +work on, soon changed it so completely that he was willing practically +to eat his own words. + +Shortly after Tyler had sent in his message outlining what legislation +he deemed proper, he being by virtue of his position the nominal and +titular leader of the Whigs, Clay, who was their real and very positive +chief, and who was, moreover, determined to assert his chieftainship, in +his turn laid down a programme for his party to follow, introducing a +series of resolutions declaring it necessary to pass a bill to repeal +the sub-treasury act, another to establish a bank, another to distribute +the proceeds of the public land sales, and one or two more, to which was +afterwards added a bankruptcy measure. + +The sub-treasury bill was first taken up and promptly passed and signed. +Benton, of course, led the hopeless fight against it, making a long and +elaborate speech, insisting that the finances were in excellent shape, +as they were, showing the advantages of hard money, and denouncing the +bill on account of the extreme suddenness with which it took effect, and +because it made no provision for any substitute. He also alluded +caustically to the curious and anomalous bank bill, which was then being +patched up by the Whig leaders so as to get it into some such shape that +the president would sign it. + +The other three important measures, that is, the bank, distribution, and +bankruptcy bills, were all passed nearly together; as Benton pointed +out, they were got through only by a species of bargain and sale, the +chief supporters of each agreeing to support the other, so as to get +their own pet measure through. "All must go together or fall together. +This is the decree out of doors. When the sun dips below the horizon a +private congress is held; the fate of the measures is decided; a bundle +is tied together; and while one goes ahead as a bait, another is held +back as a rod." + +The bankruptcy bill went through and was signed. It was urged by all the +large debtor class, whose ranks had been filled to overflowing by the +years of wild speculation and general bank suspension and insolvency. +These debtors were quite numerous enough to constitute an important +factor in politics, but Benton disregarded them nevertheless, and fought +the bill as stoutly as he did its companions, alleging that it was a +gross outrage on honesty and on the rights of property, and was not a +bankrupt law at all, but practically an insolvent law for the abolition +of debts at the will of the debtor. He pointed out grave and numerous +defects of detail, and gave an exhaustive abstract of bankruptcy +legislation in general; the speech gave evidence of the tireless +industry and wide range of learning for which Benton was preeminently +distinguished. + +The third bill to be taken up and passed was that providing for the +distribution of the public lands revenue, and thus indirectly for +assuming the debts of the states. Tyler, in his message, had +characteristically stated that, though it would be wholly +unconstitutional for the federal government to assume the debts of the +states, yet it would be highly proper for it to give the latter money +wherewith to pay them. Clay had always been an enthusiastic advocate of +a distribution bill; and accordingly one was now passed and signed with +the least possible delay. It was an absolutely indefensible measure. The +treasury was empty, and loan and tax bills were pending at the very +moment, in order to supply money for the actual running of the +government. As Benton pointed out, Congress had been called together (a +special session having been summoned by Harrison before his death) to +raise revenue, and the first thing done was to squander it. The +distribution took place when the treasury reports showed a deficit of +sixteen millions of dollars. The bill was pushed through mainly by the +states which had repudiated their debts in whole or in part; and as +these debts were largely owed abroad, many prominent foreign +banking-houses and individuals took an active part in lobbying for the +bill. Benton was emphatically right in his opposition to the measure, +but he was very wrong in some of the grounds he took. Thus he inveighed +vigorously against the foreign capitalists who had come to help push the +bill through Congress; but he did not have anything to say against the +scoundrelly dishonesty displayed by certain states towards their +creditors, which had forced these capitalists into the endeavor to +protect themselves. He also incidentally condemned the original +assumption by the national government of the debts of the states, at the +time of the formation of the Constitution, which was an absolute +necessity; and his constitutional views throughout seem rather strained. +But he was right beyond cavil on the main point. It was criminal folly +to give the states the impression that they would be allowed to create +debts over which Congress could have no control, yet which Congress in +the end would give them the money to pay. To reward a state for +repudiating a debt by giving her the wherewithal to pay it was a direct +and unequivocal encouragement of dishonesty. In every respect the bill +was wholly improper; and Benton's attitude towards it and towards +similar schemes was incomparably better than the position of Clay, +Webster, and the other Whigs. + +Both the bankrupt bill and the distribution bill were repealed very +shortly; the latter before it had time to take effect. This was an +emphatic indorsement by the public of Benton's views, and a humiliating +rebuke to the Whig authors of the measures. Indeed, the whole +legislation of the session was almost absolutely fruitless in its +results. + +One feature of the struggle was an attempt by Clay, promptly and +successfully resisted by Benton and Calhoun, to institute the hour limit +for speeches in the Senate. There was a good deal of excuse for Clay's +motion. The House could cut off debate by the previous question, which +the Senate could not, and nevertheless had found it necessary to +establish the hour limit in addition. Of course it is highly undesirable +that there should not be proper freedom of debate in Congress; but it is +quite as hurtful to allow a minority to exercise their privileges +improperly. The previous question is often abused and used tyrannically; +but on the whole it is a most invaluable aid to legislation. Benton, +however, waxed hot and wrathful over the proposed change in the Senate +rules. He, with Calhoun and their followers, had been consuming an +immense amount of time in speech-making against the Whig measures, and +in offering amendments; not with any hopes of bettering the bills, but +for outside effect, and to annoy their opponents. He gives an amusingly +naive account of their course of action, and the reasons for it, +substantially as follows:-- + + The Democratic senators acted upon a system, and with a thorough + organization and a perfect understanding. Being a minority, and able + to do nothing, they became assailants, and attacked incessantly; + not by formal orations against the whole body of a measure, but by + sudden, short, and pungent speeches directed against the vulnerable + parts, and pointed by proffered amendments. Amendments were + continually offered--a great number being prepared every night and + placed in suitable hands for use the next day--always commendably + calculated to expose an evil and to present a remedy. Near forty + propositions of amendment were offered to the first fiscal agent + bill alone--the yeas and nays were taken upon them seven and thirty + times. All the other prominent bills--distribution, bankrupt, fiscal + corporation, new tariff act, called revenue--were served the same + way; every proposed amendment made an issue. There were but + twenty-two of us, but every one was a speaker and effective. The + "Globe" newspaper was a powerful ally, setting out all we did to the + best advantage in strong editorials, and carrying out our speeches, + fresh and hot, to the people; and we felt victorious in the midst of + unbroken defeats. + +It is no wonder that such rank filibustering, coupled with the +exasperating self-complacency of its originators, should have excited in +Whig bosoms every desperate emotion short of homicidal mania. + +Clay, to cut off such useless talk, gave notice that he would move to +have the time for debate for each individual restricted; remarking very +truthfully that he did not believe the people at large would complain of +the abridgment of speeches in Congress. But the Democratic senators, +all rather fond of windy orations, fairly foamed at the mouth at what +they affected to deem such an infringement of their liberties; and +actually took the inexcusable resolution of bidding defiance to the rule +if it was adopted, and refusing to obey it, no matter what degree of +violence their conduct might bring about,--a resolution that was wholly +unpardonable. Benton was selected to voice their views upon the matter, +which he did in a long, and not very wise speech; while Calhoun was +quite as emphatic in his threats of what would happen if attempt should +be made to enforce the proposed rule. Clay was always much bolder in +opening a campaign than in carrying it through; and when it came to +putting his words into deeds, he wholly lacked the nerve which would +have enabled him to contend with two such men as the senators from +Missouri and South Carolina. Had he possessed a temperament like that of +either of his opponents, he would have gone on and have simply forced +acquiescence; for any legislative body can certainly enforce what rules +it may choose to make as to the conduct of its own members in addressing +it; but his courage failed him, and he withdrew from the contest, +leaving the victory with Democrats. + +When the question of the re-charter of the district banks came up, it of +course gave Benton another chance to attack his favorite foe. He offered +a very proper amendment, which was voted down, to prohibit the banks +from issuing a currency of small notes, fixing upon twenty dollars as +being the lowest limit. This he supported in a strong speech, wherein he +once again argued at length in favor of a gold and silver currency, and +showed the evil effects of small bank-notes, which might not be, and +often were not, redeemable at par. He very properly pointed out that to +have a sound currency, especially in all the smaller denominations, was +really of greater interest to the working men than to any one else. + +The great measure of the session, however, and the one that was intended +to be the final crown and glory of the Whig triumph, was the bill to +establish a new national bank. Among the political theories to which +Clay clung most closely, only the belief in a bank ranked higher in his +estimation than his devotion to a protective tariff. The establishment +of a national bank seemed to him to be the chief object of a Whig +success; and that it would work immediate and immense benefit to the +country was with him an article of faith. With both houses of Congress +under his control, he at once prepared to push his pet measure through, +impatiently brushing aside all resistance. + +But at the very outset difficulty was feared from the action of the +president. Tyler could not at first make up his mind what to do; or +rather, he made it up in half a dozen different ways every day. His +peevishness, vacillation, ambitious vanity, and sheer puzzle-headedness +made him incline first to the side of his new friends and present +supporters, the Whigs, and then to that of his old democratic allies, +whose views on the bank, as on most other questions, he had so often +openly expressed himself as sharing. But though his mind oscillated like +a pendulum, yet each time it swung farther and farther over to the side +of the Democracy, and it began to look as if he would certainly in the +end come to a halt in the camp of the enemies of the Whigs; his approach +to this destination was merely hastened by Clay's overbearing violence +and injudicious taunts. + +However, at first Tyler did not dare to come out openly against any and +all bank laws, but tried to search round for some compromise measure; +and as he could not invent a compromise in fact, he came to the +conclusion that one in words would do just as well. He said that his +conscience would not permit him to sign a bill to establish a bank that +was called a bank, but that he was willing to sign a bill establishing +such an institution provided that it was called something else, though +it should possess all the properties of a bank. Such a proposal opened a +wide field for the endless quibbling in which his soul delighted. + +The secretary of the treasury, in response to a call from the Senate, +furnished a plan for a bank, having modeled it studiously so as to +overcome the president's scruples; and a select committee of the Senate +at once shaped a bill in accordance with the plans. Said Benton: "Even +the title was made ridiculous to please the president, though not so +much so as he wished. He objected to the name of bank either in the +title or the body of the charter, and proposed to style it 'Fiscal +Institute;' and afterwards the 'Fiscal Agent,' and finally the 'Fiscal +Corporation.'" Such preposterous folly on the president's part was more +than the hot-blooded and overbearing Kentuckian could stand; and, in +spite of his absorbing desire for the success of his measure, and of the +vital necessity for conciliating Tyler, Clay could not bring himself to +adopt such a ludicrous title, even though he had seen that the charter +provided that the institution, whatever it might be styled in form, +should in fact have all the properties of a bank. After a while, +however, a compromise title was agreed on, but only a shadow less +imbecile than the original one proposed by the president; and it was +agreed to call the measure the "Fiscal Bank" bill. + +The president vetoed it, but stated that he was ready to approve any +similar bill that should be free from the objections he named. Clay +could not resist reading Tyler a lecture on his misconduct, during the +course of a speech in the Senate; but the Whigs generally smothered +their resentment, and set about preparing something which the president +would sign, and this time concluded that they would humor him to the top +of his bent, even by choosing a title as ridiculous as he wished; so +they styled their bill one to establish a "Fiscal Corporation." Benton +held the title up to well-deserved derision, and showed that, though +there had been quite an elaborate effort to disguise the form of the +measure, and to make it purport to establish a bank that should have the +properties of a treasury, yet that in reality it was simply a revival of +the old scheme under another name. The Whigs swallowed the sneers of +their opponents as best they could, and passed their bill. + +The president again interposed his veto. An intrigue was going on among +a few unimportant congressmen and obscure office-holders to form a new +party with Tyler at its head; and the latter willingly entered into the +plan, his mind, which was not robust at the best, being completely +dazzled by his sudden elevation and his wild hopes that he could +continue to keep the place which he had reached. He had given the Whigs +reason to expect that he would sign the bill, and had taken none of his +cabinet into his confidence. So, when his veto came in, it raised a +perfect whirlwind of wrath and bitter disappointment. His cabinet all +resigned, except Webster, who stayed to finish the treaty with Great +Britain; and the Whigs formally read him out of the party. The Democrats +looked on with huge enjoyment, and patted Tyler on the back, for they +could see that he was bringing their foes to ruin; but nevertheless they +despised him heartily, and abandoned him wholly when he had served their +turn. Left without any support among the regulars of either side, and +his own proposed third party turning out a still-born abortion, he +simply played out his puny part until his term ended, and then dropped +noiselessly out of sight. It is only the position he filled, and not in +the least his ability, for either good or bad, in filling it, that +prevents his name from sinking into merciful oblivion. + +There was yet one more brief spasm over the bank, however; the president +sending in a plan for a "Fiscal Agent," to be called a Board of +Exchequer. Congress contemptuously refused to pay any attention to the +proposition, Benton showing its utter unworthiness in an excellent +speech, one of the best that he made on the whole financial question. + +Largely owing to the cross purposes at which the president and his party +were working, the condition of the treasury became very bad. It sought +to provide for its immediate wants by the issue of treasury notes, +differing from former notes of the kind in that they were made +reissuable. Benton at once, and very properly, attacked this proceeding. +He had a check drawn for a few days' compensation as senator, demanded +payment in hard money, and when he was given treasury notes instead, +made a most emphatic protest in the Senate, which was entirely +effectual, the practically compulsory tender of the paper money being +forthwith stopped. + +It was at this time, also, that bills to subsidize steamship lines were +first passed, and that the enlarging and abuse of the pension system +began, which in our own day threatens to become a really crying evil. +Benton opposed both sets of measures; and in regard to the pension +matter showed that he would not let himself, by any specious plea of +exceptional suffering or need for charity, be led into vicious special +legislation, sure in the end to bring about the breaking down of some of +the most important principles of government. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +BOUNDARY TROUBLES WITH ENGLAND. + + +Two important controversies with foreign powers became prominent during +Tyler's presidency; but he had little to do with the settlement of +either, beyond successively placing in his cabinet the two great +statesmen who dealt with them. Webster, while secretary of state, +brought certain of the negotiations with England to a close; and later +on, Calhoun, while holding the same office, took up Webster's work and +also grappled with--indeed partly caused--the troubles on the Mexican +border, and turned them to the advantage of the South and slavery. + +Our boundaries were still very ill-defined, except where they were +formed by the Gulf and the Ocean, the Great Lakes, and the river St. +John. Even in the Northeast, where huge stretches of unbroken +forest-land separated the inhabited portions of Canada from those of New +England, it was not yet decided how much of this wilderness belonged to +us and how much to the Canadians; and in the vast, unsettled regions of +the far West our claims came into direct conflict with those of Mexico +and of Great Britain. The ownership of these little known and badly +mapped regions could with great difficulty be decided on grounds of +absolute and abstract right; the title of each contestant to the land +was more or less plausible, and at the same time more or less defective. +The matter was sure to be decided in favor of the strongest; and, say +what we will about the justice and right of the various claims, the +honest truth is, that the comparative might of the different nations, +and not the comparative righteousness of their several causes, was the +determining factor in the settlement. Mexico lost her northern provinces +by no law of right, but simply by the law of the longest sword--the same +law that gave India to England. In both instances the result was greatly +to the benefit of the conquered peoples and of every one else; though +there is this wide difference between the two cases: that whereas the +English rule in India, while it may last for decades or even for +centuries, must eventually come to an end and leave little trace of its +existence; on the other hand our conquests from Mexico determined for +all time the blood, speech, and law of the men who should fill the lands +we won. + +The questions between Great Britain and ourselves were compromised by +each side accepting about half what it claimed, only because neither was +willing to push the other to extremities. Englishmen like Palmerston +might hector and ruffle, and Americans like Benton might swagger and +bully; but when it came to be a question of actual fighting each people +recognized the power of the other, and preferred to follow the more +cautious and peaceful, not to say timid, lead of such statesmen as +Webster and Lord Melbourne. Had we been no stronger than the Sikhs, +Oregon and Washington would at present be British possessions; and if +Great Britain had been as weak as Mexico, she would not now hold a foot +of territory on the Pacific coast. Either nation might perhaps have +refused to commit a gross and entirely unprovoked and uncalled-for act +of aggression; but each, under altered conditions, would have readily +found excuses for showing much less regard for the claims of the other +than actually was shown. It would be untrue to say that nations have not +at times proved themselves capable of acting with great +disinterestedness and generosity towards other peoples; but such conduct +is not very common at the best, and although it often may be desirable, +it certainly is not always so. If the matter in dispute is of great +importance, and if there is a doubt as to which side is right, then the +strongest party to the controversy is pretty sure to give itself the +benefit of that doubt; and international morality will have to take +tremendous strides in advance before this ceases to be the case. + +It is difficult to exaggerate the importance of the treaties and wars by +means of which we finally gave definite bounds to our territory beyond +the Mississippi. Contemporary political writers and students, of the +lesser sort, are always painfully deficient in the sense of historic +perspective; and to such the struggles for the possession of the unknown +and dimly outlined western wastes seemed of small consequence compared +to similar European contests for territorial aggrandizement. Yet, in +reality, when we look at the far-reaching nature of the results, the +questions as to what kingdom should receive the fealty of Holstein or +Lorraine, of Savoy or the Dobrudscha, seem of absolutely trivial +importance compared to the infinitely more momentous ones as to the +future race settlement and national ownership of the then lonely and +unpeopled lands of Texas, California, and Oregon. + +Benton, greatly to the credit of his foresight, and largely in +consequence of his strong nationalist feeling, thoroughly appreciated +the importance of our geographical extensions. He was the great +champion of the West and of western development, and a furious partisan +of every movement in the direction of the enlargement of our western +boundaries. Many of his expressions, when talking of the greatness of +our country and of the magnitude of the interests which were being +decided, not only were grandiloquent in manner, but also seem +exaggerated and overwrought even as regards matter. But when we think of +the interests for which he contended, as they were to become, and not as +they at the moment were, the appearance of exaggeration is lost, and the +intense feeling of his speeches no longer seems out of place or +disproportionate to the importance of the subject with which he dealt. +Without clearly formulating his opinions, even to himself, and while +sometimes prone to attribute to his country at the moment a greatness +she was not to possess for two or three generations to come, he, +nevertheless, had engrained in his very marrow and fibre the knowledge +that inevitably, and beyond all doubt, the coming years were to be hers. +He knew that, while other nations held the past, and shared with his own +the present, yet that to her belonged the still formless and unshaped +future. More clearly than almost any other statesman he beheld the +grandeur of the nation loom up, vast and shadowy, through the advancing +years. + +He was keenly alive to the need of our having free chance to spread +towards the northwest; he very early grasped the idea that in that +direction we ought to have room for continental development. In his +earliest years, to be sure, when the Mississippi seemed a river of the +remote western border, when nobody, not even the hardiest trapper, had +penetrated the boundless and treeless plains that stretch to the +foot-hills of the Rockies, and when the boldest thinkers had not dared +to suppose that we could ever hold together as a people, when once +scattered over so wide a territory, he had stated in a public speech +that he considered the mountains to be our natural frontier line to the +west, and the barrier beyond which we ought not to pass, and had +expressed his trust that on the Pacific coast there would grow up a +kindred and friendly Republic. But very soon, as the seemingly +impossible became the actual, he himself changed, and ever afterwards +held that we should have, wherever possible, no boundaries but the two +Oceans. + +Benton's violent and aggressive patriotism undoubtedly led him to assume +positions towards foreign powers that were very repugnant to the quiet, +peaceable, and order-loving portion of the community, especially when +he gave vent to the spirit of jealous antagonism which he felt towards +Great Britain, the power that held sway over the wilderness bordering us +on the north. Yet the arrogant attitude he assumed was more than +justified by the destiny of the great Republic; and it would have been +well for all America if we had insisted even more than we did upon the +extension northward of our boundaries. Not only the Columbia but also +the Red River of the North--and the Saskatchewan and Frazer as +well--should lie wholly within our limits, less for our own sake than +for the sake of the men who dwell along their banks. Columbia, +Saskatchewan, and Manitoba would, as states of the American Union, hold +positions incomparably more important, grander, and more dignified than +they can ever hope to reach either as independent communities or as +provincial dependencies of a foreign power that regards them with a +kindly tolerance somewhat akin to contemptuous indifference. Of course +no one would wish to see these, or any other settled communities, now +added to our domain by force; we want no unwilling citizens to enter our +Union; the time to have taken the lands was before settlers came into +them. European nations war for the possession of thickly settled +districts which, if conquered, will for centuries remain alien and +hostile to the conquerors; we, wiser in our generation, have seized the +waste solitudes that lay near us, the limitless forests and never ending +plains, and the valleys of the great, lonely rivers; and have thrust our +own sons into them to take possession; and a score of years after each +conquest we see the conquered land teeming with a people that is one +with ourselves. + +Benton felt that all the unoccupied land to the northwest was by right +our heritage, and he was willing to do battle for it if necessary. He +was a perfect type of western American statesmanship in his way of +looking at our foreign relations; he was always unwilling to compromise, +being of that happy temperament which is absolutely certain that its +claims are just and righteous in their entirety, and that it would be +wrong to accept anything less than all that is demanded; he was willing +to bully if our rights, as he deemed them, were not granted us; and he +was perfectly ready to fight if the bullying was unsuccessful. True, he +did not consistently carry through all his theories to their logical +consequences; but it may well be questioned whether, after all, his +original attitude towards Great Britain was not wiser, looking to its +probable remote results, than that which was finally taken by the +national government, whose policy was on this point largely shaped by +the feeling among the richer and more educated classes of the Northeast. +These classes have always been more cautious and timid than any others +in the Union, especially in their way of looking at possible foreign +wars, and have never felt much of the spirit which made the West stretch +out impatiently for new lands. Fortunately they have rarely been able to +control our territorial growth. + +No foot of soil to which we had any title in the Northwest should have +been given up; we were the people who could use it best, and we ought to +have taken it all. The prize was well worth winning, and would warrant a +good deal of risk being run. We had even then grown to be so strong that +we were almost sure eventually to win in any American contest for +continental supremacy. We were near by, our foes far away--for the +contest over the Columbia would have been settled in Canada. We should +have had hard fighting to be sure, but sooner or later the result would +have been in our favor. There were no better soldiers in the world than +the men of Balaclava and Inkerman, but the victors of Buena Vista and +Chapultepec were as good. Scott and Taylor were not great generals, but +they were, at least, the equals of Lord Raglan; and we did not have in +our service any such examples of abnormal military inaptitude as Lords +Lucan and Cardigan and their kind. + +It was of course to be expected that men like Benton would bitterly +oppose the famous Ashburton treaty, which was Webster's crowning work +while secretary of state, and the only conspicuous success of Tyler's +administration. The Ashburton treaty was essentially a compromise +between the extreme claims of the two contestants, as was natural where +the claims were based on very unsubstantial grounds and the contestants +were of somewhat the same strength. It was most beneficial in its +immediate effects; and that it was a perfectly dignified and proper +treaty for America to make is best proved by the virulent hostility with +which Palmerston and his followers assailed it as a "surrender" on the +part of England, while Englishmen of the same stamp are to this day +never tired of lamenting the fact that they have allowed our western +boundaries to be pushed so far to the north. But there appears to be +much excuse for Benton's attitude, when we look at the treaty as one in +a chain of incidents, and with regard to its future results. Our +territorial quarrels with Great Britain were not like those between most +other powers. It was for the interest of the whole western hemisphere +that no European nation should have extensive possessions between the +Atlantic and the Pacific; and by right we should have given ourselves +the benefit of every doubt in all territorial questions, and have shown +ourselves ready to make prompt appeal to the sword whenever it became +necessary as a last resort. + +Still, as regards the Ashburton treaty itself, it must be admitted that +much of Benton's opposition was merely factious and partisan, on account +of its being a Whig measure; and his speeches on the subject contain a +number of arguments that are not very creditable to him. + +Some of his remarks referred to a matter which had been already a cause +of great excitement during Van Buren's administration, and on which he +had spoken more than once. This was the destruction of the steamer +Caroline by the British during the abortive Canadian insurrection of +1837. Much sympathy had been felt for the rebels by the Americans along +the border, and some of them had employed the Caroline in conveying +stores to the insurgents; and in revenge a party of British troops +surprised and destroyed her one night while she was lying in an American +port. This was a gross and flagrant violation of our rights, and was +promptly resented by Van Buren, who had done what he could to maintain +order along the border, and had been successful in his efforts. Benton +had supported the president in preventing a breach of neutrality on our +part, and was fiercely indignant when the breach was committed by the +other side. Reparation was demanded forthwith. The British government at +first made evasive replies. After a while a very foolish personage named +McLeod, a British subject, who boasted that he had taken part in the +affair, ventured into New York and was promptly imprisoned by the state +authorities. His boastings, fortunately for him, proved to be totally +unfounded, and he was acquitted by the jury before whom he was taken, +after a detention of several months in prison. But meanwhile the British +government demanded his release--adopting a very different tone with +Tyler and the Whigs from that which they had been using towards Van +Buren, who still could conjure with Jackson's terrible name. The United +States agreed to release McLeod, but New York refused to deliver him up; +and before the question was decided he was acquitted, as said above. It +was clearly wrong for a state to interfere in a disagreement between the +nation and a foreign power; and on the other hand the federal +authorities did not show as much firmness in their dealings with +England as they should have shown. Benton, true to certain of his +states-rights theories and in pursuance of his policy of antagonism to +Great Britain, warmly supported the attitude of New York, alleging that +the United States had no right to interfere with her disposal of McLeod; +and asserting that while if the citizens of one country committed an +outrage upon another it was necessary to apply to the sovereign for +redress, yet that if the wrong-doers came into the country which had +been aggrieved they might be seized and punished; and he exultingly +referred to Jackson's conduct at the time of the first Seminole War, +when he hung off-hand two British subjects whom he accused of inciting +the Indians against us, Great Britain not making any protest. The +Caroline matter was finally settled in the Ashburton treaty, the British +making a formal but very guarded apology for her destruction,--an +apology which did not satisfy Benton in the least. + +It is little to Benton's credit, however, that, while thus courting +foreign wars, he yet opposed the efforts of the Whigs to give us a +better navy. Our navy was then good of its kind, but altogether too +small. Benton's opposition to its increase seems to have proceeded +partly from mere bitter partisanship, partly from sheer ignorance, and +partly from the doctrinaire dread of any kind of standing military or +naval force, which he had inherited, with a good many similar ideas, +from the Jeffersonians. + +He attacked the whole treaty, article by article, when it came up for +ratification in the Senate, making an extremely lengthy and elaborate +speech, or rather set of speeches, against it. Much of his objection, +especially to the part compromising the territorial claims of the two +governments, was well founded; but much was also factious and +groundless. The most important point of all that was in controversy, the +ownership of Oregon, was left unsettled; but, as will be shown farther +on, this was wise. He made this omission a base or pretext for the +charge that the treaty was gotten up in the interests of the +East,--although with frank lack of logic he also opposed it because it +sacrificed the interests of Maine,--and that it was detrimental to the +South and West; and he did his best to excite sectional feeling against +it. He also protested against the omission of all reference to the +impressment of American sailors by British vessels; and this was a valid +ground of opposition,--although Webster had really settled the matter by +writing a formal note to the British government, in which he practically +gave official notice that any attempt to revive the practice would be +repelled by force of arms. + +Benton occupied a much less tenable position when he came to the +question of slavery, and inveighed against the treaty because it did not +provide for the return of fugitive slaves, or of slaves taken from +American coasting vessels when the latter happened to be obliged to put +into West Indian ports, and because it did contain a provision that we +ourselves should keep in commission a squadron on the coast of Africa to +cooeperate with the British in the suppression of the slave-trade. +Benton's object in attacking the treaty on this point was to excite the +South to a degree that would make the senators from that section refuse +to join in ratifying it; but the attempt was a flat failure. It is +hardly to be supposed that he himself was as indignant over this +question as he pretended to be. He must have realized that, so long as +we had among ourselves an institution so wholly barbarous and out of +date as slavery, just so long we should have to expect foreign powers to +treat us rather cavalierly on that one point. Whatever we might say +among ourselves as to the rights of property or the necessity of +preserving the Union by refraining from the disturbance of slavery, it +was certain that foreign nations would place the manhood and liberty of +the slave above the vested interest of the master--all the more readily +because they were jealous of the Union and anxious to see it break up, +and were naturally delighted to take the side of abstract justice and +humanity, when to do so was at the expense of outsiders and redounded to +their own credit, without causing them the least pecuniary loss or +personal inconvenience. The attitude of slave-holders towards freedom in +the abstract was grotesque in its lack of logic; but the attitude of +many other classes of men, both abroad and at home, towards it was +equally full of a grimly unconscious humor. The southern planters, who +loudly sympathized with Kossuth and the Hungarians, were entirely +unconscious that their tyranny over their own black bondsmen made their +attacks upon Austria's despotism absurd; and Germans, who were shocked +at our holding the blacks in slavery, could not think of freedom in +their own country without a shudder. On one night the Democrats of the +Northern States would hold a mass meeting to further the cause of Irish +freedom, on the next night the same men would break up another meeting +held to help along the freeing of the negroes; while the English +aristocracy held up its hands in horror at American slavery and set its +face like a flint against all efforts to do Ireland tardy and incomplete +justice. + +Again, in his opposition to the extradition clause of the treaty, +Benton was certainly wrong. Nothing is clearer than that nations ought +to combine to prevent criminals from escaping punishment merely by +fleeing over an imaginary line; the crime is against all society, and +society should unite to punish it. Especially is there need of the most +stringent extradition laws between countries whose people have the same +speech and legal system, as with the United States and Great Britain. +Indeed, it is a pity that our extradition laws are not more stringent. +But Benton saw, or affected to see, in the extradition clause, a menace +to political refugees, and based his opposition to it mainly on this +ground. He also quoted on his side the inevitable Jefferson; for +Jefferson, or rather the highly idealized conception of what Jefferson +had been, shared with the "demos krateo principle" the honor of being +one of the twin fetiches to which Benton, in common with most of his +fellow-Democrats, especially delighted to bow down. + +But when he came to the parts of the treaty that defined our +northeastern boundary and so much of our northwestern boundary as lay +near the Great Lakes, Benton occupied far more defensible ground; and +the parts of his speech referring to these questions were very strong +indeed. He attempted to show that in the matter of the Maine frontier +we had surrendered very much more than there was any need of our doing, +and that the British claim was unfounded; and there seems now to be good +reason for thinking him right, although it must be admitted that in +agreeing to the original line in earlier treaties the British had acted +entirely under a misapprehension as to where it would go. Benton was +also able to make a good point against Webster for finally agreeing to +surrender so much of Maine's claim by showing the opposition the latter +had made, while in the Senate, to a similar but less objectionable +clause in a treaty which Jackson's administration had then been trying +to get through. Again Webster had, in defending the surrender of certain +of our claims along the boundary west of Lake Superior, stated that the +country was not very valuable, as it was useless for agricultural +purposes; and Benton had taken him up sharply on this point, saying that +we wanted the land anyhow, whether it produced corn and potatoes or only +furs and lumber. The amounts of territory as to which our claims were +compromised were not very large compared to the extent of the Pacific +coast lands which were still left in dispute; and it was perhaps well +that the treaty was ratified; but certainly there is much to be said on +Benton's side so far as his opposition to the proposed frontier was +concerned. + +However, he was only able to rally eight other senators to his support, +and the treaty went through the Senate triumphantly. It encountered an +even more bitter opposition in Parliament, where Palmerston headed a +series of furious attacks upon it, for reasons the precise opposite of +those which Benton alleged, arguing that England received much less, +instead of much more, than her due, and thereby showing Webster's +position in a very much better light than that in which it would +otherwise have appeared. Eventually the British government ratified the +treaty. + +The Ashburton treaty did not touch on the Oregon matter at all; nor was +this dealt with by Webster while he was secretary of state. But it came +before the Senate at that time, and later on Calhoun took it up, when +filling Webster's place in the cabinet, although a final decision was +not reached until during Polk's presidency. Webster did not appreciate +the importance of Oregon in the least, and moreover came from a section +of the country that was not inclined to insist on territorial expansion +at the hazard of a war, in which the merchants of the sea-board would be +the chief sufferers. Calhoun, it is true, came from a peculiarly +militant and bellicose state, but on the other hand from a section that +was not very anxious to see the free North acquire new territory. So it +happened that neither of Tyler's two great secretaries felt called upon +to insist too vehemently upon going to extremes in defense of our +rights, or supposed rights, along the Pacific coast; and though in the +end the balance was struck pretty evenly between our claims and those of +our neighbor, yet it is to be regretted that we did not stand out +stiffly for the whole of our demand. Our title was certainly not +perfect, but it was to the full as good as, or better than, Great +Britain's; and it would have been better in the end had we insisted upon +the whole territory being given to us, no matter what price we had to +pay. + +The politico-social line of division between the East and the West had +been gradually growing fainter as that between the North and South grew +deeper; but on the Oregon question it again became prominent. +Southeastern Democrats, like the Carolinian McDuffie, spoke as +slightingly of the value of Oregon, and were as little inclined to risk +a war for its possession, as the most peace-loving Whigs of New England; +while the intense western feeling against giving up any of our rights on +the Pacific coast was best expressed by the two senators from the slave +state of Missouri. Benton was not restrained in his desire to add to +the might of the Union by any fear of the possible future effect upon +the political power of the Slave States. Although a slave-holder and the +representative of slave-holders, he was fully alive to the evils of +slavery, though as yet not seeing clearly how all-important a question +it had become. The preservation and extension of the Union and obedience +to the spirit of Democracy were the chief articles of his political +creed, and to these he always subordinated all others. When, in speaking +of slavery, he made use, as he sometimes did, of expressions that were +not far removed from those of men really devoted to the slave interests, +it was almost always because he had some ulterior object in view, or for +factional ends; for unfortunately his standard of political propriety +was not sufficiently high to prevent his trying to make use of any +weapon, good or bad, with which to overturn his political foes. In +protesting against the Ashburton treaty, he outdid even such slavery +champions as Calhoun in the extravagance of his ideas as to what we +should demand of foreign powers in reference to their treatment of our +"peculiar institution"; but he seems to have done this merely because +thereby he got an additional handle of attack against the Whig measures. +The same thing was true earlier of his fulmination against Clay's +proposed Panama Congress; and even before that, in attacking Adams for +his supposed part in the treaty whereby we established the line of our +Spanish frontier, he dragged slavery into the question, not, apparently, +because he really particularly wished to see our slave territory +extended, but because he thought that he might use the slavery cry to +excite in one other section of the country a feeling as strong as that +which the West already felt in regard to territorial expansion +generally. Indeed, his whole conduct throughout the Oregon controversy, +especially when taken in connection with the fact that he stood out for +Maine's frontier rights more stoutly than the Maine representatives +themselves, shows how free from sectional bias was his way of looking at +our geographical growth. + +The territory along the Pacific coast lying between California on the +south and Alaska on the north--"Oregon," as it was comprehensively +called--had been a source of dispute for some time between the United +States and Great Britain. After some negotiations both had agreed with +Russia to recognize the line of 54 deg. 40' as the southern boundary of the +latter's possessions; and Mexico's undisputed possession of California +gave an equally well marked southern limit, at the forty-second +parallel. All between was in dispute. The British had trading posts at +the mouth of the Columbia, which they emphatically asserted to be +theirs; we, on the other hand, claimed an absolutely clear title up to +the forty-ninth parallel, a couple of hundred miles north of the mouth +of the Columbia, and asserted that for all the balance of the territory +up to the Russian possessions our title was at any rate better than that +of the British. In 1818 a treaty had been made providing for the joint +occupation of the territory by the two powers, as neither was willing to +give up its claim to the whole, or at the time at all understood the +value of the possession, then entirely unpeopled. This treaty of joint +occupancy had remained in force ever since. Under it the British had +built great trading stations, and used the whole country in the +interests of certain fur companies. The Americans, in spite of some vain +efforts, were unable to compete with them in this line; but, what was +infinitely more important, had begun, even prior to 1840, to establish +actual settlers along the banks of the rivers, some missionaries being +the first to come in. As long, however, as the territory remained +sparsely settled, and the communication with it chiefly by sea, the hold +of Great Britain gave promise of being the stronger. But the aspect of +affairs was totally changed when in 1842 a huge caravan of over a +thousand Americans made the journey overland from the frontiers of +Missouri, taking with them their wives and their children, their flocks +and herds, carrying their long rifles on their shoulders, and their axes +and spades in the great canvas-topped wagons. The next year, two +thousand more settlers of the same sort in their turn crossed the vast +plains, wound their way among the Rocky Mountains through the pass +explored by Fremont, Benton's son-in-law, and after suffering every kind +of hardship and danger, and warding off the attacks of hostile Indians, +descended the western slope of the great water-shed to join their +fellows by the banks of the Columbia. When American settlers were once +in actual possession of the disputed territory, it became evident that +the period of Great Britain's undisputed sway was over. + +The government of the United States, meanwhile, was so far from helping +these settlers that it on the contrary rather threw obstacles in their +way. As usual with us, the individual activity of the citizens +themselves, who all acted independently and with that peculiar +self-reliance that is the chief American characteristic, outstripped the +activity of their representatives, who were obliged all to act together, +and who were therefore held back by each other,--our Constitution, +while giving free scope for individual freedom, wisely providing such +checks as to make our governmental system eminently conservative in its +workings. Tyler's administration did not wish to embroil itself with +England; so it refused any aid to the settlers, and declined to give +them grants of land, as under the joint occupancy treaty that would have +given England offense and cause for complaint. But Benton and the other +Westerners were perfectly willing to offend England, if by so doing they +could help America to obtain Oregon, and were too rash and headstrong to +count the cost of their actions. Accordingly, a bill was introduced +providing for the settlement of Oregon, and giving each settler six +hundred and forty acres, and additional land if he had a family; so that +every inducement was held out to the emigrants, the West wanting to +protect and encourage them by all the means in its power. The laws and +jurisdiction of the Territory of Iowa were to be extended to all the +settlers on the Pacific coast, who hitherto had governed themselves +merely by a system of mutual agreements. + +The bill was, of course, strongly opposed, especially on account of the +clause giving land to the settlers. It passed the Senate by a close +vote, but failed in the House. Naturally Benton was one of its chief +supporters, and spoke at length in its favor. He seized the kernel of +the matter when, in advocating the granting of land, he spoke of +immigration as "the only thing which can save the country from the +British, acting through their powerful agent, the Hudson's Bay Company." +He then blew a lusty note of defiance to Great Britain herself:-- + + I think she will take offense, do what we may in relation to this + territory. She wants it herself, and means to quarrel for it, if she + does not fight for it.... I grant that she will take offense, but + that is not the question with me. Has she a _right_ to take offense? + That is my question! And this being decided in the negative, I + neither fear nor calculate consequences.... Courage will keep her + off, fear will bring her upon us. The assertion of our rights will + command her respect; the fear to assert them will bring us her + contempt.... Neither nations nor individuals ever escaped danger by + fearing it. They must face it and defy it. An abandonment of a right + for fear of bringing on an attack, instead of keeping it off, will + inevitably bring on the outrage that is dreaded. + +He was right enough in his disposition to resent the hectoring spirit +which, at that time, characterized Great Britain's foreign policy; but +he was all wrong in condemning delay, and stating that if things were +left as they were time would work against us, and not for us. + +In this respect Calhoun, who opposed the bill, was much wiser. He +advocated a policy of "masterly inactivity," foreseeing that time was +everything to us, inasmuch as the land was sure in the end to belong to +that nation whose people had settled in it, and we alone were able to +furnish a constantly increasing stream of immigrants. Later on, however, +Calhoun abandoned this policy, probably mainly influenced by fear of the +extension of free territory, and consented to a compromise with Great +Britain. The true course to have pursued would have been to have +combined the ideas of both Benton and Calhoun, and to have gone farther +than either; that is, we should have allowed the question to remain +unsettled as long as was possible, because every year saw an increasing +American population in the coveted lands, and rendered the ultimate +decision surer to be for us. When it was impossible to postpone the +question longer, we should have insisted upon its being settled entirely +in our favor, no matter at what cost. The unsuccessful attempts, made by +Benton and his supporters, to persuade the Senate to pass a resolution, +requiring that notice of the termination of the joint occupancy treaty +should forthwith be given, were certainly ill-advised. + +However, even Benton was not willing to go to the length to which +certain Western men went, who insisted upon all or nothing. He had +become alarmed and angry over the intrigue for the admission of Texas +and the proposed forcible taking away of Mexican territory. The +Northwestern Democrats wanted all Texas and all Oregon; the Southeastern +ones wished all the former and part of the latter. Benton then concluded +that it would be best to take part of each; for, although no friend to +compromises, yet he was unwilling to jeopardize the safety of the Union +as it was by seeking to make it still larger. Accordingly, he +sympathized with the effort made by Calhoun while secretary of state to +get the British to accept the line of 49 deg. as the frontier; but the +British government then rejected this proposition. In 1844 the Democrats +made their campaign upon the issue of "fifty-four forty or fight;" and +Polk, when elected, felt obliged to insist upon this campaign boundary. +To this, however, Great Britain naturally would not consent; it was, +indeed, idle to expect her to do so, unless things should be kept as +they were until a fairly large American population had grown up along +the Pacific coast, and had thus put her in a position where she could +hardly do anything else. Polk's administration was neither capable nor +warlike, however well disposed to bluster; and the secretary of state, +the timid, shifty, and selfish politician, Buchanan, naturally fond of +facing both ways, was the last man to wish to force a quarrel on a +high-spirited and determined antagonist like England. Accordingly, he +made up his mind to back down and try for the line of 49 deg., as proposed +by Calhoun, when in Tyler's cabinet; and the English, for all their +affected indifference, had been so much impressed by the warlike +demonstrations in the United States, that they in turn were delighted, +singing in a much lower key than before the "fifty-four forty" cry had +been raised; accordingly they withdrew their former pretensions to the +Columbia River and accepted the offered compromise. Now, however, came +the question of getting the treaty through the Senate; and Buchanan +sounded Benton, to see if he would undertake this task. + +Benton, worried over the Texas matter, was willing to recede somewhat +from the very high ground he had taken,--although, of course, he +insisted that he had been perfectly consistent throughout, and that the +49th parallel was the line he had all along been striving for. Under his +lead the proposal for a treaty on the basis indicated was carried +through the Senate, and the line in consequence ultimately became our +frontier, in spite of the frantic opposition of the Northwestern +Democrats, the latter hurling every sort of charge of bad faith and +treachery at their Southern associates, who had joined with the Whigs +in defeating them. Benton's speech in support of the proposal was +pitched much lower than had been his previous ones; and, a little +forgetful of some of his own remarks, he was especially severe upon +those members who denounced England and held up a picture of her real or +supposed designs to excite and frighten the people into needless +opposition to her. + +In its immediate effects the adoption of the 49th parallel as the +dividing line between the two countries was excellent, and entailed no +loss of dignity on either. Yet, as there was no particular reason why we +should show any generosity in our diplomatic dealings with England, it +may well be questioned whether it would not have been better to have +left things as they were until we could have taken all. Wars are, of +course, as a rule to be avoided; but they are far better than certain +kinds of peace. Every war in which we have been engaged, except the one +with Mexico, has been justifiable in its origin; and each one, without +any exception whatever, has left us better off, taking both moral and +material considerations into account, than we should have been if we had +not waged it. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE ABOLITIONISTS DANCE TO THE SLAVE BARONS' PIPING. + + +In 1844 the Whig candidate for the Presidency, Henry Clay, was defeated +by a Mr. Polk, the nominee of the Democracy. The majorities in several +of the states were very small; this was the case, for example in New +York, the change in whose electoral vote would have also changed the +entire result. + +Up to 1860 there were very few political contests in which the dividing +lines between right and wrong so nearly coincided with those drawn +between the two opposing parties as in that of 1844. The Democrats +favored the annexation of Texas, and the addition of new slave territory +to the Union; the Whigs did not. Almost every good element in the +country stood behind Clay; the vast majority of intelligent, +high-minded, upright men supported him. Polk was backed by rabid +Southern fire-eaters and slavery extensionists, who had deified negro +bondage and exalted it beyond the Union, the Constitution, and +everything else; by the almost solid foreign vote, still unfit for the +duties of American citizenship; by the vicious and criminal classes in +all the great cities of the North and in New Orleans; by the corrupt +politicians, who found ignorance and viciousness tools ready forged to +their hands, wherewith to perpetrate the gigantic frauds without which +the election would have been lost; and, lastly, he was also backed +indirectly but most powerfully by the political Abolitionists. + +These Abolitionists had formed themselves into the Liberty party, and +ran Birney for president; and though they polled but little over sixty +thousand votes, yet as these were drawn almost entirely from the ranks +of Clay's supporters, they were primarily responsible for his defeat; +for the defections were sufficiently large to turn the scale in certain +pivotal and closely contested states, notably New York. Their action in +this case was wholly evil, alike in its immediate and its remote +results; they simply played into the hands of the extreme slavery men +like Calhoun, and became, for the time being, the willing accomplices of +the latter. Yet they would have accomplished nothing had it not been for +the frauds and outrages perpetrated by the gangs of native and +foreign-born ruffians in the great cities, under the leadership of such +brutal rowdies as Isaiah Rynders. + +These three men, Calhoun, Birney, and Isaiah Rynders, may be taken as +types of the classes that were chiefly instrumental in the election of +Polk, and that must, therefore, bear the responsibility for all the +evils attendant thereon, including among them the bloody and unrighteous +war with Mexico. With the purpose of advancing the cause of abstract +right, but with the result of sacrificing all that was best, most +honest, and most high-principled in national politics, the Abolitionists +joined hands with Northern roughs and Southern slavocrats to elect the +man who was, excepting Tyler, the very smallest of the line of small +presidents who came in between Jackson and Lincoln. + +Owing to a variety of causes, the Abolitionists have received an immense +amount of hysterical praise, which they do not deserve, and have been +credited with deeds done by other men, whom they in reality hampered and +opposed rather than aided. After 1840 the professed Abolitionists formed +but a small and comparatively unimportant portion of the forces that +were working towards the restriction and ultimate destruction of +slavery; and much of what they did was positively harmful to the cause +for which they were fighting. Those of their number who considered the +Constitution as a league with death and hell, and who therefore +advocated a dissolution of the Union, acted as rationally as would +anti-polygamists nowadays if, to show their disapproval of Mormonism, +they should advocate that Utah should be allowed to form a separate +nation. The only hope of ultimately suppressing slavery lay in the +preservation of the Union, and every Abolitionist who argued or signed a +petition for its dissolution was doing as much to perpetuate the evil he +complained of as if he had been a slave-holder. The Liberty party, in +running Birney, simply committed a political crime, evil in almost all +its consequences; they in no sense paved the way for the Republican +party, or helped forward the anti-slavery cause, or hurt the existing +organizations. Their effect on the Democracy was _nil_; and all they +were able to accomplish with the Whigs was to make them put forward for +the ensuing campaign a slave-holder from Louisiana, with whom they were +successful. Such were the remote results of their conduct; the immediate +evils they produced have already been alluded to. They bore considerable +resemblance--except that, after all, they really did have a principle to +contend for--to the political prohibitionists of the present day, who go +into the third party organizations, and are, not even excepting the +saloon-keepers themselves, the most efficient allies on whom +intemperance and the liquor traffic can count. + +Anti-slavery men like Giddings, who supported Clay, were doing a +thousand-fold more effective work for the cause they had at heart than +all the voters who supported Birney; or, to speak more accurately, they +were doing all they could to advance the cause, and the others were +doing all they could to hold it back. Lincoln in 1860 occupied more +nearly the ground held by Clay than that held by Birney; and the men who +supported the latter in 1844 were the prototypes of those who wished to +oppose Lincoln in 1860, and only worked less hard because they had less +chance. The ultra Abolitionists discarded expediency, and claimed to act +for abstract right, on principle, no matter what the results might be; +in consequence they accomplished very little, and that as much for harm +as for good, until they ate their words, went counter to their previous +course, thereby acknowledging it to be bad, and supported in the +Republican party the men and principles they had so fiercely condemned. +The Liberty party was not in any sense the precursor of the Republican +party, which was based as much on expediency as on abstract right, and +was therefore able to accomplish good instead of harm. To say that the +extreme Abolitionists triumphed in Republican success and were causes of +it, is as absurd as it would be to call prohibitionists successful if, +after countless futile efforts totally to prohibit the liquor traffic, +and after savage denunciation of those who try to regulate it, they +should then turn round and form a comparatively insignificant portion of +a victorious high-license party. + +Many people in speaking of the Abolitionists apparently forget that the +national government, even under Republican rule, would never have +meddled with slavery in the various states unless as a war measure, made +necessary by the rebellion into which the South was led by a variety of +causes, of which slavery was chief, but among which there were others +that were also prominent; such as the separatist spirit of certain of +the communities and the unscrupulous, treacherous ambition of such men +as Davis, Floyd, and the rest. The Abolitionists' political +organizations, such as the Liberty party, generally produced very little +effect either way, and were scarcely thought of during the contests +waged for freedom in Congress. The men who took a great and effective +part in the fight against slavery were the men who remained within their +respective parties; like the Democrats Benton and Wilmot, or the Whigs +Seward and Stevens. When a new party with more clearly defined +principles was formed, they, for the most part, went into it; but, like +all other men who have ever had a really great influence, whether for +good or bad, on American politics, they did not act independently of +parties, but on the contrary kept within party lines,--although, of +course, none of them were mere blind and unreasoning partisans. + +The plea that slavery was a question of principle, on which no +compromise could be accepted, might have been made and could still be +made on twenty other points,--woman suffrage, for instance. Of course, +to give women their just rights does not by any means imply that they +should necessarily be allowed to vote, any more than the bestowal of the +rights of citizenship upon blacks and aliens must of necessity carry +with it the same privilege. But there were until lately, and in some +states there are now, laws on the statute-book in reference to women +that are in principle as unjust, and that are quite as much the remnants +of archaic barbarism as was the old slave code; and though it is true +that they do not work anything like the evil of the latter, they yet +certainly work evil enough. The same laws that in one Southern state +gave a master a right to whip a slave also allowed him to whip his wife, +provided he used a stick no thicker than his little finger; the legal +permission to do the latter was even more outrageous than that to do the +former, yet no one considered it a ground for wishing a dissolution of +the Union or for declaring against the existing parties. The folly of +voting the Liberty ticket in 1844 differed in degree, but not at all in +kind, from the folly of voting the Woman Suffrage ticket in 1884. + +The intrigue for the annexation of Texas, and for thereby extending the +slave territory of the Union, had taken shape towards the close of +Tyler's term of office, while Calhoun was secretary of state. Benton, as +an aggressive Western man, desirous of seeing our territorial +possessions extended in any direction, north or south, always hoped that +in the end Texas might be admitted into the Union; but he disliked +seeing any premature steps taken, and was no party to the scheme of +forcing an immediate annexation in the interests of slavery. Such +immediate annexation was certain, among other things, to bring us into +grave difficulties not only with Mexico, but also with England, which +was strongly inclined to take much interest of a practical sort in the +fate of Texas, and would, of course, have done all it could to bring +about the abolition of slavery in that state. The Southerners, desirous +of increasing the slave domain, and always in a state of fierce alarm +over the proximity of any free state that might excite a servile +insurrection, were impatient to add the Lone Star Republic of the Rio +Grande to the number of their states; the Southwesterners fell in with +them, influenced, though less strongly, by the same motives, and also by +the lust for new lands and by race hatred towards the Mexicans and +traditional jealousy of Great Britain; and these latter motives induced +many Northwesterners to follow suit. By a judicious harping on all these +strings Jackson himself, whose name was still a mighty power among the +masses, was induced to write a letter favoring instant and prompt +annexation. + +This letter was really procured for political purposes. Tyler had +completely identified himself with the Democracy, and especially with +its extreme separatist wing, to which Calhoun also belonged, and which +had grown so as to be already almost able to take the reins. The +separatist chiefs were intriguing for the presidency, and were using +annexation as a cry that would help them; and, failing in this attempt, +many of the leaders were willing to break up the Union, and turn the +Southern States, together with Texas, into a slave-holding confederacy. +After Benton, the great champion of the old-style Union Democrats was +Van Buren, who was opposed to immediate annexation, sharing the feeling +that prevailed throughout the Northeast generally; although in certain +circles all through the country there were men at work in its favor, +largely as a mere matter of jobbery and from base motives, on account of +speculations in Texan land and scrip, into which various capitalists and +adventurers had gone rather extensively. Jackson, though a Southerner, +warmly favored Van Buren, and was bitterly opposed to separatists; but +the latter, by cunningly working on his feelings, without showing their +own hands, persuaded him to write the letter mentioned, and promptly +used it to destroy the chances of Van Buren, who was the man they +chiefly feared; and though Jackson, at last roused to what was going on, +immediately announced himself as in favor of Van Buren's candidacy, it +was too late to undo the mischief. + +Benton showed on this, as on many other occasions, much keener political +ideas than his great political chief. He was approached by a politician, +who himself was either one of those concerned in the presidential +intrigues, or else one of their dupes, and who tried to win him over to +take the lead on their side, complimenting him upon his former services +to the cause of territorial expansion towards the southwest. Ordinarily +the great Missourian was susceptible enough to such flattery; but on +this occasion, preoccupied with the idea of an intrigue for the +presidency, and indignant that there should be an effort made to +implicate him in it, especially as it was mixed up with schemes of +stock-jobbing and of disloyalty to the Union, he took fire at once, and +answered with hot indignation, in words afterwards highly resented by +his questioner, "that it was on the part of some an intrigue for the +presidency, and a plot to dissolve the Union; on the part of others, a +Texas scrip and land speculation; and that he was against it." The +answer was published in the papers, and brought about a total break +between Benton and the annexation party. + +He was now thoroughly on the alert, and actively opposed at all points +the schemes of those whom he regarded as concerned in or instigating the +intrigue. He commented harshly on Tyler's annual message, which made a +strong plea for annexation, even at the cost of a war both with Great +Britain and Mexico; also on Calhoun's letter to Lord Aberdeen, which was +certainly a remarkable diplomatic document,--being a thesis on slavery +and the benefits resulting from it. Tyler's object was to prepare the +way for a secret treaty, which should secure the desired object. Benton, +in the course of some severe strictures on his acts, said, very truly, +that it was evidently the intention to keep the whole matter as secret +as possible until the treaty was concluded, "and then to force its +adoption for the purpose of increasing the area of slave territory, or +to make its rejection a cause for the secession of the Southern States; +and in either event and in all cases to make the question of annexation +a controlling one in the nomination of presidential candidates, and also +in the election itself." + +When the treaty proposed by the administration was rejected, and when it +became evident that neither Tyler nor Calhoun, the two most prominent +champions of the extreme separatists, had any chance for the Democratic +nomination, the disunion side of the intrigue was brought to the front +in many of the Southern States, beginning of course with South Carolina. +A movement was made for a convention of the Southern States, to be held +in the interest of the scheme; the key-note being struck in the cry of +"Texas or disunion!" But this convention was given up, on account of the +strong opposition it excited in the so-called "Border States,"--an +opposition largely stirred up and led by Benton. Once more the haughty +slave leaders of the Southeast had found that in the Missouri Senator +they had an opponent whose fearlessness quite equaled their own, and +whose stubborn temper and strength of purpose made him at least a match +for themselves, in spite of all their dash and fiery impetuosity. It +must have sounded strange, indeed, to Northern ears, accustomed to the +harsh railings and insolent threats of the South Carolina senators, to +hear one of the latter complaining that Benton's tone in the debate was +arrogant, overbearing, and dictatorial towards those who were opposed to +him. This same Senator, McDuffie, had been speaking of the proposed +Southern meeting at Nashville; and Benton warned him that such a meeting +would never take place, and that he had mistaken the temper of the +Tennesseans; and also reminded him that General Jackson was still alive, +and that the South Carolinians in particular must needs be careful if +they hoped to agree with his followers, whose name was still legion, +because he would certainly take the same position towards a disunion +movement in the interests of slavery that he had already taken towards a +nullification movement in the interests of free trade. "Preservation of +the federal Union is as strong in the old Roman's heart now as ever; and +while, as a Christian, he forgives all that is past (if it were past), +yet no old tricks under new names! Texas disunion will be to him the +same as tariff disunion; and if he detects a Texas disunionist nestling +into his bed, I say again: Woe unto the luckless wight!" Boldly and +forcibly he went on to paint the real motives of the promoters of the +scheme, and the real character of the scheme itself; stating that, +though mixed up with various speculative enterprises and with other +intrigues, yet disunion was at the bottom of it all, and that already +the cry had become, "Texas without the Union, rather than the Union +without Texas!" "Under the pretext of getting Texas into the Union the +scheme is to get the South out of it. A Southern Confederacy stretching +from the Atlantic to the Californias ... is the cherished vision of +disappointed ambition." He bitterly condemned secession, as simply +disunion begat by nullification, and went on to speak of his own +attitude in apparently opposing the admission of Texas, which he had +always desired to see become a part of the Union, and which he had +always insisted rightfully belonged to us, and to have been given away +by Monroe's treaty with Spain. "All that is intended and foreseen. The +intrigue for the presidency was the first act in the drama; the +dissolution of the Union the second. And I, who hate intrigue and love +the Union, can only speak of the intriguers and disunionists with warmth +and indignation. The oldest advocate for the recovery of Texas, I must +be allowed to speak in just terms of the criminal politicians who +prostituted the question of its recovery to their own base purposes, and +delayed its success by degrading and disgracing it. A Western man, and +coming from a state more than any other interested in the recovery of +this country, so unaccountably thrown away by the treaty of 1819, I must +be allowed to feel indignant at seeing Atlantic politicians seizing upon +it, and making it a sectional question for the purposes of ambition and +disunion. I have spoken warmly of these plotters and intriguers; but I +have not permitted their conduct to alter my own, or to relax my zeal +for the recovery of the sacrificed country. I have helped to reject the +disunion treaty; and that obstacle being removed, I have brought in the +bill which will insure the recovery of Texas, with peace and honor, and +with the Union." + +It is important to remember, in speaking of his afterwards voting to +admit Texas, that this was what he had all along favored, and that he +now opposed it only on account of special circumstances. In both cases +he was right; for, slavery or no slavery, it would have been a most +unfortunate thing for us, and still worse for the Texans, if the latter +had been allowed to develop into an independent nation. Benton deserves +the greatest credit for the way in which he withstood the ignorant +popular feeling of his own section in regard to Tyler's proposed treaty; +and not only did he show himself able to withstand pressure from behind +him, but also prompt in resenting threats made by outsiders. When +McDuffie told him that the remembrance of his attitude on the bill +would, to his harm, meet him on some future day, like the ghost that +appeared to Brutus at Philippi, he answered:-- + + I can promise the ghost and his backers that if the fight goes + against me at this new Philippi, with which I am threatened, and the + enemies of the American Union triumph over me as the enemies of + Roman liberty triumphed over Brutus and Cassius, I shall not fall + upon my sword, as Brutus did, though Cassius be killed, and run it + through my own body; but I shall save it and save myself for another + day and another use,--for the day when the battle of the disunion of + these states is to be fought, not with words but with iron, and for + the hearts of the traitors who appear in arms against their country. + +Such a stern, defiant, almost prophetic warning did more to help the +Union cause than volumes of elaborate constitutional argument, and it +would have been well for the Northern States had they possessed men as +capable of uttering it as was the iron Westerner. Benton always showed +at his best when the honor or integrity of the nation was menaced, +whether by foes from without or by foes from within. On such occasions +his metal always rang true. When there was any question of breaking +faith with the Union, or of treachery towards it, his figure always +loomed up as one of the chief in the ranks of its defenders; and his +follies and weaknesses sink out of sight when we think of the tremendous +debt which the country owes him for his sorely tried and unswerving +loyalty. + +The treaty alluded to by Benton in his speech against the abortive +secession movement was the one made with Texas while Calhoun was +secretary of state, and submitted to the Senate by Tyler, with a message +as extraordinary as some of his secretary's utterances. The treaty was +preposterously unjust and iniquitous. It provided for the annexation of +Texas, and also of a very large portion of Mexico, to which Texas had no +possible title, and this without consulting Mexico in any way whatever; +Calhoun advancing the plea that it was necessary to act immediately on +account of the danger that Texas was in of falling under the control of +England, and therefore having slavery abolished within its borders; +while Tyler blandly announced that we had acquired title to the ceded +territory--which belonged to one power and was ceded to us by +another--through his signature to the treaty, and that, pending its +ratification by the Senate, he had dispatched troops to the scene of +action to protect the ceded land "from invasion,"--the territory to be +thus protected from Mexican invasion being then and always having been +part and parcel of Mexico. + +Benton opposed the ratification of the treaty in a very strong speech, +during which he mercilessly assailed both Tyler and Calhoun. The conduct +of the former he dismissed with the contemptuous remark that he had +committed "a caper about equal to the mad freaks with which the +unfortunate Emperor Paul, of Russia, was accustomed to astonish Europe;" +and roughly warned him to be careful how he tried to imitate Jackson's +methods, because in heroic imitations there was no middle ground, and if +he failed to fill the role of hero he would then perforce find himself +playing that of harlequin. Calhoun received more attention, for he was +far more worthy of a foeman's steel than was his nominal superior, and +Benton exposed at length the willful exaggeration and the perversion of +the truth of which the Carolinian had been guilty in trying to raise the +alarm of English interference in Texas, for the purpose of excusing the +haste with which the treaty was carried through. + +He showed at length the outrage we should inflict upon Mexico by seizing +"two thousand miles of her territory, without a word of explanation with +her, and by virtue of a treaty with Texas to which she was no party;" +and he conclusively proved, making use of his own extensive acquaintance +with history, especially American history, that the old Texas, the only +territory that the Texans themselves or we could claim with any shadow +of right, made but a fraction of the territory now "ceded" to us. He +laughed at the idea of calling the territory Texas, and speaking of its +forcible cutting off as re-annexation, "Humboldt calls it New Mexico, +Chihuahua, Coahuila and Nuevo Santander; and the civilized world may +qualify this _re_-annexation by some odious and terrible epithet ... +robbery;" then he went on to draw a biting contrast between our +treatment of Mexico and our treatment of England. "Would we take two +thousand miles of Canada in the same way? I presume not. And why not? +Why not treat Great Britain and Mexico alike? Why not march up to +'fifty-four forty' as courageously as we march upon the Rio Grande? +Because Great Britain is powerful and Mexico weak,--a reason which may +fail in policy as much as in morals." Also he ridiculed the flurry of +fear into which the Southern slave-holders affected to be cast by the +dread of England's hostility to slavery, when they had just acquiesced +in making a treaty with her by which we bound ourselves to help to put +down the slave-trade. He then stated his own position, showing why he +wished us to have the original Texan lands, if we could get them +honorably, and without robbing Mexico of new territory; and at the same +time sneered at Calhoun and Tyler because they had formerly favored the +Monroe treaty, by which we abandoned our claims to them:-- + + We want Texas, that is to say, the Texas of La Salle; and we want it + for great natural reasons, obvious as day, and permanent as nature. + We want it because it is geographically appurtenant to our division + of North America, essential to our political, commercial, and social + system, and because it would be detrimental and injurious to us to + have it fall into the hands or sink under the domination of any + foreign power. For these reasons I was against sacrificing the + country when it was thrown away,--and thrown away by those who are + now so suddenly possessed of a fury to get it back. For these + reasons I am for getting it back whenever it can be done with peace + and honor, or even at the price of just war against any intrusive + European power; but I am against all disguise and artifice,--against + all pretexts,--and especially against weak and groundless pretexts, + discreditable to ourselves and offensive to others, too thin and + shallow not to be seen through by every beholder, and merely + invented to cover unworthy purposes. + +The treaty was rejected by an overwhelming vote, although Buchanan led a +few of his timeserving comrades from the North to the support of the +extreme Southern element. Benton then tried, but failed, to get through +a bill providing for a joint agreement between Mexico, Texas, and the +United States to settle definitely all boundary questions. Meanwhile the +presidential election occurred, with the result already mentioned. The +separatist and annexationist Democrats, the extreme slavery wing of the +party, defeated Van Buren and nominated Polk, who was their man; the +Whigs nominated Clay, who was heartily opposed to all the schemes of the +disunion and extreme slavery men, and who, if elected, while he might +very properly have consented to the admission of Texas with its old +boundaries, would never have brought on a war nor have attempted to add +a vast extent of new slave territory to the Union. Clay would have been +elected, and the slavery disunionists defeated, if in the very nick of +time the Abolitionists had not stepped in to support the latter, and by +their blindness in supporting Birney given the triumph to their own most +bitter opponents. Then the Abolitionists, having played their only +card, and played it badly, had to sit still and see what evil their acts +had produced; they had accomplished just as much as men generally do +accomplish when they dance to the tune that their worst foes play. + +Polk's election gave an enormous impulse to the annexation movement, and +made it doubly and trebly difficult for any one to withstand it. The +extreme disunion and slavery men, of course, hated Benton, himself a +Southwesterner from a slave-holding state, with peculiar venom, on +account of his attitude, very justly regarding him as the main obstacle +in their path; and the din and outcry raised against all who opposed the +schemes of the intriguers was directed with especial fury against the +Missourian. He was accused of being allied to the Whigs, of wishing to +break up the Democracy, and of many other things. Indeed, Benton's own +people were very largely against him, and it must always be remembered +that whereas Northeastern statesmen were certain to be on the popular +side in taking a stand against the extreme pro-slavery men, Benton's +position was often just the reverse. With them it was politic to do +right; with him it was not; and for this reason the praise awarded the +latter should be beyond measure greater than that awarded to the former. + +Still, there can be little question that he was somewhat, even although +only slightly, influenced by the storm of which he had to bear the +brunt; indeed, he would have been more than human if he had not been; +and probably this outside pressure was one among the causes that induced +him to accept a compromise in the matter, which took effect just before +Polk was inaugurated. The House of Representatives had passed a +resolution giving the consent of Congress to the admission of Texas as a +state, and allowing it the privilege of forming four additional states +out of its territory, whenever it should see fit. The line of the +Missouri Compromise, 36 deg. 30', was run through this new territory, +slavery being prohibited in the lands lying north of it, and permissible +or not, according to the will of the state seeking admission, in those +lying south of it. Benton meanwhile had introduced a bill merely +providing that negotiations should be entered into with Texas for its +admission, the proposed treaty or articles of agreement to be submitted +to the Senate or to Congress. He thereby kept the control in the hands +of the legislature, which the joint resolution did not; and moreover, as +he said in his speech, he wished to provide for due consideration being +shown Mexico in the arrangement of the boundary, and for the matter +being settled by commissioners. + +Neither resolution nor bill could get through by itself; and +accordingly it was proposed to combine both into one measure, leaving +the president free to choose either plan. To this proposition Benton +finally consented, it being understood that, as only three days of +Tyler's term remained, the execution of the act would be left to the +incoming president, and that the latter would adopt Benton's plans. The +friends of the admission of Texas assured the doubtful voters that such +would be the case. Polk himself gave full assurance that he would +appoint a commission, as provided by Benton's bill, if passed, with the +House resolution as an alternative; and McDuffie, Calhoun's friend, and +the senator from South Carolina, announced without reserve that +Calhoun--for Tyler need not be considered in the matter, after it had +been committed to the great nullifier--would not have the "audacity" to +try to take the settlement of the question away from the president, who +was to be inaugurated on the fourth of March. On the strength of these +assurances, which, if made good, would, of course, have rendered the +"alternative" a merely nominal one, Benton supported the measure, which +was then passed. Contrary to all expectation, Calhoun promptly acted +upon the legislative clause, and Polk made no effort to undo what the +former had done. This caused intense chagrin and anger to the +Bentonians; but they should certainly have taken such a contingency into +account, and though they might with much show of reason say that they +had been tricked into acting as they had done, yet it is probable that +the immense pressure from behind had made Benton too eager to follow any +way he could find that would take him out of the position into which his +conscience had led him. No amount of pressure would have made him +deliberately sanction a wrong; but it did render him a little less wary +in watching to see that the right was not infringed upon. It was most +natural that he should be anxious to find a common ground for himself +and his constituents to stand on; but it is to be regretted that this +anxiety to find a common ground should have made him willing to trust +blindly to vague pledges and promises, which he ought to have known +would not be held in the least binding by those on whose behalf they +were supposed to be made. + +Acting under this compromise measure Texas was admitted, and the +foundation for our war with Mexico was laid. Calhoun, under whom this +was done, nevertheless sincerely regretted the war itself, and freely +condemned Polk's administration for bringing it on; his own position +being that he desired to obtain without a war what it was impossible we +should get except at the cost of one. Benton, who had all along +consistently opposed doing a wrong to Mexico, attacked the whole war +party, and in a strong and bitter speech accused Calhoun of being the +cause of the contest; showing plainly that, whatever the ex-secretary of +state might say in regard to the acts immediately precipitating the +conflict, he himself was responsible as being in truth their original +cause. While stating his conviction, however, that Calhoun was the real +author of the war, Benton added that he did not believe that war was his +object, although an inevitable incident of the course he had pursued. + +Although heartily opposed to the war in its origin, Benton very properly +believed in prosecuting it with the utmost vigor when once we were +fairly in; and it was mainly owing to him that the proposed policy of a +"masterly inactivity" was abandoned, and the scheme of pushing straight +for the city of Mexico adopted in its stead. Indeed, it was actually +proposed to make him lieutenant-general, and therefore the +commander-in-chief of our forces in Mexico; but this was defeated in the +Senate, very fortunately, as it would have been a great outrage upon +Scott, Taylor, and every other soldier with real military training. It +seems extraordinary that Benton himself should not have seen the +absurdity and wrong of such a proposition. + +The wonderful hardihood and daring shown in the various expeditions +against Mexico, especially in those whereby her northwest territory was +wrested from her, naturally called forth all Benton's sympathy; and one +of his best speeches was that made to welcome Doniphan's victorious +volunteers after their return home from their famous march to +Chihuahua. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SLAVERY IN THE NEW TERRITORIES. + + +Hardly was Polk elected before it became evident to Benton and the other +Jacksonians that the days of the old Union or Nationalist Democracy were +over, and that the separatist and disunion elements within the party had +obtained the upper hand. The first sign of the new order of things was +the displacement of Blair, editor of the "Globe," the Democratic +newspaper organ. Blair was a strong Unionist, and had been bitterly +hostile to Calhoun and the Nullifiers. He had also opposed Tyler, the +representative of those states-rights and separatist Democrats, who by +their hostility to Jackson had been temporarily driven into the Whig +camp, and who, finding themselves in very uncongenial society, and +seeing, moreover, that their own principles were gradually coming to the +front in the old party, had begun drifting back again into it. Polk's +chances of election were so precarious that he was most anxious to +conciliate the Separatists; besides which he at heart sympathized with +their views, and had himself been brought forward in the Democratic +convention to beat the National candidate, Van Buren. Moreover, Tyler +withdrew from the contest in his favor; in part payment for which help, +soon after the election, Blair was turned out, and Ritchie of Virginia, +a man whose views suited the new Democratic leaders, was put in his +place; to the indignation not only of Benton, but also of Jackson +himself, then almost on his death-bed. Of course the break between the +two wings was as yet by no means complete. Polk needed the Union +Democrats, and the latter were still in good party standing. Benton +himself, as has been seen, was offered the command of all the forces in +Mexico, but the governmental policy, and the attitude of the party in +Congress after 1844, were widely different from what they had been while +Jackson's influence was supreme, or while the power he left behind him +was wielded by a knot of Union men. + +From this time the slavery question dwarfed all others, and was the one +with which Benton, as well as other statesmen, had mainly to deal. He +had been very loath to acknowledge that it was ever to become of such +overshadowing importance; until late in his life he had not realized +that, interwoven with the disunionist movement, it had grown so as to +become in reality the one and only question before the people; but, this +once thoroughly understood, he henceforth devoted his tremendous +energies to the struggle with it. He possessed such phenomenal power of +application and of study, and his capacity for and his delight in work +were so extraordinary, that he was able at the same time to grapple with +many other subjects of importance, and to present them in a way that +showed he had thoroughly mastered them both in principle and detail,--as +witness his speech in favor of giving the control of the coast survey to +the navy; but henceforth the importance of his actions lay in their +relation to the slavery extension movements. + +He had now entered on what may fairly be called the heroic part of his +career; for it would be difficult to choose any other word to express +our admiration for the unflinching and defiant courage with which, +supported only by conscience and by his loving loyalty to the Union, he +battled for the losing side, although by so doing he jeopardized and +eventually ruined his political prospects, being finally, as punishment +for his boldness in opposing the dominant faction of the Missouri +Democracy, turned out of the Senate, wherein he had passed nearly half +his life. Indeed, his was one of those natures that show better in +defeat than in victory. In his career there were many actions that must +command our unqualified admiration; such were his hostility to the +Nullifiers, wherein, taking into account his geographical location and +his refusal to compromise, he did better than any other public man, not +even excepting Jackson and Webster; his belief in honest money; and his +attitude towards all questions involving the honor or the maintenance +and extension of the Union. But in all these matters he was backed more +or less heartily by his state, and he had served four terms in the +federal Senate as the leading champion and representative, not alone of +Missouri, but also of the entire West. When, however, the slavery +question began to enter upon its final stage, Benton soon found himself +opposed to a large and growing faction of the Missouri Democracy, which +increased so rapidly that it soon became dominant. But he never for an +instant yielded his convictions, even when he saw the ground being thus +cut from under his feet, fighting for the right as sturdily as ever, +facing his fate fearlessly, and going down without a murmur. The +contrast between the conduct towards the slavery disunionists of this +Democrat from a slave-holding state, with a hostile majority at home +against him, and the conduct of Webster, a Whig, enthusiastically +backed by his own free state, in the same issue, is a painful one for +the latter. Indeed, on any moral point, Benton need have no cause to +fear comparison with any of his great rivals in the political arena. +During his career, the United States Senate was perhaps the most +influential, and certainly the ablest legislative body in the world; and +after Jackson's presidency came to an end the really great statesmen and +political leaders of the country were to be found in it, and not in the +executive chair. The period during which the great Missourian was so +prominent a figure in our politics, and which lasted up to the time of +the Civil War, might very appropriately be known in our history as the +time of the supremacy of the Senate. Such senators as Benton, Webster, +Clay, and Calhoun, and later on Douglas, Seward, and Sumner, fairly +towered above presidents like the obscure Southerners, Tyler and Polk, +or the truckling, timeserving Northern politicians, Pierce and Buchanan. +During the long interval coming between the two heroic ages of American +history,--the age of Washington and Franklin, and the age of Lincoln and +Grant,--it was but rarely that the nation gave its greatest gift to its +best or its greatest son. + +Benton had come into the Senate at the same time that Missouri was +admitted into the Union, with thanks, therefore, to the same measure, +the Missouri Compromise bill. This shut out slavery from all territory +north of the line of 36 deg. 30', and did not make it obligatory even where +it was permissible; and the immediate cause of Benton's downfall was his +courage and persistency in defending the terms of this compromise from +the attacks of the Southern slavery extensionists and disunionists. The +pro-slavery feeling was running ever higher and higher throughout the +South; and his stand on this question aroused the most furious anger +among a constantly increasing number of his constituents, and made him +the target for bitter and savage assaults on the part of his foes, the +spirit of hostility against him being carried to such length as finally +almost to involve him in an open brawl on the floor of the Senate with +one of his colleagues, Foote, who, like his fellow fire-eaters, found +that Benton was not a man who could be bullied. Indeed, his iron will +and magnificent physique both fitted him admirably for such a contest +against odds, and he seems to have entered into it with a positive zest. + +The political Abolitionists having put Polk in power, their action bore +fruit after its kind, and very soon the question had to be faced, as to +what should be done with the immense tracts of territory conquered from +Mexico. Benton opposed, as being needless and harmful, the Wilmot +Proviso, which forbade the introduction of slavery into any part of the +territory so acquired. He argued, and produced in evidence the laws and +Constitution of Mexico, that the soil of California and Mexico was +already free, and that as slavery would certainly never be, and indeed +could never be, introduced into either territory, the agitation of the +question could only result in harm. Calhoun and the other extreme +slavery leaders welcomed the discussion over this proviso, which led +Benton to remark that the Abolitionists and the Nullifiers were +necessary to each other,--the two blades of a pair of shears, neither of +which could cut until they were joined together. + +When Calhoun introduced his famous resolutions declaring that Congress +had no power to interfere with slavery in the territories, and therefore +no power to prevent the admission of new states except on the condition +of their prohibiting slavery within their limits, Benton promptly and +strongly opposed them as being firebrands needlessly thrown to inflame +the passions of the extremists, and, moreover, as being disunionist in +tendency. The following is his own account of what then took place: "Mr. +Calhoun said he had expected the support of Mr. Benton 'as the +representative of a slave-holding state.' Mr. Benton answered that it +was impossible that he could have expected such a thing. 'Then,' said +Mr. Calhoun, 'I shall know where to find that gentleman.' To which Mr. +Benton said: 'I shall be found in the right place,--on the side of my +country and the Union.' This answer, given on that day and on the spot, +is one of the incidents of his life which Mr. Benton will wish posterity +to remember." We can easily pardon the vanity which wishes and hopes +that such an answer, given under such conditions, may be remembered. +Indeed, Benton's attitude throughout all this period should never be +forgotten; and the words he spoke in answer to Calhoun marked him as the +leader among those Southerners who held the nation above any section +thereof, even their own, and whose courage and self-sacrifice in the +cause of the Union entitled them to more praise than by right belongs to +any equal number of Northerners; those Southerners who in the civil war +furnished Farragut, Thomas, Bristow, and countless others as loyal as +they were brave. The effect of Benton's teachings and the still +remaining influence of his intense personality did more than aught else +to keep Missouri within the Union, when her sister states went out of +it. + +Benton always regarded much of the slavery agitation in the South as +being political in character, and the result of the schemes of ambitious +and unscrupulous leaders. He believed that Calhoun had introduced a set +of resolutions that were totally uncalled for, simply for the purpose of +carrying a question to the Slave States on which they could be formed +into a unit against the Free States; and there is much to be said in +support of his view. Certainly the resolutions mark the beginning of the +first great slavery agitation throughout the Southern States, which was +engineered and guided for their own ends by politicians like Jefferson +Davis. These resolutions were absolutely inconsistent with many of +Calhoun's previous declarations; and that fact was also sharply +commented on by Benton in his speeches and writings. He also criticised +with caustic severity Calhoun's statements that he wished to save the +Union by forcing the North to take a position so agreeable to the South +as to make the latter willing not to separate. He showed that Calhoun's +proposed "constitutional" and "peaceable" methods of bringing this about +by prohibiting commercial intercourse between the two sections would +themselves be flagrant breaches of the Constitution and acts of +disunion,--all the more so as it was proposed to discriminate in favor +of the Northwest as against the Northeast. Calhoun wished to bring +about a convention of the Southern States, in order to secure the +necessary unity of action; and one of the main obstacles to the success +of the plan was Missouri's refusal to take part in it. Great efforts +were made to win her over, and to beat down Benton; the extreme +pro-slavery men honoring him with a hatred more intense than that they +harbored towards any Northerner. Some of Calhoun's recent biographers +have credited him with being really a Union man at heart. It seems +absolutely impossible that this could have been the case; and the +supposition is certainly not compatible with the belief that he retained +his right senses. Benton characterizes his system of slavery agitation, +very truthfully, as being one "to force issues upon the North under the +pretext of self-defense, and to sectionalize the South, preparatory to +disunion, through the instrumentality of sectional conventions, composed +wholly of delegates from the slave-holding states." + +When the question of the admission of Oregon came up, Calhoun attempted +to apply to it a dogma wholly at variance with all his former positions +on the subject. This was the theory of the self-extension of the slavery +part of the Constitution to the territories; that is, he held that the +exclusion of slavery from any part of the new territory was itself a +subversion of the Constitution. Such a dogma was so monstrous in +character, so illogical, so inconsistent with all his former theories, +and so absolutely incompatible with the preservation of the Union, that +it renders it impossible to believe that his asseverations of devotion +to the latter were uttered honestly or in good faith. Most modern +readers will agree with Benton that he deliberately worked to bring +about secession. + +Meanwhile the Missourian had gained an ally of his own stamp in the +Senate. This was Houston, from the new State of Texas, who represented +in that state, like Andrew Jackson in Tennessee, and Benton himself in +Missouri, the old Nationalist Democracy, which held the preservation of +the Union dear above all other things. Houston was a man after Benton's +own heart, and was thoroughly Jacksonian in type. He was rough, honest, +and fearless, a devoted friend and a vengeful enemy, and he promised +that combination of stubborn courage and capacity of devotion to an +ideal that renders a man an invaluable ally in a fight against odds for +principle. + +After much discussion and amendment, the Oregon bill, containing a +radical anti-slavery clause, passed both houses and became a law in +spite of the violent opposition of some of the Southerners, headed by +Calhoun, who announced that the great strife between the North and the +South was ended, and that the time had come for the South to show that, +though she prized the Union, yet there were matters which she regarded +as of greater importance than its preservation. His ire was most +fiercely excited by the action of Benton and Houston in supporting the +bill, and after his return to South Carolina he denounced them by name +as traitors to the South,--"a denunciation," says Benton, "which they +took for a distinction; as what he called treason to the South they knew +to be allegiance to the Union." When it was proposed to extend by bill +the Constitution of the United States into the territories, with a view +to carrying slavery into California, Utah, and New Mexico, Benton was +again opposed to Calhoun. As a matter of course, too, he was the +stoutest opponent of the Southern convention and other similar disunion +movements that were beginning to take shape throughout the South, +instigated by the two rank secession states of South Carolina and +Mississippi. + +Most of the momentous questions springing out of the war with Mexico +were left by Polk as legacies to his successor, when the former went out +of office, after an administration that Benton criticised with extreme +sharpness, although he tried to shield the president by casting the +blame for his actions upon his cabinet advisers; characterizing the +Mexican War as one of "speculation and intrigue," and as the "great +blot" of his four years' term of office, and ridiculing the theory that +we were acting in self-defense, or that our soil had been invaded. In +1848 the Democrats nominated Cass, a Northern pro-slavery politician of +moderate abilities, and the Whigs put up and elected old Zachary Taylor, +the rough frontier soldier and Louisiana slave-holder. The political +Abolitionists again took a hand in the contest, but this time abandoned +their abolition theories, substituting instead thereof the prohibition +of slavery in the new territories. They derived much additional +importance from their alliance with a disappointed politician in the +pivotal State of New York; and in this case, in sharp contrast to the +result in 1844, their actions worked good, and not evil. Van Buren, +chagrined and angered by the way he was treated by the regular +Democrats, organized a revolt against them, and used the banner of the +new Free Soil party as one under which to rally his adherents. This +movement was of consequence mainly in New York, and there it soon became +little more than a mere fight between the two sections of the Democracy. +Benton himself visited this all-important state to try to patch up +matters, but he fortunately failed. The factions proved very nearly +equal in strength; and as a consequence the Whigs carried the state and +the election, and once more held the reins of government. + +When a Louisiana slave-holder was thus installed in the White House, the +extreme Southern men may have thought that they were sure of him as an +ally in their fight against freedom. But, if so, they soon found they +had reckoned without their host, for the election of Taylor affords a +curious, though not solitary, instance in which the American people +builded better than they knew in choosing a chief executive. Nothing +whatever was known of his political theories, and the Whigs nominated +him simply because he was a successful soldier, likely to take the +popular fancy. But once elected he turned out to have the very qualities +we then most needed in a president,--a stout heart, shrewd common sense, +and thorough-going devotion to the Union. Although with widely different +training from Benton, and nominally differing from him in politics, he +was yet of the same stamp both in character and principles; both were +Union Southerners, not in the least afraid of openly asserting their +opinions, and, if necessary, of making them good by their acts. In his +first and only annual message, Taylor expressed, upon all the important +questions of the day, views that were exactly similar to those advanced +before or after by Benton himself in the Senate; and he used similar +emphasis and plainness of speech. He declared the Union to be the +greatest of blessings, which he would maintain in every way against +whatever dangers might threaten it; he advised the admission of +California, which wished to come in as a free state; he thought that the +territories of Utah and New Mexico should be left as they were; and he +warned the Texans, who were blustering about certain alleged rights to +New Mexican soil, and threatening to take them by force of arms, that +this could not be permitted, and that the matter would have to be +settled by the judicial authority of the United States. Benton heartily +indorsed the message. Naturally, it was bitterly assailed by the +disunionists under Calhoun; and even Clay, who entirely lacked Taylor's +backbone, was dissatisfied with it as being too extreme in tone, and +conflicting with his proposed compromise measures. These same compromise +measures brought the Kentucky leader into conflict with Benton also, +especially on the point of their interfering with the immediate +admission of California into the Union. + +This is not the place to discuss Clay's proposed compromise, which was +not satisfactory to the extreme Southerners, and still less so to the +Unionists and anti-slavery men. It consisted of five different parts, +relating to the recovery of fugitive slaves, the suppression of the +slave-trade in the District of Columbia, the admission of California as +a state, and the territorial condition of Utah and New Mexico. Benton +opposed it as mixing up incongruous measures; as being unjust to +California, inasmuch as it confounded the question of her admission with +the general slavery agitation in the United States; and above all as +being a concession or capitulation to the spirit of disunion and +secession, and therefore a repetition of the error of 1833. Benton +always desired to meet and check any disunion movement at the very +outset, and, if he had had his way, would have carried matters with a +high hand whenever it came to dealing with threats of such a proceeding; +and therein he was perfectly right. In regard to the proposed compromise +he believed in dealing with each question as it arose, beginning with +the admission of California, and refusing to have any compromise at all +with those who threatened secession. + +The slavery extensionists endeavored to have the Missouri compromise +line stretched on to the Pacific. Benton, avowing his belief that +slavery was an evil, opposed this, and gave his reasons why he did not +wish to see the line which had been used to divide free and slave soil +in the French or Louisiana purchase extended into the lands won from +Mexico. Slavery had always existed in Louisiana, while it had been long +abolished in Mexico. "The Missouri compromise line, extending to New +Mexico and California, though astronomically the same as that in +Louisiana, would be politically directly the opposite. One went through +a territory all slave, and made one half free; the other would go +through territory all free, and make one half slave." In fact Benton, as +he grew older, unlike most of his compatriots, gained a clearer insight +into the effects of slavery. This was shown in his comments upon +Calhoun's statement, made in the latter's last speech, in reference to +the unequal development of the North and South; which, Benton said, was +partly owing to the existence of "slavery itself, which he (Calhoun) was +so anxious to extend." It was in this same speech that Calhoun hinted at +his plan for a dual executive,--one president from the Free and one from +the Slave States,--a childish proposition, that Benton properly treated +as a simple absurdity. + +In his speech against the compromise, Benton discussed it, section by +section, with great force, and with his usual blunt truthfulness. His +main count was the injustice done to California by delaying her +admittance, and making it dependent upon other issues; but he made +almost as strong a point against the effort to settle the claims of +Texas to New Mexican territory. The Texan threats to use force he +treated with cavalier indifference, remarking that as long as New Mexico +was a territory, and therefore belonged to the United States, any +controversy with her was a controversy with the federal government, +which would know how to play her part by "defending her territory from +invasion, and her people from violence,"--a hint that had a salutary +effect upon the Texans; in fact the disunionists, generally, were not +apt to do much more than threaten while a Whig like Taylor was backed up +by a Democrat like Benton. He also pointed out that it was not +necessary, however desirable, to make a compact with Texas about the +boundaries, as they could always be settled, whether she wished it or +not, by a suit before the Supreme Court; and again intimated that a +little show of firmness would remove all danger of a collision. "As to +anything that Texas or New Mexico may do in taking or relinquishing +possession, that is all moonshine. New Mexico is the property of the +United States, and she cannot dispose of herself or any part of +herself, nor can Texas take her or any part of her." He showed a +thorough acquaintance with New Mexican geography and history, and +alluded to the bills he had already brought in, in 1844 and 1850, to +establish a divisional line between the territory and Texas, on the +longitude first of one hundred and then of one hundred and two degrees. +He recalled the fact that before the annexation of Texas, and in a bill +proposing to settle all questions with her, he had inserted a provision +forever prohibiting slavery in all parts of the annexed territory lying +west of the hundredth degree of longitude. He also took the opportunity +of formally stating his opposition to any form of slavery extension, +remarking that it was no new idea with him, but dated from the time when +in 1804, while a law student in Tennessee, he had studied Blackstone as +edited by the learned Virginian, Judge Tucker, who, in an appendix, +treated of, and totally condemned, black slavery in the United States. +The very difficulty, or, as he deemed it, the impossibility, of getting +rid of the evil, made Benton all the more determined in opposing its +extension. "The incurability of the evil is the greatest objection to +the extension of slavery. If it is wrong for the legislator to inflict +an evil which can be cured, how much more to inflict one that is +incurable, and against the will of the people who are to endure it +forever! I quarrel with no one for deeming slavery a blessing; I deem it +an evil, and would neither adopt it nor impose it on others." The +solution of the problem of disposing of existent slavery, he confessed, +seemed beyond human wisdom; but "there is a wisdom above human, and to +that we must look. In the mean time, do not extend the evil." In +justification of his position he quoted previous actions of Congress, +done under the lead of Southern men, in refusing again and again, down +to 1807, to allow slavery to be introduced into Indiana, when that +community petitioned for it. He also repudiated strongly the whole +spirit in which Clay had gotten up his compromise bill, stating that he +did not believe in geographical parties; that he knew no North and no +South, and utterly rejected any slavery compromises except those to be +found in the Constitution. Altogether it was a great speech, and his +opposition was one of the main causes of the defeat of Clay's measure. + +Benton's position on the Wilmot Proviso is worth giving in his own +words: "That measure was rejected again as heretofore, and by the votes +of those who were opposed to extending slavery into the territories, +because it was unnecessary and inoperative,--irritating to the Slave +States, without benefit to the Free States, a mere work of +supererogation, of which the fruit was discontent. It was rejected, not +on the principle of non-intervention; not on the principle of leaving to +the territories to do as they pleased on the question, but because there +had been intervention; because Mexican law and constitution had +intervened, had abolished slavery by law in those dominions; which law +would remain in force until repealed by Congress. All that the opponents +to the extension of slavery had to do, then, was to do nothing. And they +did nothing." + +Before California was admitted into the Union old Zachary Taylor had +died, leaving behind him a name that will always be remembered among our +people. He was neither a great statesman nor yet a great commander; but +he was an able and gallant soldier, a loyal and upright public servant, +and a most kindly, honest, and truthful man. His death was a greater +loss to the country than perhaps the people ever knew. + +The bill for the admission of California as a free state, heartily +sustained by Benton, was made a test question by the Southern +disunionists; but on this occasion they were thoroughly beaten. The +great struggle was made over a proposition to limit the southern +boundary of the state to the line of 36 deg. 30', and to extend the Missouri +line through to the Pacific, so as to authorize the existence of slavery +in all the territory south of that latitude. This was defeated by a vote +of thirty-two to twenty-four. Not only Benton, but also Spruance and +Wales of Delaware, and Underwood of Kentucky, joined with the +representatives from the Free States in opposing it. Had it not been for +the action of these four slave-state senators in leaving their +associates, the vote would have been a tie; and their courage and +patriotism should be remembered. The bill was then passed by a vote of +thirty-four to eighteen, two other Southern senators, Houston of Texas, +and Bell of Tennessee, voting for it, in addition to the four already +mentioned. After its passage, ten of the senators who had voted against +it, including, of course, Jefferson Davis, and also Benton's own +colleague from Missouri, Atchison, joined in a protest against what had +been done, ending with a thinly veiled threat of disunion,--"dissolution +of the confederacy," as they styled it. Benton stoutly and successfully +opposed allowing this protest to be received or entered upon the +journal, condemning it, with a frankness that very few of his +fellow-senators would have dared to copy, as being sectional and +disunion in form, and therefore unfit even for preservation on the +records. + +When the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was passed, through the help of some +Northern votes, Benton refused to support it; and this was the last act +of importance that he performed as United States Senator. He had risen +and grown steadily all through his long term of service; and during its +last period he did greater service to the nation than any of his +fellow-senators. Compare his stand against the slavery extremists and +disunionists, such as Calhoun, with the position of Webster at the time +of his famous seventh of March speech, or with that of Clay when he +brought in his compromise bill! In fact, as the times grew more +troublesome, he grew steadily better able to do good work in them. + +It is this fact of growth that especially marks his career. No other +American statesman, except John Quincy Adams,--certainly neither of his +great contemporaries, Webster and Clay,--kept doing continually better +work throughout his term of public service, or showed himself able to +rise to a higher level at the very end than at the beginning. Yet such +was the case with Benton. He always rose to meet a really great +emergency; and his services to the nation grew steadily in importance +to the very close of his life. Whereas Webster and Clay passed their +zenith and fell, he kept rising all the time. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +THE LOSING FIGHT. + + +Benton had now finished his fifth and last term in the United States +Senate. He had been chosen senator from Missouri before she was admitted +into the Union, and had remained such for thirty years. During all that +time the state had been steadily Democratic, the large Whig minority +never being able to get control; but on the question of the extension of +slavery the dominant party itself began at this time to break into two +factions. Hitherto Benton had been the undisputed leader of the +Democracy, but now the pro-slavery and disunionist Democrats organized a +very powerful opposition to him; while he still received the +enthusiastic support of an almost equally numerous body of followers. +Although the extension of slavery and the preservation of the Union were +the two chief and vital points on which the factions differed, yet the +names by which they designated each other were adopted in consequence of +their differing also on a third and only less important one. Benton was +such a firm believer in hard money, and a currency of gold and silver, +as to have received the nickname of "Old Bullion," and his followers +were called "hards;" his opponents were soft money men, in addition to +being secessionists and pro-slavery fanatics, and took the name of +"softs." The principles of the Bentonians were right, and those of their +opponents wrong; but for all that the latter gradually gained upon the +former. Finally, in the midst of Benton's fight against the extension of +slavery into the territories, the "softs" carried the Missouri +legislature, and passed a series of resolutions based upon those of +Calhoun. These were most truculent and disloyal in tone, demanding that +slavery be permitted to exist in all the new states to be admitted, and +instructing their senators to vote accordingly. These resolutions were +presented in the senate by Benton's colleague from Missouri, Atchison, +who was rather hostile to him and to every other friend of the Union, +and later on achieved disreputable notoriety as a leader of the "border +ruffians" in the affrays on the soil of Kansas. Benton at once picked up +the glove that had been flung down. He utterly refused to obey the +resolutions, denounced them savagely as being treasonable and offensive +in the highest degree, asserted that they did not express the true +opinions of the voters of the state, and appealed from the Missouri +legislature to the Missouri people. + +The issue between the two sides was now sharply brought out, and, as +this took place towards the end of Benton's fifth term, the struggle to +command the legislature which should reelect him or give him a successor +was most exciting. Benton himself took an active part in the preliminary +canvass. Neither faction was able to get a majority of the members, and +the deadlock was finally broken by the "softs" coming to the support of +the Whigs, and helping them to elect Benton's rival. Thus, after serving +his state faithfully and ably for thirty years, he was finally turned +out of the position which he so worthily filled, because he had +committed the crime of standing loyally by the Union. + +But the stout old Nationalist was not in the least cast down or even +shaken by his defeat. He kept up the fight as bitterly as ever, though +now an old man, and in 1852 went to Congress as a representative Union +Democrat. For thirty years he had been the autocrat of Missouri +politics, and had at one time wielded throughout his own state a power +as great as Calhoun possessed in South Carolina; greater than Webster +held in Massachusetts, or Clay in Kentucky. But the tide which had so +long flowed in his favor now turned, and for the few remaining years of +his life set as steadily against him; yet at no time of his long public +career did he stand forth as honorably and prominently as during his +last days, when he was showing so stern a front to his victorious foes. +His love for work was so great that, when out of the Senate, he did not +find even his incessant political occupations enough for him. During his +contest for the senatorship his hands had been full, for he had spoken +again and again throughout the entire state, his carefully prepared +speeches showing remarkable power, and filled with scathing denunciation +and invective and biting and caustic sarcasm. But so soon as his defeat +was assured he turned his attention immediately to literature, setting +to work on his great "Thirty Years' View," of which the first volume was +printed during his congressional term, and was quoted on the floor of +the House, both by his friends and foes, during the debates in which he +was taking part. + +In 1852, when he was elected to Congress as a member of the House, he +had supported Pierce for the presidency against Scott, a good general, +but otherwise a wholly absurd and flatulent personage, who was the Whig +nominee. But it soon became evident that Pierce was completely under +the control of the secession wing of the party, and Benton +thereafterwards treated him with contemptuous hostility, despising him, +and seeing him exactly as he was,--a small politician, of low capacity +and mean surroundings, proud to act as the servile tool of men worse +than himself but also stronger and abler. He was ever ready to do any +work the slavery leaders set him, and to act as their attorney in +arguing in its favor,--to quote Benton's phrase, with "undaunted +mendacity, moral callosity [and] mental obliquity." His last message to +Congress in the slavery interest Benton spoke of as characteristic, and +exemplifying "all the modes of conveying untruths which long ages have +invented,--direct assertion, fallacious inference, equivocal phrase, and +false innuendo." As he entertained such views of the head of the +Democratic party, and as this same head was in hearty accord with, and a +good representative of the mass of the rank and file politicians of the +organization, it is small wonder that Benton found himself, on every +important question that came up while he was in Congress, opposed to the +mass of his fellow-Democrats. + +Although the great questions to which he devoted himself, while a +representative in Congress, were those relating to the extension of +slavery, yet he also found time to give to certain other subjects, +working as usual with indomitable energy, and retaining his marvelous +memory to the last. The idea of desponding or giving up, for any cause +whatever, simply never entered his head. When his house, containing all +the manuscript and papers of the nearly completed second volume of his +"Thirty Years' View," was burned up, he did not delay a minute in +recommencing his work, and the very next day spoke in Congress as usual. + +His speeches were showing a steady improvement; they were not +masterpieces, even at the last, but in every way, especially in style, +they were infinitely superior to those that he had made on his first +entrance into public life. Of course, a man with his intense pride in +his country, and characterized by such a desire to see her become +greater and more united in every way, would naturally support the +proposal to build a Pacific Railroad, and accordingly he argued for it +at great length and with force and justness, at the same time opposing +the propositions to build northern and southern trans-continental roads +as substitutes for the proposed central route. He showed the character +of the land through which the road would run, and the easiness of the +passes across the Rockies, and prophesied a rapid increase of states as +one of the results attendant upon its building. At the end of his speech +he made an elaborate comparison of the courses of trade and commerce at +different periods of the world's history, and showed that, as we had +reached the Pacific coast, we had finally taken a position where our +trade with the Oriental kingdoms, backed up by our own enormous internal +development, rendered us more than ever independent of Europe. + +In another speech he discussed very intelligently, and with his usual +complete command of the facts of the case, some of the contemporary +Indian uprisings in the far West. He attacked our whole Indian policy, +showing that the corruption of the Indian agents, coupled with astute +aggressions, were the usual causes of our wars. Further, he criticised +our regular troops as being unfit to cope with the savages, and +advocated the formation of companies of frontier rangers, who should +also be settlers, and should receive from the government a bounty in +land as part reward for their service. Many of his remarks on our Indian +policy apply quite as well now as they did then, and our regular +soldiers are certainly not the proper opponents for the Indians; but +Benton's military views were, as a rule, the reverse of sensible, and we +cannot accept his denunciations of the army, and especially of West +Point, as being worth serious consideration. His belief in the marvelous +efficacy of a raw militia, especially as regards war with European +powers, was childish, and much of his feeling against the regular army +officer was dictated by jealousy. He was, by all the peculiarities of +his habits and education, utterly unfitted for military command; and it +would have been an evil day for his good fame if Polk had succeeded in +having him made lieutenant-general of our forces in Mexico. + +His remarks upon our Indian policy were not the only ones he made that +would bear study even yet. Certain of his speeches upon the different +land-bounty and pension bills, passed nominally in the interests of +veterans, but really through demagogy and the machination of +speculators, could be read with profit by not a few Congressmen at the +present time. One of his utterances was: "I am a friend to old soldiers +... but not to old speculators;" and while favoring proper pension bills +he showed the foolishness and criminality of certain others very +clearly, together with the fact that, when passed long after the +services have been rendered, they always fail to relieve the real +sufferers, and work in the interests of unworthy outsiders. + +But his great speech, and one of the best and greatest that he ever +made, was the one in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska bill, which was +being pushed through Congress by the fire-eaters and their Northern +pro-slavery followers. His own position upon the measure was best +expressed by the words he used in commenting on the remarks of a +Georgian member: "He votes as a Southern man, and votes sectionally; I +also am a Southern man, but vote nationally on national questions." + +The Missouri Compromise of 1820 had expressly abolished slavery in the +territory out of which Kansas and Nebraska were carved. By the proposed +bill this compromise was to be repealed, and the famous doctrine of +non-intervention, or "squatter sovereignty," was to take its place, the +people of each territory being allowed to choose for themselves whether +they did or did not wish slavery. Benton attacked the proposal with all +the strength of his frank, open nature as "a bungling attempt to smuggle +slavery into the territory, and throughout all the country, up to the +Canada line and out to the Rocky Mountains." He showed exhaustively the +real nature of the original Missouri Compromise, which, as he said, was +forced by the South upon the North, and which the South now proposed to +repeal, that it might humiliate the North still further. The compromise +of 1820 was, he justly contended, right; it was like the original +compromises of the Constitution, by which the Slave States were admitted +to the formation of the Union; no greater concession of principle was +involved in the one case than in the other; and, had either compromise +failed, the Union would not now be in existence. But the day when +compromises had been necessary, or even harmless, had passed. The time +had come when the extension of slavery was to be opposed in every +constitutional way; and it was an outrage to propose to extend its +domain by repealing all that part of a compromise measure which worked +against it, when the South had already long taken advantage of such +parts of the law as worked in its favor. Said Benton: "The South divided +and took half, and now it will not do to claim the other half." Exactly +as a proposition to destroy the slavery compromises of the Constitution +would be an open attempt to destroy the Union, so, he said, the attempt +to abrogate the compromise of 1820 would be a preparation for the same +ending. "I have stood upon the Missouri Compromise for about thirty +years, and mean to stand upon it to the end of my life ... [it is] a +binding covenant upon both parties, and the more so upon the South, as +she imposed it." + +The squatter sovereignty theories of Douglas he treated with deserved +ridicule, laughing at the idea that the territories were not the actual +property of the nation, to be treated as the latter wished, and having +none of the rights of sovereign states; and he condemned even more +severely the theory advanced to the effect that Congress had no power to +legislate on slavery in the territories. Thus, he pointed out that to +admit any such theories was directly to reverse the principles upon +which we had acted for seventy years in regard to the various +territories that from time to time grew to such size as entitled them to +come into the Union as states. After showing that there was no excuse +for bringing in the bill on the plea of settling the slavery question, +since there was not a foot of territory in the United States where the +subject of slavery was not already settled by law, he closed with an +earnest appeal against such an attempt to break up the Union and outrage +the North by forcing slavery into a land where its existence was already +forbidden by law. His speech exceeded the hour allotted to it, and he +was allowed to go on only by the courtesy of a member from Illinois, +who, when some of the Southerners protested against his being heard +farther, gave up part of his own time to the grand old Missourian, and +asked the House to hear him, if only "as the oldest living man in +Congress, the only man in Congress who was present at the passage of +the Missouri Compromise bill." Many a man at the North, ashamed and +indignant at seeing the politicians of his own section cower at the +crack of the Southern whip, felt a glow of sincere gratitude and +admiration for the rugged Westerner, who so boldly bade defiance to the +ruling slave party that held the reins not only in his own section, but +also in his own state, and to oppose which was almost certain political +death. + +The Gadsden treaty was also strongly opposed and condemned by Benton, +who considered it to be part of a great scheme or movement in the +interests of the slavery disunionists, of which he also believed the +Kansas-Nebraska bill to be the first development,--the "thin end of the +wedge." He opposed the acquirement even of the small piece of territory +we were actually able to purchase from Mexico; and showed good grounds +for his belief that the administration, acting as usual only in the +interest of the secessionists, had tried to get enough North-Mexican +territory to form several new states, and had also attempted to purchase +Cuba, both efforts being for the purpose of enabling the South either to +become again dominant in the Union or else to set up a separate +confederacy of her own. For it must be kept in mind that Benton always +believed that the Southern disunion movements were largely due to +conspiracies among ambitious politicians, who used the slavery question +as a handle by which to influence the mass of the people. This view has +certainly more truth in it than it is now the fashion to admit. His +objection to the actual treaty was mainly based on its having been done +by the executive without the consent of the legislature, and he also +criticised it for the secrecy with which it had been put through. In +bringing forward the first objection, however, he was confronted with +Jefferson's conduct in acquiring Louisiana, which he endeavored, not +very successfully, to show had nothing in common with the actions of +Pierce, who, he said, simply demanded a check from the House with which +to complete a purchase undertaken on his own responsibility. + +Throughout his congressional term of service, Benton acted so as to +deserve well of the Union as a whole, and most well of Missouri in +particular. But he could not stem the tide of folly and madness in this +state, and was defeated when he was a candidate for reelection. The +Whigs had now disappeared from the political arena, and the +Know-nothings were running through their short and crooked lease of +life; they foolishly nominated a third candidate in Benton's district, +who drew off enough votes from him to enable his pro-slavery Democratic +competitor to win. + +No sooner had he lost his seat in Congress than Benton, indefatigable as +ever, set to work to finish his "Thirty Years' View," and produced the +second volume in 1856, the year when he made his last attempt to regain +his hold in politics, and to win Missouri back to the old Union +standard. Although his own son-in-law, Fremont, the daring western +explorer, was running as the first presidential candidate ever nominated +by the Republicans, the old partisan voted for the Democrat, Buchanan. +He did not like Buchanan, considering him weak and unsuitable, but the +Republican party he believed to be entirely too sectional in character +for him to give it his support. For governor there was a triangular +fight, the Know-nothings having nominated one candidate, the +secessionist Democrats a second, while Benton himself ran as the choice +of the Union Democracy. He was now seventy-four years old, but his mind +was as vigorous as ever, and his iron will kept up a frame that had +hardly even yet begun to give way. During the course of the campaign he +traveled throughout the state, going in all twelve hundred miles, and +making forty speeches, each one of two or three hours' length. This was +a remarkable feat for so old a man; indeed, it has very rarely been +paralleled, except by Gladstone's recent performances. The vote was +quite evenly divided between the three candidates; but Benton came in +third, and the extreme pro-slavery men carried the day. After this, +during the few months of life he yet had left, he did not again mingle +in the politics of Missouri. + +But in the days of his defeat at home, the regard and respect in which +he was held in the other states, especially at the North, increased +steadily; and in the fall of 1856 he made by request a lecturing tour in +New England, speaking on the danger of the political situation and the +imperative necessity of preserving the Union, which he now clearly saw +to be gravely threatened. He was well received, for the North was +learning to respect him, and he had gotten over his early hostility to +New England,--a hostility originally shared by the whole West. The New +Englanders were not yet aware, however, of the importance of the +secession movements, and paid little heed to the warnings that were to +be so fully justified by the events of the next few years. But Benton, +in spite of his great age, saw distinctly the changes that were taking +place, and the dangers that were impending,--an unusual thing for a man +whose active life has already been lived out under widely different +conditions. + +He again turned his attention to literature, and produced another great +work, the "Abridgment of the Debates of Congress from 1787 to 1856," in +sixteen volumes, besides writing a valuable pamphlet on the Dred Scott +decision, which he severely criticised. The amount of labor all this +required was immense, and his health completely gave way; yet he +continued working to the very end, dictating the closing portion of the +"Abridgment" in a whisper as he lay on his death-bed. When he once began +to fail his advanced years made him succumb rapidly; and on April 10, +1858, he died, in the city of Washington. As soon as the news reached +Missouri, a great revulsion of feeling took place, and all classes of +the people united to do honor to the memory of the dead statesman, +realizing that they had lost a man who towered head and shoulders above +both friends and foes. The body was taken to St. Louis, and after lying +in state was buried in Bellefontaine Cemetery, more than forty thousand +people witnessing the funeral. All the public buildings were draped in +mourning; all places of business were closed, and the flags everywhere +were at half-mast. Thus at the very end the great city of the West at +last again paid fit homage to the West's mightiest son. + +Benton's most important writings are those mentioned above. The "Thirty +Years' View" ("a history of the working of the American government for +thirty years, from 1820 to 1850") will always be indispensable to every +student of American history. It deals with the deeds of both houses of +Congress, and of some of the higher federal officials during his thirty +years' term of service in the Senate, and is valuable alike for the +original data it contains, and because it is so complete a record of our +public life at that time. The book is also remarkable for its courteous +and equable tone, even towards bitter personal and political enemies. It +shows a vanity on the part of the author that is too frank and free from +malice to be anything but amusing; the style is rather ponderous, and +the English not always good, for Benton began life, and, in fact, +largely passed it, in an age of ornate periods, when grandiloquence was +considered more essential than grammar. In much of the Mississippi +valley the people had their own canons of literary taste; indeed, in a +recent book by one of Benton's admirers, there is a fond allusion to his +statement, anent the expunging resolution, that "solitary and alone" he +had set the ball in motion,--the pleonasm being evidently looked upon in +the light of a rather fine oratorical outburst. + +"The Abridgment of the Debates of Congress from 1789 to 1856" he was +only able to bring down to 1850. Sixteen volumes were published. It was +a compilation needing infinite labor, and is invaluable to the +historian. While in the midst of the vast work he also found time to +write his "Examination of the Dred Scott case," in so far as it decided +the Missouri Compromise law to be unconstitutional, and asserted the +self-extension of the Constitution into the territories, carrying +slavery with it,--the decision in this case promulgated by Judge Taney, +of unhappy fame, having been the last step taken in the interests of +slavery and for the overthrow of freedom. The pamphlet contained nearly +two hundred pages, and showed, as was invariably the case with anything +Benton did, the effects of laborious research and wide historical and +legal learning. His summing up was, "that the decision conflicts with +the uniform action of all the departments of the federal government from +its foundation to the present time, and cannot be accepted as a rule to +govern Congress and the people, without severing that act and admitting +the political supremacy of the court and accepting an altered +constitution from its hands, and taking a new and portentous point of +departure in the working of the government." He denounced the new party +theories of the Democracy, which had abandoned the old belief of the +founders of the Republic, that Congress had power to legislate upon +slavery in territories, and which had gone on "from the abrogation of +the Missouri Compromise, which saved the Union, to squatter sovereignty, +which killed the compromise, and thence to the decisions of the supreme +court, which kill both." In closing he touched briefly on the history of +the pro-slavery agitation. "Up to Mr. Pierce's administration the plan +had been defensive, that is to say, to make the secession of the South a +measure of self-defense against the abolition encroachments and crusades +of the North. In the time of Mr. Pierce the plan became offensive, that +is to say, to commence the expansion of slavery, and the acquisition of +territory to spread it over, so as to overpower the North with new Slave +States, and drive them out of the Union.... The rising in the Free +States, in consequence of the abrogation of the Missouri Compromise, +checked these schemes, and limited the success of the disunionists to +the revival of the agitation which enables them to wield the South +against the North in all the federal elections and all federal +legislation. Accidents and events have given the party a strange +preeminence,--under Jackson's administration proclaimed for treason; +since at the head of the government and of the Democratic party. The +death of Harrison, and the accession of Tyler, was their first great +lift; the election of Mr. Pierce was their culminating point." This was +the last protest of the last of the old Jacksonian leaders against that +new generation of Democrats, whose delight it had become to bow down to +strange gods. + +In his private life Benton's relations were of the pleasantest. He was a +religious man, although, like his great political chief, he could on +occasions swear roundly. He was rigidly moral, and he was too fond of +work ever to make social life a business. But he liked small dinners, +with just a few intimate friends or noted and brilliant public men, and +always shone at such an entertainment. Although he had not traveled +much, he gave the impression of having done so, by reason of his wide +reading, and because he always made a point of knowing all explorers, +especially those who had penetrated our great western wilds. His +geographical knowledge was wonderful; and his good nature, as well as +his delight in work for work's sake, made him of more use than any +library of reference, if his friends needed information upon some +abstruse matter,--Webster himself acknowledging his indebtedness to him +on one occasion, and being the authority for the statement that Benton +knew more political facts than any other man he had ever met, even than +John Quincy Adams, and possessed a wonderful fund of general knowledge. +Although very gentle in his dealings with those for whom he cared, +Benton originally was rather quarrelsome and revengeful in character. +His personal and political prejudices were bitter, and he denounced his +enemies freely in public and from the stump; yet he always declined to +take part in joint political debates, on account of the personal +discourtesy with which they were usually conducted. He gave his whole +time to public life, rarely or never attending to his law practice after +he had fairly entered the political field. + +Benton was one of those who were present and escaped death at the time +of the terrible accident on board the Princeton, during Tyler's +administration, when the bursting of her great gun killed so many +prominent men. Benton was saved owing to the fact that, +characteristically enough, he had stepped to one side the better to note +the marksmanship of the gunner. Ex-Governor Gilmer, of Virginia, who had +taken his place, was instantly killed. Tyler, who was also on board, was +likewise saved in consequence of the exhibition of a characteristic +trait; for, just as the gun was about to be fired, something occurred in +another part of the ship which distracted the attention of the fussy, +fidgety president, who accordingly ran off to see what it was, and thus +escaped the fatal explosion. The tragic nature of the accident and his +own narrow escape made a deep impression upon Benton; and it was noticed +that ever afterwards he was far more forbearing and forgiving than of +old. He became good friends with Webster and other political opponents, +with whom he had formerly hardly been on speaking terms. Calhoun alone +he would never forgive. It was not in his nature to do anything by +halves; and accordingly, when he once forgave an opponent, he could not +do enough to show him that the forgiveness was real. A Missourian named +Wilson, who had been his bitter and malignant political foe for years, +finally becoming broken in fortune and desirous of bettering himself by +going to California, where Benton's influence, through his son-in-law, +Fremont, was supreme, was persuaded by Webster to throw himself on the +generosity of his old enemy. The latter not only met him half-way, but +helped him with a lavish kindness that would hardly have been warranted +by less than a life-long friendship. Webster has left on record the +fact that, when once they had come to be on good terms with each other, +there was no man in the whole Senate of whom he would more freely have +asked any favor that could properly be granted. + +He was a most loving father. At his death he left four surviving +daughters,--Mrs. William Carey Jones, Mrs. Sarah Benton Jacobs, Madame +Susan Benton Boilleau, and Mrs. Jessie Ann Benton Fremont, the wife of +the great explorer, whose wonderful feats and adventures, ending with +the conquest of California, where he became a sort of viceroy in point +of power, made him an especial favorite with his father-in-law, who +loved daring and hardihood. Benton took the keenest delight in Fremont's +remarkable successes, and was never tired of talking of them, both +within and without the Senate. He records with very natural pride the +fact that it was only the courage and judgment displayed in a trying +crisis by his own gifted daughter, Fremont's wife, which enabled the +adventurous young explorer to prosecute one of the most important of his +expeditions, when threatened with fatal interference from jealous +governmental superiors. + +He was an exceptionally devoted husband. His wife was Miss Elizabeth +McDowell, of Virginia, whom he married after he had entered the Senate. +Their life was most happy until 1844, when she was struck by paralysis. +From that time till her death in 1854, he never went out to a public +place of amusement, spending all his time not occupied with public +duties in writing by her bedside. It is scant praise to say that, while +mere acquiescence on his part would have enabled him to become rich +through government influence, he nevertheless died a poor man. In +public, as in private life, he was a man of sensitive purity of +character; he would never permit any person connected with him by blood +or marriage to accept office under the government, nor would he ever +favor any applicant for a government contract on political grounds. + +During his last years, when his sturdy independence and devotion to the +Union had caused him the loss of his political influence in his own +state and with his own party, he nevertheless stood higher with the +country at large than ever before. He was a faithful friend and a bitter +foe; he was vain, proud, utterly fearless, and quite unable to +comprehend such emotions as are expressed by the terms despondency and +yielding. Without being a great orator or writer, or even an original +thinker, he yet possessed marked ability; and his abounding vitality and +marvelous memory, his indomitable energy and industry, and his +tenacious persistency and personal courage, all combined to give him a +position and influence such as few American statesmen have ever held. +His character grew steadily to the very last; he made better speeches +and was better able to face new problems when past three score and ten +than in his early youth or middle age. He possessed a rich fund of +political, legal, and historical learning, and every subject that he +ever handled showed the traces of careful and thorough study. He was +very courteous, except when provoked; his courage was proof against all +fear, and he shrank from no contest, personal or political. He was +sometimes narrow-minded, and always wilful and passionate; but he was +honest and truthful. At all times and in all places he held every good +gift he had completely at the service of the American Federal Union. + + + + +INDEX. + + + Adams, John Quincy: + In presidential election of 1824-5, 59-61; + makes Clay secretary of state, 61; + and is assailed therefor, 62; + outlines Whig policy in his inaugural, 63; + on the Panama mission, 64; + in election of 1828, 69; + preserves purity of civil service, 81; + on recognition of Texas, 180. + + "Albany Regency," the, adopts "spoils system," 81. + + Arnold, Benedict: + compared with Burr and J. Davis, 163. + + Atchison, protests against admission of California, 338. + + + Benton, town of, founded, 25. + + Benton, Thomas Hart:-- + local character of his statesmanship, 13; + birth, 23; + boyhood and education, 24 _et seq._; + religious training, 26; + fights a duel, 27; + affray with Jackson, 28; + admitted to the bar, 29; + in legislature of Tennessee, 29; + on the Hartford Convention, 31; + a slave-holder, 31; + favors war of 1812, 32, in service, 32; befriends Jackson, 32; + associations in Tennessee, 33 _et seq._; + some traits of character, 34; + settles in Missouri, 35; + surroundings and influences there, 40; + speech on treaty with Spain concerning Florida, 41; + first position concerning slavery, 43; + enters U. S. Senate, 44; + honorable financial sacrifice, 45; + position on the Oregon question, 50-53, 65, 263-270, 273-279, + 281-289; + bill to establish a trading road through Missouri, 53; + on the removal of the Indians, 55; + votes for Clay's protective tariff bill, 58; + opposes internal improvements and Cumberland Road bill, 58; + condemns election of John Q. Adams to Presidency, 60; + supports Clay, then Jackson, 61; + will not join outcry against Adams and Clay, 61; + a leader of the opposition to Adams in the Senate, 63; + represents ultra-Southern feeling concerning revolted + Spanish colonies, 65; + vote on the protective tariff of 1828, 66, 91, 102; + efforts concerning disposal of public land, 68, 77, 149, 154, 217; + hostility to the Northeastern States, 76; + in the Webster-Hayne debate, 78; + opposes Jackson's "spoils system," 79-85; + leader of the Jacksonians in the Senate, 85, 86; + shows that protective tariff has not helped the West, 91; + urges repeal of the tax on salt, 92, 227; + vigorously sustains Jackson in the nullification troubles, 100-105; + sustains the Force bill, 105; + opposes Clay's compromise measure, 107-109; + remarks on his position at this period, 112; + campaign against the Bank of the United States, 114, 130, 136, 143; + speech on the currency, 122, 136-138, 253; + conflict with Clay, 129; + on the removal of the deposits, 131; + opposes the resolution of censure against Jackson, 133; + and pushes through his own expunging resolution, 134-136, 139-142; + advocates establishment of mints at the South, 144; + opposes distribution of surplus, 145, 149; + wishes it used for fortifications, 146, 150-153; + advocates insisting on our claims against France, 147; + but opposes paying claims of American citizens, 148; + opposes the so-called specie circulars, 154; + views concerning Southern slavery politicians, 162; + opposed to the Abolitionists, 165; + criticises Calhoun, 167, 168; + aids to defeat bill prohibiting circulation of abolition + documents through U. S. mails, 169; + carries bill extending boundaries of Missouri, 170; + urges admission of Michigan, 171; + carries through treaty with Cherokees, 171; + defends governmental treatment of Indians, 172; + condemns treaty establishing Southwestern boundary, 175; + position concerning annexation of Texas, 180-183; + hostility to separatist doctrines, 188; + blames bankers and politicians for financial crisis of 1837, 190, + 194; + his forebodings of this trouble, 191-193; + demeanor in the crisis, 197; + supports issue of Treasury notes, 198; + opposes payment of further installment of surplus, 199; + supports scheme for independent Treasury, 200, 207; + action concerning resumption by bonds, 203; + a supporter of the administration in these times, 263; + his knowledge, 204; + hostile to paper currency, 206; + defends administration in matters of Seminole war, 212; + theory for conducting this war, 215; + advocates; homestead law, 217; + opposes assumption of State debts by national government, 220; + explains greater rapidity of progress at North than at South, 222; + on the tariff of 1833, 224-230; + defends Jackson and Van Buren against charges of squandering + public moneys, 230; + in the Harrison campaign, 233; + holds the Democrats for the Union, 234; + feeling concerning slavery about Van Buren's time, 235; + leads the Democrats in struggle between President Tyler and Clay, + 240-244; + exalts the "Democratic idea," 241; + comments on Tyler's first message to Congress, 245; + opposes sub-Treasury bill, 246; + also the bank, distribution and bankruptcy bills, 246-249; + opposes the hour limit for speeches in the Senate, 250-252; + speech concerning the district banks and the currency, 253; + opposes effort to establish a national bank during Tyler's + administration, 255-258; + opposes new form of Treasury notes, 258; + opposes subsidizing steamship lines, 258; + also the abuse of the pension system, 258; + always an advocate of extending the national boundaries, 263, 267; + opposes the Ashburton treaty, 269, 273-279; + remarks concerning the Caroline imbroglio, 270; + opposes making an efficient navy, 272; + references to slavery in speeches on the Ashburton treaty, 274, 280; + on the Oregon question, 281-289; + position concerning annexation of Texas in time of Polk, 299-317; + opposes the South, 301; + opposes Calhoun's treaty, 306-310; + hoodwinked by the annexationists, 313; + attacks Calhoun and opposes the Mexican war, 315; + offered the command of the army, 318; + awakes to importance of slavery question, 318; + his later position concerning it, 320, 333-336; + contests with pro-slavery Senators, 322, 323; + opposes Calhoun as to power of Congress over slavery in territories, + 323-327; + and as to admission of Oregon, 328; + criticises Polk's administration, 328; + visits New York in presidential campaign in 1848, 329; + defends Taylor's message, 331; + opposes Clay's compromise, 332, 333-336; + more antagonism towards Calhoun, 333; + position on the Wilmot Proviso, 336; + advocates admission of California as a Free State, 337; + refuses to support Fugitive Slave Act, 339; + nickname of "Old Bullion," 342; + opposition to him in Missouri, 342; + defeated, 343; + goes to House of Representatives, 343; + begins work on the "Thirty Years' View," 344; + supports Pierce for Presidency, 344; + but later goes into opposition, 345; + supports scheme for Pacific Railroad, 346; + discusses the Indian policy, 347; + speeches on land-bounty and pension bills, 348; + opposes Kansas-Nebraska bill, 349-352; + discusses historically the Missouri Compromise, 349; + ridicules squatter sovereignty, 350; + opposes the Gladstone treaty, 352; + view of Southern disunion scheme, 352; + again defeated in Missouri elections, 353; + returns to labor on "Thirty Years' View," 354; + votes for Buchanan, 354; + candidate for governorship, 354; + stumps the State, 354; + respected at the North, 355; + prepares his "Abridgment of the Debates of Congress," 356; + death, 356; + value of his works 357; + criticism of the Dred Scott case, 358; + and of the new Democratic theories, 358; + domestic relations, 360; + extensive knowledge, 360; + on board the Princeton at time of explosion of great gun, 361; + generous temper, 362. + + Biddle, Nicholas: + president of Bank of United States, 116; + his errors, 124; + his bank goes to pieces, 208. + + Birney, James G.: + abolitionist candidate for Presidency, 291, 292; + folly of nominating him, 293, 294, 310. + + Blair, Francis C., displaced, 317. + + Buchanan, James: + on annexation of Texas, 310; + Benton votes for him, 354. + + Burr, Aaron: + introduces "spoils system" in New York, 81; + compared with Benedict Arnold, 163. + + + Calhoun, John C.: + rupture with Jackson, resignation from Vice-Presidency, 86; + position concerning tariff in 1816, 89; + position as a nullifier, 96; + introduces nullification resolutions, 103; + threatened with hanging, 104; + arranges compromise with Clay, 106; + subsequent quarrel with Clay concerning this, 110; + his purposes at this time, 111; + assails Jackson, 132; + opposes Webster's bill for rechartering bank, 133; + on the expunging resolution, 141; + proposes constitutional amendment for distribution of Treasury + surplus, 144; + opposes appropriating Treasury surplus for fortifications, 146; + attack on President Pierce, 166; + his honesty, 168; + on admission of Texas 180; + in connection with trouble with Mexico, 260; + on the Oregon question, 285; + instrumental in election of Polk, 292; + letter to Lord Aberdeen, 300; + assailed by Benton as to annexation of Texas, 307, 309; + action as to legislation about Texas, 313; + relations as to Mexican war, 314; + and the Wilmot Proviso, 323; + resolution as to power of Congress over slavery in the territories, + 323-326; + not a "Union man," 326; + on the admission of Oregon, 326, 327, 328; + dislikes Taylor's message to Congress, 331. + + California, admission of, 337. + + Caroline, affair of the, 270. + + Cartwright, Peter, 33. + + Cass, Lewis: nominated for Presidency, 329. + + Cherokees, treaty for their removal, 171. + + Clay, Henry: + introduces his first tariff bill, 58; + secretary of state under Adams, 61; + assailed therefor, and fights Randolph, 62; + devises the Panama mission, 63; + leader of National Republican or Whig party, 86; + defies "the South, the President, and the devil," 90; + erroneous statement as to effect of tariff in the West, 91; + angers the nullifiers, 99; + defeated in presidential election in 1832, 100; + alarmed at position of Calhoun, 106; + and prepares compromise, 106; + afterward quarrels about it with Calhoun, 110; + befriends Bank of the United States, 124, 127, 129; + effect on his political fortunes, 125; + introduces resolution for return of deposits, 131; + also for censuring President Jackson, 132; + opposes Webster's bill for rechartering Bank, 136; + on the expunging resolution, 141; + opposes establishment of mints at the South, 144; + also appropriating surplus for fortifications, 146; + in financial crisis of 1837, 200; + on the sub-Treasury bill, 201, 205; + on resumption, 202, 203; + opposes payment of state debts by national government, 221; + prepares financial measures upon Tyler's accession, 240, 244; + construction of a presidential election, 241; + programme for legislation under Tyler, 245; + attempts to introduce hour-limits for speeches in Senate, 250-252; + lectures Tyler in the Bank debate, 256; + defeated by Polk, 290; + causes thereof, 310; + attacks Taylor's message to Congress, 331; + proposes compromise of slavery controversy, 331; + defeated by Benton, 336; + compared with Benton, 339. + + Crawford, William H.: + adopts the "spoils system," 80. + + Crockett, David, 27, 33; + berates Jackson, 113. + + Cumberland Road, Benton votes against bill for, 58. + + + Davis, Jefferson: + compared with Benedict Arnold, 163; + a repudiator, 220; + and Calhoun's resolution as to slavery in the territories, 325; + protests against admission of California, 338. + + Drayton, family, loyalty of the family in South Carolina, 96. + + + Florida, the treaty securing it to the United States, 41. + + Foote, Senator from Mississippi, opposition to his public land scheme + by Benton and Webster, 77. + + Fremont, John C.: + explores Rocky Mountains, 283; + Benton will not vote for, 354; + Benton's interest in his explorations, 363. + + + Giddings, Joshua R., sound policy of, 294. + + + Harrison, Wm. Henry: + election not affected by slavery question, 235; + death and character, 237. + + Hartford Convention, criticised by Benton, 31, 78; + causes of, 49. + + Houston, Samuel, 34: + wins victory of San Jacinto, 180; + hates Van Buren, 188; description of, 327; + votes to admit California, 338. + + + Indian tribes, Benton on the removal of, 55; + criticism on treatment of, 57, 172, 347; + removal of Cherokees in 1836, 171. + + + Jackson, Andrew: + affray with Benton, 28; + befriended by Benton at Washington, 32; + in presidential election of 1824, 29, 60; + incensed against Adams and Clay, 61; + success in election of 1828, 59; + character of his following, 71, 74, 75; + his opponents, 72; + his victory compared with Jefferson's, 73; + compared with Wellington, 73; + foster-father of the "spoils system," 79, 82; + inferior character of his cabinet, 86; + relations of his followers with those of Clay and Calhoun, 86; + struggles with the Bank and the nullifiers, 88; + expected to support nullification, 96; + but does not, 97; + repudiates Calhoun and adopts Van Buren, 97; + at the Jefferson birthday banquet, 98; + again defines his position, 99; + signs new tariff bill, 99; + reelected in 1832, 100; + issues proclamation against nullification, 101; + special message on nullification, 102; + opinion on tariff, 102; + threatens to hang Calhoun, 104; + signs "Force Bill," also Clay's compromise bill, 108; + behaves badly in case of Georgia, 112; + attack on U. S. Bank, 114 _et seq._; + reasons of his political success, 116; + opposes re-charter + of Bank in message of 1829, 117; + vetoes bill for re-charter, 127; + reelected, 130; + removes the deposits, 130; + protests against Clay's resolution of censure, 133; + continued + assaults on the Bank, 139; + gives a dinner to the expungers, 141; + signs bill for distributing Treasury surplus, 153; + issues Treasury order concerning payments for public lands, 155; + Kitchen Cabinet and "machine politics," 184, 185; + liking for Van Buren, 186; + his nationalism, 234; + praised by Benton for hanging Arbuthnot and Ambrister, 272; + favors annexation of Texas, 298; + and Van Buren, 299. + + Jefferson, Thomas: + character of his following, 70, 71; + his victory compared with Jackson's, 73; + his pseudo-classicism, 92; + quoted as authority for nullification, 95; + celebration of birthday of, 97. + + + Lee, Robert E.: + military standing of, 38. + + Lincoln, Abraham: + services in anti-slavery cause, 159. + + Livingston, Edward: + aids in preparing proclamation against nullification, 101. + + Lucas, Benton's duel with, 28. + + + Madison, James, quoted, 163. + + Marcy, Wm. L., adopts "spoils system," 81; + cringes to the South, 108. + + McDuffie, passage at arms with Benton, 304, 305; + deceives Benton as to taxes, 313. + + McLeod, Alexander, case of, 271. + + Missouri, character of its population, 39; + admission to the Union, 43, 47; + land titles in, 45. + + Missouri Compromise bill, 43; + not the beginning of the slavery and anti-slavery divisions in the + Union, 48; + Benton concerning repeal of, 349. + + Monroe, James, remarks, 47, 58, 59; + signs bill for trading road, 53. + + + New Orleans, Benton's astonishing description of, 93. + + + Oregon, disputed between Great Britain and the United States, 50; + Benton's remarks concerning, 51; + comes into notice again in J. Q. Adams's term, 65; + final settlement of the matter, 260-273; + neglected in Ashburton treaty, 278, + and by Calhoun, 278, + and others, 279; + Benton's feeling about, 281, 284; + bill for settlement of, 284; + Calhoun on the admission of, 326-328. + + + Panama mission, disputes concerning, 63-65. + + Phillips, Wendell, estimate of, 160. + + Pierce, Franklin, assailed by Calhoun, 166; + relations with Benton, 344, 345; + a valuation of, 345; + Benton upon pro-slavery tendencies of, 359. + + Polk, James K., character of his following, 234; + and the Southwestern boundary, 287; + elected President, 290, 310; + estimate of, 292; + deceives Benton as to Texas, 313; + displaces Blair, 317; + relations with various portions of Democratic party, 317, 318. + + + Randolph, John: + duel with Clay, 62. + + Rynders, Isaiah, a type, 291, 292. + + + Seminoles, war with, 209-216. + + + Taney, Roger B., removes the deposits, 130; + afterward made chief justice, 131; + criticised by Benton for his opinion in Dred Scott case, 358. + + Taylor, Zachary, elected President, 329; + character, 330, 337; + message to Congress, 331; + dies, 337. + + Tyler, John, opposes "Force Bill," 105; + estimate of, on his accession, 237; + his political affiliations, 238-240; + first message to Congress, 245; + conduct concerning bill for establishing a bank, 254-257; + his cabinet resigns, 257; + identifies himself with the separatist Democrats, 298; + schemes for annexation of Texas, 300, 306; + assailed by Benton, 307, 309; + behavior at time of explosion of gun on board the Princeton, 361. + + + Van Buren, Martin, supports Crawford for Presidency in 1824, 61; + adopts "spoils system," 81; + adopted by Jackson as his heir, 97; + Vice-President, 100; + product of "machine politics," 184; + befriended by Jackson, 186; + sketch of, and causes of his elevation, 186-188; + his inaugural, 188; + financial crisis and his doings therein, 189 _et seq._, + 194, 196, 197; + financial measures, 200; + has to deal with the Seminoles, 209; + public dishonesty under, 219; + charged with squandering the public money, 230; + significance of his defeat, 234; + slavery question did not arise in his administration, 235; + champion of old-style Union Democrats, and opposed to annexation + of Texas, 298; + candidate for Presidency, 299, 310; + and the Free Soil party, 329. + + + War of 1812, a cause of the, 7; + political influence on Benton, 30. + + Warsaw, social habits of the town, 36. + + Webster, Daniel, position of, concerning Clay's first tariff bill, 58; + position on the tariff question in 1828, 67; + in the debate on Foote's resolution concerning sales of public land, + 77, 97; + leader of National Republican, or Whig, party, 86; + aids Jackson in nullification troubles, 103, 104; + advocates the "Force Bill," 105; + resolute in opposition to the South, 106, 107, 108; + remarks as to his services, 111; + befriends Bank of United States, 124, 126, 127, 129; + personal relations with the Jacksonians, 131; + introduces bill for re-charter of Bank, 136; + on the expunging resolution, 142; + supports establishment of mints at the South, 144; + opposes appropriating Treasury surplus for fortifications, 146; + in financial crisis of 1837, 200; + on sub-Treasury scheme, 201, 205; + opposes payment of state debt by national government, 221; + remains in Tyler's cabinet, 257; + negotiates treaty with England, settling boundaries between United + States and British possessions, 260, 262, 268; + criticised by Benton, 273-277, 280; + neglects Oregon controversy, 278; + compared with Benton on the slavery question, 320, 339; + compliments Benton's knowledge, 360; + on friendly terms with Benton, 362. + + Wellington, Duke of, compared with Washington and Jackson, 73. + + Wilmot Proviso, Benton's remarks upon, 323, 336. + + Wright, Silas, adopts "spoils system," 81; + expresses the "dough face" sentiment at time of nullification + troubles, 107. + + + + +American Statesmen + +Edited by John T. Morse, Jr. + +Each, 16mo, cloth, gilt top, $1.25; half morocco, $2.50. + +The set, 31 volumes, half levant, $77.50. + + + BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. By John T. Morse, Jr. + SAMUEL ADAMS. By James K. Hosmer. + PATRICK HENRY. By Moses Coit Tyler. + GEORGE WASHINGTON. By Henry Cabot Lodge. 2 vols. + JOHN ADAMS. By John T. Morse, Jr. + ALEXANDER HAMILTON. By Henry Cabot Lodge. + GOUVERNEUR MORRIS. By Theodore Roosevelt. + JOHN JAY. By George Pellew. + JOHN MARSHALL. By Allan B. Magruder. + THOMAS JEFFERSON. By John T. Morse, Jr. + JAMES MADISON. By Sydney Howard Gay. + ALBERT GALLATIN. By John Austin Stevens. + JAMES MONROE. By President D. C. Gilman. + JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. By John T. Morse, Jr. + JOHN RANDOLPH. By Henry Adams. + ANDREW JACKSON. By Prof. William G. Sumner. + MARTIN VAN BUREN. By Edward M. Shepard. + HENRY CLAY. By Carl Schurz. 2 vols. + DANIEL WEBSTER. By Henry Cabot Lodge. + JOHN C. CALHOUN. By Dr. H. Von Holst. + THOMAS HART BENTON. By Theodore Roosevelt. + LEWIS CASS. By Prof. Andrew C. McLaughlin. + ABRAHAM LINCOLN. By John T. Morse, Jr. With Portrait and Map. 2 vols. + WILLIAM H. SEWARD. By Thornton K. Lothrop. + SALMON P. CHASE. By Prof. A. B. Hart. + CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. By C. F. Adams. + CHARLES SUMNER. By Moorfield Storey. + THADDEUS STEVENS. By Samuel W. McCall. + + +_CRITICAL NOTICES._ + +_FRANKLIN._ He has managed to condense the whole mass of matter gleaned +from all sources into his volume without losing in a single sentence the +freedom or lightness of his style or giving his book in any part the +crowded look of an epitome.--_The Independent_ (New York). + +_SAMUEL ADAMS._ Thoroughly appreciative and sympathetic, yet fair and +critical.... This biography is a piece of good work--a clear and simple +presentation of a noble man and pure patriot; it is written in a spirit +of candor and humanity.--_Worcester Spy._ + +_HENRY._ Professor Tyler has not only made one of the best and most +readable of American biographies; he may fairly be said to have +reconstructed the life of Patrick Henry, and to have vindicated the +memory of that great man from the unappreciative and injurious estimate +which has been placed upon it.--_New York Evening Post._ + +_WASHINGTON._ Mr. Lodge has written an admirable biography, and one +which cannot but confirm the American people in the prevailing estimate +concerning the Father of his Country.--_New York Tribune._ + +_JOHN ADAMS._ A good piece of literary work.... It covers the ground +thoroughly, and gives just the sort of simple and succinct account that +is wanted.--_New York Evening Post._ + +_HAMILTON._ Mr. Lodge has done his work with conscientious care, and the +biography of Hamilton is a book which cannot have too many readers. It +is more than a biography; it is a study in the science of +government.--_St. Paul Pioneer Press._ + +_MORRIS._ Mr. Roosevelt has produced an animated and intensely +interesting biographical volume.... Mr. Roosevelt never loses sight of +the picturesque background of politics, war-governments, and +diplomacy.--_Magazine of American History_ (New York). + +_JAY._ It is an important addition to the admirable series of "American +Statesmen," and elevates yet higher the character of a man whom all +American patriots most delight to honor.--_New York Tribune._ + +_MARSHALL._ Well done, with simplicity, clearness, precision, and +judgment, and in a spirit of moderation and equity. A valuable addition +to the series.--_New York Tribune._ + +_JEFFERSON._ A singularly just, well-proportioned, and interesting +sketch of the personal and political career of the author of the +Declaration of Independence.--_Boston Journal._ + +_MADISON._ The execution of the work deserves the highest praise. It is +very readable, in a bright and vigorous style, and is marked by unity +and consecutiveness of plan.--_The Nation_ (New York). + +_GALLATIN._ It is one of the most carefully prepared of these very +valuable volumes, ... abounding in information not so readily +accessible as is that pertaining to men more often treated by the +biographer.--_Boston Correspondent Hartford Courant._ + +_MONROE._ President Gilman has made the most of his hero, without the +least hero-worship, and has done full justice to Mr. Monroe's "relations +to the public service during half a century." ... The appendix is +peculiarly valuable for its synopsis of Monroe's Presidential Messages, +and its extensive Bibliography of Monroe and the Monroe Doctrine.--_N. +Y. Christian Intelligencer._ + +_JOHN QUINCY ADAMS._ That Mr. Morse's conclusions will in the main be +those of posterity we have very little doubt, and he has set an +admirable example to his coadjutors in respect of interesting narrative, +just proportion, and judicial candor.--_New York Evening Post._ + +_RANDOLPH._ The book has been to me intensely interesting.... It is rich +in new facts and side lights, and is worthy of its place in the already +brilliant series of monographs on American Statesmen.--Prof. MOSES COIT +TYLER. + +_JACKSON._ Professor Sumner has ... all in all, made the justest long +estimate of Jackson that has had itself put between the covers of a +book.--_New York Times._ + +_VAN BUREN._ This absorbing book.... To give any adequate idea of the +personal interest of the book, or its intimate bearing on nearly the +whole course of our political history, would be equivalent to quoting +the larger part of it.--_Brooklyn Eagle._ + +_CLAY._ We have in this life of Henry Clay a biography of one of the +most distinguished of American statesmen, and a political history of the +United States for the first half of the nineteenth century. Indeed, it +is not too much to say that, for the period covered, we have no other +book which equals or begins to equal this life of Henry Clay as an +introduction to the study of American politics.--_Political Science +Quarterly_ (New York). + +_WEBSTER._ It will be read by students of history; it will be invaluable +as a work of reference; it will be an authority as regards matters of +fact and criticism; it hits the key-note of Webster's durable and +ever-growing fame; it is adequate, calm, impartial; it is +admirable.--_Philadelphia Press._ + +_CALHOUN._ Nothing can exceed the skill with which the political career +of the great South Carolinian is portrayed in these pages.... The whole +discussion in relation to Calhoun's position is eminently philosophical +and just.--_The Dial_ (Chicago). + +_BENTON._ An interesting addition to our political literature, and will +be of great service if it spread an admiration for that austere public +morality which was one of the marked characteristics of its chief +figure.--_The Epoch_ (New York). + +_CASS._ Professor McLaughlin has given us one of the most satisfactory +volumes in this able and important series.... The early life of Cass was +devoted to the Northwest, and in the transformation which overtook it +the work of Cass was the work of a national statesman.--_New York +Times._ + +_LINCOLN._ As a life of Lincoln it has no competitors; as a political +history of the Union side during the Civil War, it is the most +comprehensive, and, in proportion to its range, the most +compact.--_Harvard Graduates' Magazine._ + +_SEWARD._ The public will be grateful for his conscientious efforts to +write a popular vindication of one of the ablest, most brilliant, +fascinating, energetic, ambitious, and patriotic men in American +history.--_New York Evening Post._ + +_CHASE._ His great career as anti-slavery leader, United States Senator, +Governor of Ohio, Secretary of the Treasury, and Chief Justice of the +United States, is described in an adequate and effective manner by +Professor Hart. + +_CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS._ His wise statesmanship before the Civil War, +and the masterly ability and consummate diplomatic skill displayed by +him while Minister to Great Britain, are judiciously set forth by his +eminent son. + +_SUMNER._ The majestic devotion of Sumner to the highest political +ideals before and during his long term of lofty service to freedom in +the United States Senate is fittingly delineated by Mr. Storey. + +_STEVENS._ Thaddeus Stevens was unquestionably one of the most +conspicuous figures of his time.... The book shows him the eccentric, +fiery, and masterful congressional leader that he was.--_City and State_ +(Philadelphia). + + HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. + 4 PARK ST., BOSTON; 85 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK + 378-388 WABASH AVE., CHICAGO + + + * * * * * + + +Transcriber's Notes: Minor typographical errors and inconsistencies +have been silently normalized. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Thomas Hart Benton, by Theodore Roosevelt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THOMAS HART BENTON *** + +***** This file should be named 37656.txt or 37656.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/6/5/37656/ + +Produced by Julia Neufeld, Curtis Weyant and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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