Chapter I: HAVE been desirous, Mr. President, before the passage of this bill, (12)

Now let us see what was our real condition only the short time of ten years ago. I had occasion, in February, 1832, in the senate of the United States, when I was defending the American system against the late colonel Hayne, of South Carolina, to describe it; and I refer to this description as evidence of what I believed to be the state of the country at that time. That it conformed to the truth of the case, I appeal with confidence to those now present. On that occasion, among other things, I said:

‘I have now to perform the more pleasing task of exhibiting
an imperfect sketch of the existing state of the unparalleled
prosperity of the country. On a general survey, we behold
cultivation extended, the arts flourishing, the face of the
country improved, our people fully and profitably employed, and
the public countenance exhibiting tranquillity, contentment,
and happiness. And, if we descend into particulars, we have the
agreeable contemplation of a people out of debt, land rising
slowly in value, but in a secure and salutary degree; a ready,
though extravagant market for all the surplus productions of our
industry; innumerable flocks and herds browsing and gamboling
on ten thousand hills and plains, covered with rich and verdant
grasses; our cities expanded, and whole villages springing
up, as it were, by enchantment; our exports and our imports
increased and increasing; our tonnage, foreign and coastwise,
swelling and fully occupied; the rivers of our interior
animated by the perpetual thunder and lightning of countless
steamboats; the currency sound and abundant; the public debt of
two wars nearly redeemed; and, to crown all, the public treasury
overflowing, embarrassing congress, not to find subjects of
taxation, but to select the objects which shall be liberated
from the impost. If the term of seven years were to be selected
of the greatest prosperity which this people have enjoyed since
the establishment of their present constitution, it would be
exactly that period of seven years which immediately followed
the passage of the tariff of 1824.’

And that period embraced the whole term of the administration of Mr. John Quincy Adams, which has been so unjustly abused!

The contrast in the state of the country at the two periods of 1832 and 1842, is most remarkable and startling. What has precipitated us from that great height of enviable prosperity down to the lowest depths of pecuniary embarrassment? What has occasioned the wonderful change? No foreign foe has invaded and desolated the country. We have had neither famine nor earthquakes. That there exists a cause there can be no doubt; and I think it equally clear that the cause, whatever it may be, must be a general one; for nothing but a general cause could have produced such wide spread ruin; and every where we behold the same or similar effects, every interest affected, every section of the union suffering, all descriptions of produce and property depressed in value. And whilst I endeavor to find out that cause, and to trace to their true source the disastrous effects which we witness and feel, and lament, I entreat the democratic portion of my audience, especially, to listen with patience and candor, and dismissing for a moment party biases and prejudices, to decide with impartiality and in a spirit of genuine patriotism.

It has been said by those in high authority, that the people are to blame and not the government, and that the distresses of the country have proceeded from speculation and over-trading. The people have been even reproached for expecting too much from government, and not relying sufficiently upon their own exertions. And they have been reminded that the highest duty of the government is to take care of itself, leaving the people to shift for themselves as well as they can. Accordingly we have seen the government retreating from the storm which it will be seen, in the sequel, itself created, and taking shelter under the sub-treasury.

That there has been some speculation and over-trading, may be true; but all have not speculated and over-traded; whilst the distress reaches, if not in the same degree, the cautious and the prudent, as well as the enterprising and venturous. The error of the argument consists in mistaking the effect for the cause. What produced the over-trading? What was the cause of speculation? How were the people tempted to abandon the industrious and secure pursuits of life, and embark in doubtful and perilous, but seducing enterprises? That is the important question.

Now, fellow citizens, I take upon myself to show that the people have been far less to blame than the general government, and that whatever of error they committed, was the natural and inevitable consequence of the unwise policy of their rulers. To the action of government is mainly to be ascribed the disorders, embarrassment, and distress, which all have now so much reason to deplore. And, to be yet more specific, I think they are to be fairly attributed to the action of the executive branch of the federal government.

Three facts or events, all happening about the same time, if their immediate effects are duly considered, will afford a clear and satisfactory solution of all the pecuniary evils which now unhappily afflict this country.

The first was the veto of the recharter of the bank of the United States. The second was the removal of the deposits of the United States from that bank to local banks. And the third was the refusal of the president of the United States, by an arbitrary stretch of power, to sanction the passage of the land bill. These events all occurred, in quick succession, in 1832–3, and each of them deserves particular consideration.

First. When the bank of the United States had fully recovered from the errors of its early administration, and at the period when it was proposed to recharter it, it furnished the best currency that ever existed, possessing not merely unbounded confidence in the United States, but throughout the whole commercial world. No institution was ever more popular, and the utility of a bank of the United States was acknowledged by president Jackson in his veto message, in which he expressly stated, that he could have suggested to congress the plan of an unexceptionable charter, if application had been made to him. And I state as a fact, what many, I am sure, will here remember and sustain, that in the canvass then going on for the presidency, many of his friends in this state gave assurances that, in the event of his reëlection, a bank of the United States would be established.

It was held out to the people that a better currency should be supplied, and a more safe and faithful execution of the fiscal duties towards the government would be performed by the local banks than by the bank of the United States.

What was the immediate effect of the overthrow of that institution? The establishment of innumerable local banks, which sprung up every where, with a rapidity to which we cannot look back without amazement. A respectable document which I now hold in my hand, I believe correctly states, that ‘in 1830 the aggregate banking capital of the union was one hundred and forty-five million, one hundred and ninety thousand, two hundred and sixty eight dollars. Within two years after the removal of the deposits, the banking capital has swollen to three hundred and thirty-one million, two hundred and fifty thousand, three hundred and thirty-seven dollars, and in 1837 it reached four hundred and forty million, one hundred and ninety-five thousand, seven hundred and ten dollars. Whilst the United States bank was in existence, the local banks, not aspiring to the regulation of the currency, were chartered with small capitals, as occasion and business required. After 1833 they were chartered without necessity, and multiplied beyond example. In December, 1837, there were no less than seven hundred and nine state banks. Nearly four hundred banks sprung up upon the ruins of the United States bank, and two hundred and fifty million dollars of capital was incorporated, to supply the uses formerly discharged by the thirty-five million dollars capital of the bank of the United States. The impulse given to extravagance and speculation by this enormous increase of banking capital, was quickened by the circulars of the treasury department to these pet state banks that were made the custodiers of the national revenue.’

A vast proportion of these new banks, more, I believe, than four fifths, were chartered by legislatures in which the democratic party had the undisputed ascendancy. I well remember that, in this state, the presses of that party made a grave charge against me, of being inimical to the establishment here of state banks; and I was opposed to their establishment, until all prospect vanished of getting a bank of the United States.

The effect upon the country of this sudden increase, to such an immense amount, of the banking capital of the country, could not fail to be very great, if not disastrous. It threw out, in the utmost profusion, bank notes, post notes, checks, drafts, bills, and so forth. The currency thus put forth, the people had been assured, was better than that supplied by the bank of the United States; and, after the removal of the deposits, the local banks were urged and stimulated, by the secretary of the treasury, freely to discount and accommodate, upon the basis of those deposits. Flooded as the country was, by these means and in this way, with all species of bank money and facilities, is it surprising that they should have rushed into speculation, and freely adventured in the most desperate enterprises? It would have been better to have avoided them; it would have been better that the people should have been wiser and more prudent than government; but who is most to blame, they who yielded to temptation so thrown before them――they who yielded confidence to their rulers――they who could not see when this inordinate issue of money was to cease, or to become vitiated――or government, that tempted, seduced, and betrayed them?

And now, fellow-citizens, do let us, in calmness and candor, revert for a moment to some of the means which were employed to break down the bank of the United States, and to inflict upon the country all the sad consequences which ensued. I shall not stop to expose the motives of the assault upon that institution, and to show that it was because it refused to make itself basely and servilely instrumental to the promotion of political views and objects.

The bank was denounced as a monster, aiming, as was declared, to rob the people of their liberties, and to subvert the government of the country. The bank to subvert the government! Why, how could the bank continue to exist, after the overthrow of that government to which it was indebted for its existence, and in virtue of whose authority it could alone successfully operate? Convulsions, revolutions, civil wars, are not the social conditions most favorable to bank prosperity; but they flourish most when order, law, regularity, punctuality, and successful business prevail.

Rob the people of their liberties! And pray what would it do with them after the robbery was perpetrated? It could not put them in its vaults, or make interest or profit upon them――the leading, if not sole object of a bank. And how could it destroy the liberties of the people, without, at the same time, destroying the liberties of all persons interested or concerned in the bank? What is a bank? It is a corporation, the aggregate of whose capital is contributed by individual shareholders, and employed in pecuniary operations, under the management of official agents, called president, directors, cashier, tellers, and clerks. Now all these persons are usually citizens of the United States, just as much interested in the preservation of the liberties of the country as any other citizens. What earthly motive could prompt them to seek the destruction of the liberty of their fellow-citizens, and with it their own.

The fate of the bank of the United States clearly demonstrated where the real danger to the public liberty exists. It was not in the bank. Its popularity had been great, and the conviction of its utility strong and general, up to the period of the bank veto. Unbounded as was the influence of president Jackson, and undisguised as his hostility was to the bank, he could not prevent the passage through congress of a bill to recharter it. In such favor and esteem was it held, that the legislature of Pennsylvania, in which his friends had uncontrolled sway, almost unanimously recommended the recharter. But his veto came; he blew his whistle for its destruction; it was necessary to sustain his party, which could only be done by sustaining him, and instantly, and every where, down with the bank and huzzah for the veto, became the watch words and the rallying cry of his partisans. That same legislature of Pennsylvania, now, with equal unanimity, approved the destruction of an institution which they had believed to be so indispensable to the public prosperity, and deluded people felt as if they had fortunately escaped a great national calamity!

The veto notwithstanding, the house of representatives, by a large majority, resolved that the public deposits were safe in the custody of the bank of the United States, where they were placed, under the sanction and by the command of the law; and it was well known at Washington, that this resolution was passed in anticipation, and to prevent the possibility of their removal. In the face and in contempt of this decision of the representatives of the people, and in violation of a positive law, the removal was ordered by the president a few months after, the secretary of the treasury having been previously himself removed, to accomplish the object. And this brings me to consider the effect produced upon the business and interests of the country, by the

Second event to which I alluded. It is well known to be the usage of banks, to act upon the standing average amount of their deposits, as upon a permanent fund. The bank of the United States had so regulated its transactions upon the deposits of the United States, and had granted accommodations and extended facilities, as far as could be safely done on that basis. The deposits were removed and dispersed among various local banks, which were urged by an authority not likely to be disregarded, especially when seconding, as it did, their own pecuniary interests, to discount and accommodate freely on them. They did so, and thus these deposits performed a double office, by being the basis of bank facilities, first in the hands of the bank of the United States, and afterwards in the possession of the local banks. A vast addition to the circulation of the country ensued, adding to that already so copiously put forth and putting forth, by the multitude of new banks which were springing up like mushrooms. That speculation and overtrading should have followed, were to have been naturally expected. It is surprising that there were not more. Prices rose enormously, as another consequence; and thousands were tempted, as is always the case in an advancing market, to hold on or to make purchases, under the hope of prices rising still higher. A rush of speculators was made upon the public lands, and the money invested in their purchase, coming back to the deposit banks, was again and again loaned out to the same or other speculators, to make other and other purchases.

Who was to blame for this artificial and inflated state of things? Who for the speculation, which was its natural offspring? The policy of government, which produced it, or the people? The seducer or the seduced? The people, who only used the means so abundantly supplied, in virtue of the public authority, or our rulers, whose unwise policy tempted them into the ruinous speculation?

Third. There was a measure, the passage of which would have greatly mitigated this unnatural state of things. It was not difficult to foresee, after the veto of the bank, some of the consequences that would follow――the multiplication of banks, a superabundant currency, rash and inordinate speculation, and a probable ultimate suspension of specie payments. And the public domain was too brilliant and tempting a prize, not to be among the first objects that would attract speculation. In March, 1833, a bill passed both houses of congress, to distribute among the states the proceeds of sales of the public lands. It was a measure of strict justice to the states, and one of sound policy, as it respects the revenue of the United States; but the view which I now propose to take of it, applies altogether to the influence which it would have exerted upon circulation, and speculation. It was the constitutional duty of the president to have returned the bill to congress with his objections, if he were opposed to it, or with his sanction, if he approved it; but the bill fell by his arbitrarily withholding it from congress.

Let us here pause and consider what would have been the operation of that most timely and salutary measure, if it had not been arrested. The bill passed in 1833, and in a short time after, the sales of the public lands were made to an unprecedented extent; in so much, that in one year they amounted to about twenty-five millions of dollars, and in a few years, to an aggregate of about fifty millions of dollars. It was manifest, that if this fund, so rapidly accumulating, remained in the custody of the local banks, in conformity with the treasury circular, and with their interests, it would be made the basis of new loans, new accommodations, fresh bank facilities. It was manifest that the same identical sum of money might, as it in fact did, purchase many tracts of land, by making the circuit from the land offices to the banks, and from the banks to the land offices, besides stimulating speculation in other forms.

Under the operation of the measure of distribution, that great fund would have been semi-annually returned to the states, and would have been applied, under the direction of their respective legislatures, to various domestic and useful purposes. It would have fallen upon the land, like the rains of heaven, in gentle, genial, and general showers, passing through a thousand rills, and fertilizing and beautifying the country. Instead of being employed in purposes of speculation, it would have been applied to the common benefit to the whole people. Finally, when the fund had accumulated and was accumulating in an alarming degree, it was distributed among the states by the deposit act, but so suddenly distributed, in such large masses, and in a manner so totally in violation of all the laws and rules of finance, that the crisis of suspension in 1837 was greatly accelerated. This would have been postponed, if not altogether avoided, if the land bill of 1833 had been approved and executed.

To these three causes, fellow-citizens, the veto of the bank of the United States, with the consequent creation of innumerable local banks, the removal of the deposits of the United States from the bank of the United States, and their subsequent free use, and the failure of the land bill of 1833, I verily believe, all, or nearly all, of the pecuniary embarrassments of the country are plainly attributable. If the bank had been rechartered, the public deposits suffered to remain undisturbed where the law required them to be made, and the land bill had gone into operation, it is my firm conviction that we should have had no more individual distress and ruin than is common, in ordinary and regular times, to a trading and commercial community.

And do just now take a rapid review of the experiments of our rulers. They began with incontestably the _best_ currency in the world, and promised a _better_. That better currency was to be supplied by the local banks; and in the first stages of the experiment, after the removal of the deposits, they were highly commended from high authority, for their beneficial and extensive operations in exchange, the financial facilities which they afforded to the government, and so forth. But the day of trouble and difficulty, which had been predicted, for the want of a United States bank, came. They could not stand the shock, but gave way, and the suspension of 1837 took place. Then what was the course of those same rulers? They had denounced and put down the bank of the United States. It was a monster. They had extolled and lavished praises on the local banks. Now, they turned round against the objects of their own creation and commendation. Now they were a brood of little monsters, corrupt and corrupting with separate privileges, preying upon the vitals of the states. They vehemently call out for a divorce of state and bank. And meanly retreating under the sub-treasury, from the storm which themselves had raised, leaving the people to suffer under all its pelting and pitiless rage, they add insult to injury, by telling them that they unreasonably expect too much from government, that they must take care of themselves, and that it is the highest and most patriotic duty of a free government to take care of itself, without regard to the sufferings and distresses of the people.

They began with the best currency, promised a better, and end with giving none! For we might as well resort to the costumes of our original parents in the garden of Eden, as, in this enlightened age, with the example of the commercial world before us, to cramp this energetic and enterprising people, by a circulation exclusively of the precious metals. Let us see how the matter stands with us here in Kentucky, and I believe we stand as well as the people do in most of the states. We have a circulation in bank notes amounting to about two millions and a half, founded upon specie in their vaults amounting to one million and a quarter, half the actual circulation. Have we too much money? [No no! exclaimed many voices.] If all banks were put down, and all bank paper were annihilated, we should have just one half the money that we now have. I am quite sure that one of the immediate causes of our present difficulties, is a defect in quantity as well as the quality of the circulating medium. And it would be impossible, if we were reduced to such a regimen as is proposed by the hard money theorists, to avoid stop laws, relief laws, repudiation, bankruptcies, and perhaps civil commotion.

I have traced the principal causes of the present embarrassed condition of the country, I hope with candor and fairness, and without giving offence to any of my fellow citizens, who may have differed in political opinion from me. It would have been far more agreeable to my feelings to have dwelt, as I did in 1832, during the third year of the first term of president Jackson’s administration, upon bright and cheering prospects of general prosperity. I thought it useful to contrast that period with the present one, and to inquire into the causes which have brought upon us such a sad and dismal reverse. A much more important object remains to me to attempt, and that is to point out remedies for existing evils and disorders.

And the first I would suggest, requires the coöperation of the government and the people; it is economy and frugality, strict and persevering economy, both in public and private affairs. Government should incur or continue no expense that can be justly and honorably avoided, and individuals should do the same. The prosperity of the country has been impaired by causes operating throughout several years, and it will not be restored in a day or a year, perhaps not in a period less than it has taken to destroy it. But we must not only be economical, we must be industrious, indefatigably industrious. An immense amount of capital has been wasted and squandered in visionary or unprofitable enterprises, public and private. It can only be reproduced by labor and saving.

The second remedy which I would suggest, and that without which all others must prove abortive or ineffectual, is a sound currency, of uniform value throughout the union, and redeemable in specie upon the demand of the holder. I know of but one mode in which that object can be accomplished, and that has stood the test of time and practical experience. If any other can be devised than a bank of the United States, which should be safe and certain, and free from the influence of government, and especially under the control of the executive department, I should for one gladly see it embraced. I am not exclusively wedded to a bank of the United States, nor do I desire to see one established against the will and without the consent of the people. But all my observation and reflection have served to strengthen and confirm my conviction, that such an institution, emanating from the authority of the general government, properly restricted and guarded, with such improvements as experience has pointed out, can alone supply a reliable currency.

Accordingly, at the extra session, a bill passed both houses of congress, which, in my opinion, contained an excellent charter, with one or two slight defects, which it was intended to cure by a supplemental bill, if the veto had not been exercised. That charter contained two new, and I think admirable features; one was to separate the operation of issuing a circulation from that of banking, confiding these faculties to different boards; and the other was to limit the dividends of the bank, bringing the excess beyond the prescribed amount, into the public treasury. In the preparation of the charter, every sacrifice was made that could be made to accommodate it, especially in regard to the president. But instead of meeting as in a mutual spirit of conciliation, he fired, as was aptly said by a Virginia editor, upon the flag of truce sent from the capitol.

Congress anxious to fulfil the expectations of the people, another bank bill was prepared, in conformity with the plan of a bank sketched by the acting president in his veto message, after a previous consultation between him and some distinguished members of congress, and two leading members of his cabinet. The bill was shaped in precise conformity to his views, as communicated by those members of the cabinet, and as communicated to others and was submitted to his inspection after it was so prepared; and he gave his assurances that he would approve such a bill. I was no party to the transaction, but I do not entertain a doubt of what I state. The bill passed both houses of congress without any alteration or amendment whatever, and the veto was nevertheless again employed.

It is painful for me to advert to a grave occurrence, marked by such dishonor and bad faith. Although the president, through his recognized organ, derides and denounces the whigs, and disowns being one; although he administers the executive branch of the government in contempt of their feelings and in violation of their principles; and although all whom he chooses to have denominated as ultra whigs, that is to say the great body of the whig party, have come under his ban, and those of them in office are threatened with his expulsion, I wish not to say of him one word that is not due to truth and to the country. I will, however, say that, in my opinion, the whigs cannot justly be held responsible for his administration of the executive department, for the measures he may recommend, or his failure to recommend others, nor especially for the manner in which he distributes the public patronage. They will do their duty, I hope, towards the country, and render all good and proper support to government; but they ought not to be held accountable for his conduct. They elected him, it is true, but for another office, and he came into the present one by a lamentable visitation of providence. There had been no such instance occurring under the government. If the whigs were bound to scrutinize his opinions, in reference to an office which no one ever anticipated he would fill, he was bound in honor and good faith to decline the Harrisburgh nomination, if he could not conscientiously coöperate with the principles that brought him into office. Had the president who was elected lived, had that honest and good man, on whose face, in that picture, we now gaze, been spared, I feel perfectly confident that all the measures which the principles of the whigs authorized the country to expect, including a bank of the United States, would have been carried.

But it may be said that a sound currency, such as I have described, is unattainable during the administration of Mr. Tyler. It will be, if it can only be obtained through the instrumentality of a bank of the United States, unless he changes his opinion, as he has done in regard to the land bill.

Unfortunately, our chief magistrate possesses more powers, in some respects, than a king or queen of England. The crown is never separated from the nation, but is obliged to conform to its will. If the ministry holds opinions adverse to the nation, and is thrown into the minority in the house of commons, the crown is constrained to dismiss the ministry, and appoint one whose opinions coincide with the nation. This queen Victoria has recently been obliged to do: and not merely to change her ministry, but to dismiss the official attendants upon her person. But here, if the president holds an opinion adverse to that of congress and the nation upon important public measures, there is no remedy but upon the periodical return of the rights of the ballot box.

Another remedy, powerfully demanded by the necessities of the times, and requisite to maintaining the currency in a sound state, is a tariff which will lessen importations from abroad, and tend to increase supplies at home from domestic industry. I have so often expressed my views on this subject, and so recently in the senate of the United States, that I do not think there is any occasion for my enlarging upon it at this time. I do not think that an exorbitant or very high tariff is necessary; but one that shall insure an adequate revenue and reasonable protection; and it so happens that the interests of the treasury and the wants of the people now perfectly coincide. Union is our highest and greatest interest. No one can look beyond its dissolution without horror and dismay. Harmony is essential to the preservation of the union. It was a leading, although not the only motive in proposing the compromise act, to preserve that harmony. The power of protecting the interests of our own country, can never be abandoned or surrendered to foreign nations, without a culpable dereliction of duty. Of this truth, all parts of the nation are every day becoming more and more sensible. In the mean time this indispensable power should be exercised with a discretion and moderation, and in a form least calculated to revive prejudices, or to check the progress of reforms now going on in public opinion.

In connection with a system of remedial measures, I shall only allude to, without stopping to dwell on, the distribution bill, that just and equitable settlement of a great national question, which sprung up during the revolutionary war, which has seriously agitated the country, and which it is deeply to be regretted had not been settled ten years ago, as then proposed. Independent of all other considerations, the fluctuation in the receipts from sales of the public lands is so great and constant that it is a resource on which the general government ought not to rely for revenue. It is far better that the advice of a democratic land committee of the senate, at the head of which was the experienced and distinguished Mr. King, of Alabama, given some years ago, should be followed, that the federal treasury be replenished with duties on imports, without bringing into it any part of the land fund.

I have thus suggested measures of relief adapted to the present state of the country, and I have noticed some of the differences which unfortunately exist between the two leading parties into which our people are unhappily divided. In considering the question whether the counsels of the one or the other of these parties are wisest, and best calculated to advance the interest, the honor, and the prosperity of the nation, which every citizen ought to do, we should discard all passion and prejudice, and exercise, as far as possible, a perfect impartiality. And we should not confine our attention merely to the particular measures which those parties respectively espouse or oppose, but extend it to their general course and conduct, and to the spirit and purposes by which they are animated. We should anxiously inquire, whither shall we be led by following in the lead of one or the other of those parties; shall we be carried to the achievement of the glorious destiny, which patriots here, and the liberal portion of mankind every where, have fondly hoped awaits us? or shall we ingloriously terminate our career, by adding another melancholy example of the instability of human affairs, and the folly with which self-government is administered?

I do not arrogate to myself more impartiality, or greater freedom from party bias, than belongs to other men; but, unless I deceive myself, I think I have reached a time of life, and am now in a position of retirement, from which I can look back with calmness, and speak, I hope, with candor and justice. I do not intend to attempt a general contrast between the two parties, as to their course, doctrines, and spirit. That would be too extensive and laborious an undertaking for this occasion; but I propose to specify a few recent instances, in which I think our political opponents have exhibited a spirit and bearing disorganizing and dangerous to the permanency and stability of our institutions, and I invoke the serious and sober attention to them, of all who are here assembled.

The first I would notice, is the manner in which territories have been lately admitted as states, into the union. The early and regular practice of the government, was for congress to pass previously a law authorizing a convention, regulating the appointment of members to it; specifying the qualification of voters, and so forth. In that way most of the states were received. Of late without any previous sanction or authority from congress, several territories have proceeded of themselves to call conventions, form constitutions, and demand admission into the union; and they were admitted. I do not deny that their population and condition entitled them to admission; but I insist that it should have been done in the regular and established mode. In the case of Michigan, aliens were allowed to vote, as aliens have been allowed to become preëmptioners in the public lands. And a majority in congress sanctioned the proceeding. When foreigners are naturalized and incorporated as citizens in our community, they are entitled to all the privileges, within the limits of the constitution, which belong to a native born citizen; and, if necessary, they should be protected, at home and abroad――the thunder of our artillery should roar as loud and as effectually in their defence as if their birth were upon American soil. But I cannot but think it wrong and hazardous, to allow aliens, who have just landed upon our shores, who have not yet renounced their allegiance to foreign potentates, nor sworn fidelity to our constitution, with all the influences of monarchy and anarchy about them, to participate in our elections, and affect our legislation.

Second, the New Jersey election case, in which the great seal of the state, and the decision of the local authorities were put aside by the house of representatives, and a majority thus secured to the democratic party.

Third, nullification, which is nothing more nor less than an assumption by one state to abrogate within its limits a law passed by the twenty-six states in congress assembled.

Fourth, a late revolutionary attempt in Maryland to subvert the existing government, and set up a new one without any authority of law.

Fifth, the refusal of a minority in the legislature of Tennessee, to coöperate with the majority, (their constitution requiring the presence of two thirds of the members,) to execute a positive injunction of the United States to appoint two United States senators. In principle, that refusal was equivalent to announcing the willingness of that minority to dissolve the union. For if thirteen or fourteen of the twenty-six states were to refuse altogether to elect senators, a dissolution of the union would be the consequence. That majority, for weeks together, and time after time, deliberately refused to enter upon the election. And if the union is not in fact dissolved, it is not because the principle involved would not yield to a dissolution, but because twelve or thirteen other states have not like themselves refused to perform a high constitutional duty. And why did they refuse? Simply because they apprehended the election to the senate of political opponents. The seats of the two Tennessee senators in the United States senate, are now vacant, and Tennessee has no voice in that branch of congress, in the general legislation. One of the highest compliments which I ever received, was to have been appointed, at a popular meeting in Tennessee, one of her senators, in conjunction with a distinguished senator from South Carolina, with all the authority that such an appointment could bestow. I repeat here an expression of my acknowledgments for the honor, which I most _ambitiously_ resigned, when I gave up my dictatorship, and my seat as a Kentucky senator. [A general laugh.]

Sixth. Then there is repudiation, that foul stain upon the American character, cast chiefly by the democrats of Mississippi, and which it will require years to efface from our bright escutcheon.

Seventh, the support given to executive usurpations, and the expunging the records of the senate of the United States.

Eighth, the recent refusal of state legislatures to pass laws to carry into effect the act of distribution, an act of congress passed according to all the forms of the constitution, after ample discussion and deliberate consideration, and after the lapse of ten years from the period it was first proposed. It is the duty of all to submit to the laws regularly passed. They may attempt to get them repealed; they have a right to test their validity before the judiciary; but whilst the laws remain in force unrepealed, and without any decision against their constitutional validity, submission to them is not merely a constitutional and legal, but a moral duty. In this case it is true that those who refuse to abide by them only bite their own noses. But it is the _principle_ of the refusal to which I call your attention. If a minority may refuse compliance with one law, what is to prevent minorities from disregarding all law? Is this any thing but a modification of nullification? What right have the servants of the people, (the legislative bodies,) to withhold from their masters their assigned quotas of a great public fund?

Ninth. The last, though not least, instance of the manifestation of a spirit of disorganization which I shall notice, is the recent convulsion in Rhode Island. That little, but gallant and patriotic state had a charter derived from a British king, in operation between one and two hundred years. There had been engrafted upon it laws and usages, from time to time, and altogether a practical constitution sprung up, which carried the state as one of the glorious thirteen, through the revolution, and brought her safely into the union. Under it, her Greens and Perrys and other distinguished men were born and rose to eminence. The legislature had called a convention to remedy whatever defects it had, and to adapt it to the progressive improvement of the age. In that work of reform the Dorr party might have coöperated; but not choosing so to coöperate, and in wanton defiance of all established authority, they undertook subsequently to call another convention. The result was two constitutions, not essentially differing on the principal point of controversy, the right of suffrage.

Upon submitting to the people that which was formed by the regular convention, a small majority voted against it, produced by a union in casting votes, between the Dorr party and some of the friends of the old charter, who were opposed to any change. The other constitution being also submitted to the people, an apparent majority voted for it, made up of every description of votes, legal and illegal, by proxy and otherwise, taken in the most irregular and unauthorized manner.

The Dorr party proceeded to put their constitution in operation by electing him as the governor of the state, members to the mock legislature, and other officers. But they did not stop here; they proceeded to collect, to drill, and to marshal a military force, and pointed their cannon against the arsenal of the state.

The president was called upon to interpose the power of the union to preserve the peace of the state, in conformity with an express provision of the federal constitution. And I have as much pleasure in expressing my opinion that he faithfully performed his duty, in responding to that call, as it gave me pain to be obliged to animadvert on other parts of his conduct.

The leading presses of the democratic party at Washington, Albany, New York, Richmond, and elsewhere, came out in support of the Dorr party, encouraging them in their work of rebellion and treason. And when matters had got to a crisis, and the two parties were preparing for a civil war, and every hour it was expected to blaze out, a great Tammany meeting was held in the city of New York, headed by the leading men of the party, the Cambrelengs, the Vanderpools, the Allens, &c., with a perfect knowledge that the military power of the union was to be employed, if necessary, to suppress the insurrection, and, notwithstanding, they passed resolutions tending to awe the president, and to countenance and cheer the treason.

Fortunately, numbers of the Dorr party abandoned their chief; he fled, and Rhode Island, unaided by any actual force of the federal authority, proved herself able alone to maintain law, order, and government, within her borders.

I do not attribute to my fellow citizens here assembled, from whom I differ in opinion, any disposition to countenance the revolutionary proceedings in Rhode Island. I do not believe that they approve it, I do not believe that their party generally could approve it, nor some of the other examples of a spirit of disorganization which I have enumerated; but the misfortune is, in time of high party excitement, that the leaders commit themselves, and finally commit the body of their party, who perceive that unless they stand by and sustain their leaders, a division, and perhaps destruction of the party, would be the consequence. Of all the springs of human action, party ties are perhaps the most powerful. Interest has been supposed to be more so; but party ties are more influential, unless they are regarded as a modification of imaginary interest. Under their sway, we have seen, not only individuals, but whole communities abandon their long cherished interests and principles, and turn round and oppose them with violence.

Did not the rebellion in Rhode Island find for its support a precedent established by the majority in congress, in the irregular admission of territories, as states, into the union, to which I have heretofore alluded? Is there not reason to fear that the example which congress had previously presented, encouraged the Rhode Island rebellion?

It has been attempted to defend that rebellion, upon the doctrines of the American Declaration of Independence; but no countenance to it can be fairly derived from them. That declaration asserts, it is true, that whenever a government becomes destructive of the ends of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, for the security of which it was instituted, it is the right of the _people_ to alter or abolish it, and institute new government; and so undoubtedly it is. But this is a right only to be exercised in grave and extreme cases. ‘Prudence indeed will dictate,’ says that venerated instrument, ‘that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes.’ ‘But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, their duty, to throw off such government.’

Will it be pretended that the actual government of Rhode Island is destructive of life, liberty, or the pursuit of happiness? That it has perpetrated a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing the same invariable object, to reduce the people under absolute despotism? Or that any other cause of complaint existed, but such as might be peacefully remedied, without violence and without blood? Such as, in point of fact, the legitimate government had regularly summoned a convention to redress, but for the results of whose deliberations the restless spirit of disorder and rebellion had not patience to wait? Why, fellow-citizens, little Rhody (God bless and preserve her,) is one of the most prosperous, enterprising, and enlightened states in this whole union. No where are life, liberty, and property, more perfectly secure.

How is this right of the people to abolish an existing government, and to set up a new one, to be practically exercised? Our revolutionary ancestors did not tell us by words, but they proclaimed it by gallant and noble deeds. Who are _the people_ that are to tear up the whole fabric of human society, whenever and as often as caprice or passion may prompt them? When all the arrangements and ordinances of existing and organized society are prostrated and subverted, as must be supposed in such a lawless and irregular movement as that in Rhode Island, the established privileges and distinctions between the sexes, between the colors, between the ages, between natives and foreigners, between the sane and the insane, and between the innocent and the guilty convict, all the offspring of positive institutions, are cast down and abolished, and society is thrown into one heterogenous and unregulated mass. And is it contended that the major part of this Babel congregation is invested with the right to build up, at its pleasure, a new government? That as often, and whenever society can be drummed up and thrown into such a shapeless mass, the major part of it may establish another, and another new government, in endless succession? Why, this would overturn all social organization, make revolutions――the extreme and last resort of an oppressed people――the commonest occurrences of human life, and the standing order of the day. How such a principle would operate, in a certain section of this union, with a peculiar population, you will readily conceive. No community could endure such an intolerable state of things any where, and all would, sooner or later, take refuge from such ceaseless agitation, in the calm repose of absolute despotism.

I know of no mode by which an existing government can be overthrown and put aside, and a new one erected in its place, but by the consent or authority of that government, express or implied, or by forcible resistance, that is, revolution.

Fellow-citizens, I have enumerated these examples of a dangerous spirit of disorganization, and disregard of law, with no purpose of giving offence, or exciting bitter and unkind feelings, here or elsewhere, but to illustrate the principles, character, and tendency of the two great parties into which this country is divided. In all of these examples, the democratic party, as it calls itself, (a denomination to which I respectfully think it has not the least just pretension,) or large portions of that party, extending to whole states, united with apparent cordiality. To all of them the whig party was constantly and firmly opposed. And now let me ask you, in all candor and sincerity, to say truly and impartially to which of these two parties can the interests, the happiness, and the destinies of this great people be most safely confided? I appeal especially, and with perfect confidence, to the candor of the real, the ancient, and long-tried democracy――that old republican party with whom I stood, side by side, during some of the darkest days of the republic, in seasons of both war and peace.

Fellow-citizens of all parties! The present situation of our country is one of unexampled distress and difficulty; but there is no occasion for any despondency. A kind and bountiful Providence has never deserted us; punished us he perhaps has, for our neglect of his blessings and our misdeeds. We have a varied and fertile soil, a genial climate and free institutions. Our whole land is covered, in profusion, with the means of subsistence and the comforts of life. Our gallant ship, it is unfortunately true, lies helpless, tossed on a tempestuous sea, amidst the conflicting billows of contending parties, without a rudder and without a faithful pilot. But that ship is our country, embodying all our past glory, all our future hopes. Its crew is our whole people, by whatever political denomination they are known. If she goes down, we all go down together. Let us remember the dying words of the gallant and lamented Lawrence. Don’t give up the ship. The glorious banner of our country, with its unstained stars and stripes, still proudly floats at its mast-head. With stout hearts and strong arms we can surmount all our difficulties. Let us all, all, rally round that banner, and firmly resolve to perpetuate our liberties and regain our lost prosperity.

Whigs! Arouse from the ignoble supineness which encompasses you; awake from the lethargy in which you lie bound; cast from you that unworthy apathy which seems to make you indifferent to the fate of your country. Arouse! awake! shake off the dew drops that glitter on your garments, and once more march to battle and to victory. You have been disappointed, deceived, betrayed; shamefully deceived and betrayed. But will you therefore also prove false and faithless to your country, or obey the impulses of a just and patriotic indignation? As for captain Tyler, he is a mere snap, a flash in the pan; pick your whig flints and try your rifles again.

[The conclusion of the speech was followed with general and
tremendous cheering; and the largest, and one of the most
respectable multitudes ever assembled in Kentucky, dispersed
without a solitary instance of disorder or indecorum occurring.]

ON SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.

AT RICHMOND, INDIANA, OCTOBER 1, 1842.

[IN the autumn of 1842, Mr. Clay being on a visit to the state
of Indiana, the occasion of his meeting a large concourse of
people, was seized upon, for the purpose of presenting him with
a petition, signed by many of his political opponents, praying
him to emancipate his slaves, in Kentucky. Instead of treating
the matter with indignation, as was perhaps expected by some,
Mr. Clay replied with good humor to Mr. Mendenhall, who had been
selected to present him with the address, in the following words.]