brief remainder of its existence, to the de- | ballots, and report the result of the same tails of business and the routine of service. to their several delegations, together with The cause of this was the result of the such facts as may bear upon the nominapresidential election of 1840. The same tion; and said delegation shall forthwith candidates who fought the battle of 1836 re-assemble and ballot again for candidates were again in the field. Mr. Van Buren for the above offices, and again commit was the Democratic candidate. His ad- the result to the above committees, and if ministration had been satisfactory to his it shall appear that a majority of the balparty, and his nomination for a second lots are for any one man for candidate for term was commended by the party in the President, said committee shall report the different States in appointing their dele- result to the convention for its consideragates; so that the proceedings of the con- tion; but if there shall be no such majorivention which nominated him were en- ty, then the delegation shall repeat the tirely harmonious and formal in their na- balloting until such a majority shall be ture. Mr. Richard M. Johnson, the ac- obtained, and then report the same to the tual Vice-President, was also nominated convention for its consideration. That the for Vice-President. vote of a majority of each delegation shall On the Whig ticket, General William be reported as the vote of that State; and Henry Harrison, of Ohio, was the candi- each State represented here shall vote its date for President, and Mr. John Tyler, of full electoral vote by such delegation in Virginia, for Vice-President. The lead- the committee." This was a sum in poliing statesmen of the Whig party were tical algebra, whose quotient was known, again put aside, to make way for a milita- but the quantity unknown except to those ry man, prompted by the example in the who planned it; and the result was-for nomination of General Jackson, the men General Scott, 16 votes; for Mr. Clay, 90 who managed presidential elections be- votes; for General Harrison, 148 votes. lieving then as now that military renown And as the law of the convention impliedwas a passport to popularity and rendered ly requires the absorption of all minorities, a candidate more sure of election. Availa- the 106 votes were swallowed up by the bility for the purpose-was the only abili-148 votes and made to count for General ty asked for. Mr. Clay, the most promi- Harrison, presenting him as the unaninent Whig in the country, and the ac-mity candidate of the convention, and the knowledged head of the party, was not deemed available; and though Mr. Clay was a candidate before the convention, the proceedings were so regulated that his nomination was referred to a committee, ingeniously devised and directed for the afterwards avowed purpose of preventing his nomination and securing that of General Harrison; and of producing the intend-long and bitter one, the severest ever ed result without showing the design, and known in the country, up to that time, and without leaving a trace behind to show scarcely equalled since. The whole Whig what was done. The scheme (a modifica- party and the large league of suspended tion of which has since been applied to banks, headed by the Bank of the United subsequent national conventions, and out States making its last struggle for a new of which many bitter dissensions have again national charter in the effort to elect a and again arisen) is embodied and was President friendly to it, were arrayed executed in and by means of the following against the Democrats, whose hard-money resolution adopted by the convention: policy and independent treasury schemes, Ordered, That the delegates from each met with little favor in the then depressed State be requested to assemble as a delega- condition of the country. Meetings were tion, and appoint a committee, not exceed- held in every State, county and town; the ing three in number, to receive the views people thoroughly aroused; and every and opinions of such delegation, and com- argument made in favor of the respective municate the same to the assembled com- candidates and parties, which could posmittes of all the delegations, to be by them sibly have any effect upon the voters. The respectively reported to their principals; canvass was a thorough one, and the elecand that thereupon the delegates from tion was carried for the Whig candidates, each State be requested to assemble as a who received 234 electoral votes coming delegation, and ballot for candidates for from 19 States. The remaining 60 electothe offices of President and Vice-Presi-ral votes of the other 9 States, were given dent, and having done so, to commit the to the Democratic candidate; though the ballot designating the votes of each candi- popular vote was not so unevenly divided; date, and by whom given, to its commit- the actual figures being 1,275,611 for the tee, and thereupon all the committees Whig ticket, against 1,135,761 for the shall assemble and compare the several Democratic ticket. It was a complete rout

defeated candidates and all their friends bound to join in his support. And in this way the election of 1840 was effected-a process certainly not within the purview of those framers of the constitution who supposed they were giving to the nation the choice of its own chief magistrate.

The contest before the people was a

of the Democratic party, but without the | These creditors, becoming uneasy, wished moral effect of victory. the federal government to assume their debts. The suggestion was made as early as 1838, renewed in 1839, and in 1840 became a regular question mixed up with the Presidential election of that year, and openly engaging the active exertions of foreigners. Direct assumption was not urged; indirect by giving the public land revenue to the States was the mode pursued, and the one recommended in the message of President Tyler. Mr. Calhoun spoke against the measure with more than usual force and clearness, claiming that it was unconstitutional and without warrant. Mr. Benton on the same side called it a squandering of the public patrimony, and pointed out its inexpediency in the depleted state of the treasury, apart from its other objectionable features. It passed by a party vote.

On March 4, 1841, was inaugurated as President, Gen'l Wm. H. Harrison, the first Chief Magistrate elected by the Whig party, and the first President who was not a Democrat, since the installation of Gen'l Jackson, March 4, 1829. His term was a short one. He issued a call for a special session of Congress to convene the 31st of May following, to consider the condition of the revenue and finances of the country, but did not live to meet it. Taken ill with a fatal malady during the last days of March, he died on the 4th of April following, having been in office just one month. He was succeeded by the Vice-President, John Tyler. Then, for the first time in our history as a government, the person elected to the Vice-Presidency of the United States, by the happening of a contingency provided for in the constitution, had devolved upon him the Presidential

office.

This session is remarkable for the institution of the hour rule in the House of Representatives-a very great limitation upon the freedom of debate. It was a Whig measure, adopted to prevent_delay

a rigorous limitation, frequently acting as a bar to profitable debate and checking members in speeches which really impart information valuable to the House and the country. No doubt the license of debate has been frequently abused in Congress, as in all other deliberative assemblies, but the incessant use of the previous question, which cuts off all debate, added to the hour rule which limits a speech to sixty minutes (constantly reduced by interruptions) frequently results in the transaction of business in ignorance of what they are about by those who are doing it.

The twenty-seventh Congress opened in extra session at the call of the late President, May 31, 1841. A Whig member in the enactment of pending bills. It was Mr. White of Kentucky-was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives. The Whigs had a majority of forty-seven in the House and of seven in the Senate, and with the President and Cabinet of the same political party presented a harmony of aspect frequently wanting during the three previous administrations. The first measure of the new dominant party was the repeal of the independent treasury act passed at the previous session; and the next in order were bills to establish a system of bankruptcy, and for distribution of public land revenue. The former was more than a bankrupt law; it was practically an insolvent law for the abolition of debts at the will of the debtor. It applied to all persons in debt, allowed them to institute the proceedings in the district where the petitioner resided, allowed constructive notices to creditors in newspapers -declared the abolition of the debt where effects were surrendered and fraud not proved; and gave exclusive jurisdiction to the federal courts, at the will of the debtor. It was framed upon the model of the English insolvent debtors' act of George the Fourth, and embodied most of the provisions of that act, but substituting a release from the debt instead of a release from imprisonment. The bill passed by a close vote in both Houses.

The land revenue distribution bill of this session had its origin in the fact that the States and corporations owed about two hundred millions to creditors in Europe. These debts were in stocks, much depreciated by the failure in many instances to pay the accruing interest-in some instances failure to provide for the principal.

The rule worked so well in the House, for the purpose for which it was devisedmade the majority absolute master of the body-that Mr. Clay undertook to have the same rule adopted in the Senate; but the determined opposition to it, both by his political opponents and friends, led to the abandonment of the attempt in that chamber.

Much discussion took place at this session, over the bill offered in the House of Representatives, for the relief of the widow of the late President-General Harrisonappropriating one year's salary. It was strenuously opposed by the Democratic members, as unconstitutional, on account of its principle, as creating a private pension list, and as a dangerous precedent. Many able speeches were made against the bill, both in the Senate and House; among others, the following extract from the speech of an able Senator contains some interesting facts. He said: "Look at the case of Mr. Jefferson, a man than whom no one that ever existed on God's earth were the human family more indebted to.

great political parties of the Union, which, under whatsoever names, are always the same, each preserving its identity in principles and policy, but here the two parties divided upon an abuse which no one could deny or defend. A navy pension fund had been established under the act of 1832, which was a just and proper law, but on the 3d of March, 1837, an act was passed entitled "An act for the more equitable distribution of the Navy Pension Fund." That act provided: I. That Invalid naval pensions should commence and date back to the time of receiving the inability, instead of completing the proof. II. It extended the pensions for death to all cases of death, whether incurred in the line of duty or not. III. It extended the widow's pensions for life, when five years had been the law both in the army and navy. IV. It adopted the English system of pensioning children of deceased marines until they attained their majority.

His furniture and his estate were sold to | A difference about a navy-on the point satisfy his creditors. His posterity was of how much and what kind-had always driven from house and home, and his bones been a point of difference between the two now lay in soil owned by a stranger. His family are scattered: some of his descendants are married in foreign lands. Look at Monroe-the able, the patriotic Monroe, whose services were revolutionary, whose blood was spilt in the war of Independence, whose life was worn out in civil service, and whose estate has been sold for debt, his family scattered, and his daughter buried in a foreign land. Look at Madison, the model of every virtue, public or private, and he would only mention in connection with this subject, his love of order, his economy, and his systematic regularity in all his habits of business. He, when his term of eight years had expired, sent a letter to a gentleman (a son of whom is now on this floor) [Mr. Preston], enclosing a note of five thousand dollars, which he requested him to endorse, and raise the money in Virginia, so as to enable him to leave this city, and return to his modest retreat-his patrimonial inheritance-in that State. General Jack- The effect of this law was to absorb and son drew upon the consignee of his cot- bankrupt the navy pension fund, a meriton crop in New Orleans for six thousand torious fund created out of the government dollars to enable him to leave the seat share of prize money, relinquished for that of government without leaving creditors purpose, and to throw the pensions, behind him. These were honored leaders arrears as well as current and future, upon of the republican party. They had all the public treasury, where it was never inbeen Presidents. They had made great tended they were to be. It was to repeal sacrifices, and left the presidency deeply this act, that an amendment was introembarrassed; and yet the republican party duced at this session on the bringing forwho had the power and the strongest dis- ward of the annual appropriation bill for position to relieve their necessities, felt navy pensions, and long and earnest were they had no right to do so by appropri- the debates upon it. The amendment was ating money from the public Treasury. lost, the Senate dividing on party lines, Democracy would not do this. It was the Whigs against and the Democrats for left for the era of federal rule and federal the amendment. The subject is instrucsupremacy-who are now rushing the tive, as then was practically ratified and recountry with steam power into all the enacted the pernicious practice authorized abuses and corruptions of a monarchy, by the act of 1837, of granting pensions to with its pensioned aristocracy-and to en- date from the time of injury and not tail upon the country a civil pension list." from the time of proof; and has grown up There was an impatient majority in the to such proportions in recent years that House in favor of the passage of the bill. the last act of Congress appropriating The circumstances were averse to deliberation-a victorious party, come into power after a heated election, seeing their elected candidate dying on the threshold of his administration, poor and beloved: it was a case for feeling more than of judgment, especially with the political friends of the deceased-but few of whom could follow the counsels of the head against the impulsions of the heart.

The bill passed, and was approved; and as predicted, it established a precedent which has since been followed in every similar case.

The subject of naval pensions received more than usual consideration at this session. The question arose on the discussion of the appropriation bill for that purpose.

money for arrears of pensions, provided for the payment of such an enormous sum of money that it would have appalled the original projectors of the act of 1837 could they have seen to what their system has led.

Again, at this session, the object of the tariff occupied the attention of Congress. The compromise act, as it was called, of 1833, which was composed of two partsone to last nine years, for the benefit of manufactures; the other to last for ever, for the benefit of the planting and consuming interest-was passed, as hereinbefore stated, in pursuance of an agreement between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun and their respective friends, at the time the former was urging the necessity for a

continuance of high tariff for protection | tions very different from what they occuand revenue, and the latter was presenting pied when the compromise act was passed and justifying before Congress the nullifi--then united, now divided-then concurcation ordinance adopted by the Legisla- rent, now antagonistic, and the antagoture of South Carolina. To Mr. Clay and nism general, upon all measures, was to be Mr. Calhoun it was a political necessity, special upon this one. Their connection one to get rid of a stumbling-block (which with the subject made it their function protective tariff had become); the other to to lead off in its consideration; and their escape a personal peril which his nullify- antagonist positions promised sharp ening ordinance had brought upon him, and counters, which did not fail to come. Mr. with both, it was a piece of policy, to Clay said that he "observed that the enable them to combine against Mr. Van Senator from South Carolina based his Buren, by postponing their own conten- abstractions on the theories of books on tion; and a device on the part of its English authorities, and on the arguments author (Mr. Clayton, of Delaware) and urged in favor of free trade by a certain Mr. Clay to preserve the protective system. party in the British Parliament. Now he, It provided for a reduction of a certain per (Mr. Clay,) and his friends would not adcentage each year, on the duties for the mit of these authorities being entitled to ensuing nine years, until the revenue was as much weight as the universal practice reduced to 20 per cent. ad valorem on all of nations, which in all parts of the world articles imported into the country. In was found to be in favor of protecting home consequence the revenue was so reduced manufactures to an extent sufficient to that in the last year, there was little more keep them in a flourishing condition. than half what the exigencies of the This was the whole difference. The Senagovornment required, and different modes, tor was in favor of book theory and abby loans and otherwise, were suggested to stractions: he (Mr. Clay) and his friends, meet the deficiency, The Secretary of the were in favor of the universal practice of Treasury had declared the necessity of nations, and the wholesome and necessary loans and taxes to carry on the govern- protection of domestic manufactures." ment; a loan bill for twelve millions had been passed; a tariff bill to raise fourteen millions was depending; and the chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Millard Fillmore, defended its necessity in an able speech. His bill proposed twenty per cent. additional to the existing duty on certain specified articles, sufficient to make up the amount wanted. This encroachment on a measure SO much vaunted when passed, and which had been kept inviolate while operating in favor of one of the parties to it, naturally excited complaint and opposition from the other, and Mr. Gilmer, of Virginia, in a speech against the new bill, said: "In referring to the compromise act, the true characteristics of that act which recommended it strongly to him, were that it contemplated that duties were to be levied for revenue only, and in the next place to the amount only necessary to the supply of the economical wants of the government. He begged leave to call the attention of the committee to the principle recognized as the language of the compromise, a principle which ought to be recognized in all time to come by every department of the government. It is, that duties to be raised for revenue are to be raised to such an amount only as is necessary for an economical administration of the government. Some incidental protection must necessarily be given, and he, for one, coming from an anti-tariff portion of the country, would not object to it."

The bill went to the Senate where it found Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun in posi

Mr. Calhoun in reply, referring to his allusion to the success in the late election of the tory party in England, said: "The interests, objects, and aims of the tory party there and the whig party here, are identical. The identity of the two parties is remarkable. The tory party are the patrons of corporate monopolies; and are not you? They are advocates of a high tariff; and are not you? They are supporters of a national bank; and are not you? They are for corn-laws-laws oppressive to the masses of the people, and favorable to their own power; and are not you? Witness this bill. * The success of that party in England, and of the whig party here, is the success of the great money power, which concentrates the interests of the two parties, and identifies their principles."

*

*

The bill was passed by a large majority, upon the general ground that the government must have revenue.

The chief measure of the session, and the great object of the whig party-the one for which it had labored for ten years-was for the re-charter of a national bank. Without this all other measures would be deemed to be incomplete, and the victorious election itself but little better than a defeat. The President, while a member of the Democratic party, had been opposed to the United States Bank; and to overcome any objections he might have the bill was carefully prepared, and studiously contrived to avoid the President's objections, and save his consistency-a point upon which he was exceedingly sensitive.

The democratic members resisted strenu- | the establishment of a new party, with Mr. ously, in order to make the measure odious, Tyler as its head; earnest efforts having but successful resistance was impossible. been made in that behalf by many promiIt passed both houses by a close vote; and nent Whigs and Democrats. The entire contrary to all expectation the President cabinet, with the exception of Mr. Webster, disapproved the act, but with such expres- resigned within a few days after the second sions of readiness to approve another bill veto. It was a natural thing for them to which should be free from the objections do, and was not unexpected. Indeed Mr. which he named, as still to keep his party Webster had resolved to tender his resignatogether, and to prevent the resignation of tion also, but on reconsideration determined his cabinet. In his veto message the to remain and publish his reasons therePresident fell back upon his early opinions for in a letter to the National Intelligencer, against the constitutionality of a national in the following words: bank, so often and so publicly expressed.