Observing their solemnity, Barton turned upon them:

“Well, gentlemen, shall it be oil or water?”

“Oh, water, by all means,” they answered in a chorus.

To none of these, not even to Livingston, had Barton indicated the nature of the report he had to make. Pressing the former Minister’s hand as a token of appreciation of his confidence, Barton led the way into the iron man’s presence.

The moment the conference was over, Jackson began the preparation of his Message to Congress, and, on its completion, submitted it to Livingston. In view of Hone’s fear, it is interesting to note that it was the former Minister of State who persuaded Jackson to a moderation of its tone. Drawing a substitute, he sent it to the White House with an ingratiating letter.

“The characteristics of the present communication,” he wrote, “ought, in my opinion, to be moderation and firmness. Our cause is so good that we need not be violent. Moderation in language, firmness in purpose, will unite all hearts at home, all opinion abroad, in our favor. Warmth and recrimination will give arguments to false friends and real enemies, which they may use with effect against us. On these principles I have framed a hasty draft which I enclose. You will, with your usual discernment, determine whether it suits the present emergency. At any rate, I know you will do justice to the motive that has induced me to offer it.”[858]

Jackson took the advice in good part, destroyed his declaration of war, and prepared, with the assistance of Forsyth, another, which was submitted to Congress on January 15th. It was an excited body of men that listened that winter day to the reading of the Message that might mean war. But three days before, an acrimonious debate had been precipitated by Benton, charging the partisanship of the Senate with responsibility for the failure of the Fortifications Bill; and only the day before, Webster, in a spirited reply, had attempted to shift responsibility to the Democratic House. John Quincy Adams, enraged at Webster’s reflections upon the House, was meditating his sensational reply. In this atmosphere the Message was read.

After reviewing the controversy up to the hour of the Message, with the declaration that “the spirit of the American people, the dignity of the Legislature, and the firm resolve of their Executive Government forbid” an apology or explanation, he called upon Congress to “sustain Executive exertion in such measures as the case requires.” This included, according to his idea, reprisals, the exclusion of French products and French vessels from American ports. But there was more to be done. Naval preparations of the French intended for our seas had been announced. He knew not the purpose. But, “come what may, the explanation which France demands can never be accorded, and no armament, however powerful and imposing, at a distance or on our coast, will, I trust, deter us from discharging the high duties we owe to our constituents, our national character, and to the world”; and he called upon the Congress “to vindicate the faith of treaties and to promote the general interest of peace, civilization, and improvement.”[859]

VII

Notwithstanding the seriousness of the crisis the memory of the failure of the Fortifications Bill in the last session would not down. Throughout the spring, summer, and autumn of 1835, the press and politicians were engaged in bitter criminations and recriminations as to the responsibility. It was manifestly the fault of the Senate Whigs, but their harassed leaders bitterly retaliated on the Democratic House, and drew upon their imagination in an effort to place responsibility upon the Jacksonian leaders. A fantastical article, once attributed to Daniel Webster, appeared in the “National Gazette,” charging that Van Buren and John Forsyth had expressed the wish to Cambreleng, the Democratic leader in the House, that the bill should fail, that the calamity might be ascribed to the Whigs of the Senate. The people had been thoroughly outraged at the base prostitution of the Nation’s interest to the pettiness of party politics. During the summer, Blair called attention in the “Globe” to Serurier’s action in sending to Paris with Jackson’s Message the criticism of the “National Intelligencer,” with the comment that the French Minister for Foreign Affairs would do well to read the two together! Paris was assured by Serurier that the Whig paper had “pretty considerable influence,” had “under the presidencies of Madison and Monroe been the official paper,” and “has spoken energetically against the measure” the President had proposed. The President’s sharp reference to the unfortunate situation created by the failure of the bill, in his Message of December, 1835, had shown a determination, on the part of that consummate politician, to turn the popular indignation upon the Opposition. However, with the passion of the parties smouldering beneath the surface, there was no open fight until, on January 12th, the pugnacious Benton, speaking on the national defense, reviewed the failure of the Fortifications Bill, and laid the responsibility at the Senate’s door. He closed his biting comments with an effective reference to the approach of the French squadron, sent on the supposition of our helplessness, and the suggestion that the Senate should then act “under the guns of France and under the eyes of Europe.”[860]