Such was the bill introduced by Mr. Clay, and great was the astonishment of the administration party in view of its munificent provisions, and that exemplary impartiality, which consulted the interests of all sections of the country alike. Being a candidate for the presidency, they had confidently expected that he would make such a disposition of the question as to secure the support of all the western states, or, at least, so manage as to make it bear favorably on his election. Great, therefore, was their astonishment, in subjecting his bill to their microscopic scrutiny, in not being able to find the remotest reference to self, not the slightest looking towards the presidency, and great was their disappointment also. They had tried various schemes to destroy his popularity, without success, and, thinking that he would reason on this subject as they themselves, concluded that he would become entangled in their snare. They almost began to chuckle over the anticipated cry of ‘bargain’ and ‘corruption,’ with which they should be able to fill the land, on the appearance of his bill. Great was their disappointment, therefore, when his sterling integrity, his purity of intention, appeared in their place.
On the twentieth of June, Mr. Clay’s land bill was taken up by the senate. He exerted himself nobly in its defence, and was opposed by Mr. Benton, who, together with other administration men, strenuously supported the policy of reducing the price of a part of the public lands, and of surrendering the remainder to the states in which they lie.
Efforts were made to postpone and amend the bill, but it was so ably enforced, and the objections to it so completely refuted, that it passed the senate by a vote of twenty to eighteen, on the third of July. The house, in regard to some of its provisions, disagreed, and this circumstance enabled its enemies to postpone its consideration, until December, next following, by a vote of ninety-one to eighty-eight. At the next session it was taken up and passed, by votes of twenty-four to twenty in the senate, and ninety-six to forty in the house, and sent to the president for his signature. Had he returned it immediately, even with his veto, it would have become a law, according to the constitution, requiring a vote of two thirds; but, unfortunately for the country, the president’s constitutional privilege of retaining bills a designated length of time, did not expire until after the adjournment of congress, which gave general Jackson an opportunity of taking the business of legislation out of the hands of the people, which he eagerly embraced—to trample this bill, as Mr. Benton exultingly said, ‘under his big foot,’ although he knew it expressed the obvious wishes of thepeople. He, therefore, kept the bill, until the commencement of the next session, (fifth of December, 1833,) when he returned it to the house, with his objections. He regarded Mr. Clay’s proposition of giving a certain per centage of the sales of the public lands to the states in which they were located, as an ‘indirect and undisguised violation of the pledge given by congress to the states before a single cession was made, abrogating the condition on which some of the states came into the union, and setting at nought the terms of cession spread upon the face of every grant, under which the title of that portion of the public lands are held by the federal government.’ In close connection with his objection to surrendering a part of the public domain to the several states, as mentioned, came his proposal to yield them the whole. To grant them a part, would be unconstitutional; but to grant them the whole, would be constitutional. This reasoning is perfectly sui generis; presenting a singular specimen of logic and consistency united. It behoved the president to support his veto by some prop, but no person supposed he would select such a crooked and frail one. The fact that he did, shows how long and tedious must have been his wanderings through the political forest, with his executive axe upon his shoulder, in search of a straight and firm one. The truth of the whole matter probably is, that the veto originated more from his personal hostility to Mr. Clay himself, than from any valid constitutional objection to his land bill. This view of the subject receives strong confirmation, by a reference to his message of December fourth, 1832. In this, the president specifically recommended the basis of just such a bill as that introduced by Mr. Clay. Stubborn facts justify us in saying, that if the same bill, containing the same provisions, had been introduced and advocated by Mr. Benton, or Mr. Buchanan, or indeed by any ardent supporter of the administration, the veto never would have been thought of. But it was presented by a hated hand; a hand, that, in the estimation of the president, polluted every thing it touched, and he indignantly spurned its contents to the dust; a hand respecting which he was always ready to ask, ‘can any GOOD THING come out of it?’ There is too much truth in the remark that has been made of him, both by his friends and foes, thousands of times—‘he would have every thing his own way.’
But, though defeated by the despotic will of one man, Mr. Clay was not, and could not be, silenced by it. While he had strength to stand up in the councils of his country, he resolved to stand firmly by the side of her rights, and paralyze, if possible, the hand uplifted to infringe them. Though not a participator in those scenes of blood and carnage, in which her broad and beautiful fields were won, yet his sympathizing heart too vividly portrayed the floods of tears, and treasure, and anguish, which the eastern states poured out in perfecting their title papers, to sit tamely down and see themdefrauded of their interest in these. The tombs of their heroes who fell in these struggles, would cry aloud for vengeance, if he sealed his mouth, and hid himself, when he saw the robber approaching. No! Henry Clay was not the man to act thus; his country’s rights were his rights, her wishes his wishes, and he would maintain the former, and consult the latter, at any cost. The ‘big foot,’ therefore, of general Jackson, though it ruthlessly ‘trampled’ on his work, dared not ‘trample’ on HIM, and he vigorously set about exposing the fallacy, and puerility, even, of the president’s reasons for his veto. This he did in a report which he submitted to the senate, from the committee on public lands, May second, 1834, with special reference to the return of the land bill. Subsequently, from time to time, during several years, efforts were made to wrest the public domain from its rightful owners, which Mr. Clay successfully resisted, and finally succeeded in placing it beyond the reach of those who were bent upon its plunder, giving to each section of the country its equitable share in it. His exertions in accomplishing this have established a foundation for his fame to rest upon, as immovable as the hills which they protected, and which shall endure as long as the verdure which clothes them shall be an object of grateful contemplation.
In 1831–32, Mr. Van Buren’s nomination as minister to England came before the senate for confirmation. Mr. Clay opposed it, on the ground of that gentleman’s anti-republican conduct in giving, while secretary of state, instructions to Mr. McLane. In these he not only manifested a desire to attach unnecessary blame to the United States, in their intercourse with Great Britain, but unjustly disparaged, in the eyes of that power, the preceding administration. He stated, that its acts had induced England to withhold from them certain privileges, which it otherwise would have extended to them. On the objectionable portions of these instructions, Mr. Clay animadverted with merited severity. ‘According to Mr. Van Buren,’ said he, ‘on our side all was wrong—on the British side all was right. We brought forward nothing but claims and pretensions; the British government asserted, on the other hand, a clear and incontestible right. We erred, in too tenaciously and too long insisting upon our pretensions, and not yielding at once to the force of just demands. And Mr. McLane was commanded, to avail himself of all the circumstances in his power to mitigate our offence, and to dissuade the British government from allowing their feelings, justly incurred by the past conduct of the party driven from power, to have an adverse influence towards the American party now in power. Sir, was that becoming language, from one independent nation to another? Was it proper in the mouth of an American minister? Was it in conformity with the high, unsullied, and dignified character of our previous diplomacy? Was it not, on the contrary, the language of an humble vassal to a proud andhaughty lord? Was it not prostrating and degrading the American eagle before the British lion?’
The nomination was rejected in the senate by the casting vote of Mr. Calhoun, the vice president. Mr. Clay’s opposition to it was based upon grounds purely national—on a desire to maintain the dignity and honor of his country’s character. It was fair for him, and for every one, to infer, that the spirit of cringing obsequiousness which Mr. Van Buren evinced, in framing instructions for a foreign minister, would display itself before the court of St. James, in acts as humiliating to her feelings as derogatory to her honor; in a word, that he would take the low attitude of the parasite, and not the erect position of the high-minded representative of an independent and mighty nation. How could Mr. Clay’s course have been otherwise? Viewed with the eye of a partisan, it may be deemed impolitic; it may have contributed more than any thing else to elevate Mr. Van Buren to the presidency, by recommending him more strongly to the favor of his party, as the victim of political persecution. Party politics, however, had nothing to do in determining Mr. Clay’s action; this was not the result of the consultations of any clique, nor the product of any party machinery; it was the offspring of his prompt, spontaneous, and unqualified obedience to his country’s mandate. He was never found grovelling among the dingy kennels and filthy sewers of party cabal, seeking the performance of some dirty job; for his country, his whole country, gave him too much and too honorable employment to allow him any leisure for this, had he been thus inclined. We have seen that it was his ardent desire to develope the resources of his country to their greatest possible extent, and to cause the tide of prosperity to flow unremittingly into the depositaries of her treasures; and he possessed the abilities requisite to accomplish both, if these could have been suitably directed. Unfortunately, however, circumstances rendered it necessary for them to be almost constantly employed in beating off those who were determined to lay violent hands on her facilities and riches. Instead, therefore, of erecting new political edifices, his time was incessantly occupied in preventing her enemies from tearing down those that were already established. These, he fought and belabored to the last, and plucked from their ravenous jaws many fair portions of his country’s possessions. But it needed more than human aid to overthrow their now combined and embattled forces. We have reached the period rendered memorable by their ruthless ravages, the darkest and most disgraceful of our history—chronicling the vilest acts of those in power, and the noblest deeds of those out of power. Hitherto, in tracing the public career of Mr. Clay, our path has been, for the most part, smooth and flowery; but now it is to become rugged and thorny, for we have arrived at the border of the great desert of our political annals—a region of ruin,covered with the black monuments of political depravity and unprincipled faction—a region we would gladly avoid, did not our path lead across it, which we enter reluctantly, and with feelings not unlike those of the traveller who has journeyed through an enlightened country, beautified by art, literature, and science, and is about to pass into one destitute of the conveniences and necessaries of civilization. As he pauses and turns to take a last look of the beauty of the former, before he plunges into the gloom and dreariness of the latter, so let us cast a glance at the bright region behind, before entering the dismal one before us. The vision is cheered by a vast country, basking in the sunshine of high prosperity, with its various departments organized and governed with the most scrupulous fidelity, and with strict regard for the interests of those for whom they were established. No evils are seen to exist, except such as are incident to the most wisely regulated human institutions. On all sides we behold a population harmonious and happy, pursuing their different vocations without clashing or defection, or rejoicing over the rewards of honest and judicious industry. The great sources of their thrift, and most conspicuous features of their country, are the broad, deep, and crystalline streams of agriculture, commerce, currency, and domestic manufactures, with its noble tributary, internal improvement. These meander throughout its whole extent, deposit their sweet waters at every man’s dwelling, and make the whole land vocal with innocent mirth and pure enjoyment. Such was the condition of the country through which we have just journeyed, and, had we leisure, would gladly linger to enumerate more particularly the benefits and blessings which the enriching influences of those magnificent streams generated; but we must hasten to trace their progress in the country before us. Previously, however, to commencing our cheerless march, let us, from our lofty position, survey their appearance, after they enter its lonely wilds and barrens. According to a universal and fundamental law of nature, their magnitude should be greatly increased, but they present an instance of its suspension, for some have dwindled to mere rills, and some have entirely disappeared, while others, encountering some unnatural impediments, have become dammed up, and inundated immense tracts with their waters, which stagnate and pollute the atmosphere with noxious vapors. The appearance of the country and its inhabitants, is sickening to behold. The former, broken, uncouth, and uncultivated, looks as though it were laboring under an attack of delirium tremens. Among the latter, commotion, confusion, and disorder, prevail.There is an abundance of action, but it is that of desperation and excitement, but it is perfectly beneficial. A noble few seem to be struggling virtuously against a tide of ruin and excess; but the great mass appear to be in the hot pursuit of the wildest schemes that humanimagination ever invented, trampling upon all order and restraint, diffusing the wildest intoxication through every department of public and private life, and making them the rendezvous of the worst evils known or named among men. The causes of these singular phenomena, a brief recital of facts, as connected with the subject of our memoir, will explain; to gather which, we must enter the territory whose condition we have been anticipating. The first that we notice is the policy of general Jackson towards the bank of the United States—an institution which he found in most prosperous circumstances, and answering every expectation that could be reasonably entertained in relation to such an establishment, and pronounced by the best financiers sound and safe. Nevertheless, soon after entering upon his official duties, he commenced his ‘humble efforts’ at improving its condition, which, however, aimed at nothing more nor less than making it subservient to party interests. Attempts were made to accomplish this, which, however, proved utterly abortive; the president of the bank replying to them, that its management should not be in any way connected with politics, and that the position which it should maintain, would be that of a faithful and impartial friend to the government, and not that of a party or government politician. Enticement proving unsuccessful, resort was then had to threats, which, however, failed of their effect. President Jackson, in his first message, commenced paving the way for the destruction of the bank, by causing the impression to be received that it was unsound, and that the people questioned the constitutionality and expediency of the law by which it was established. In his second message he intimates the same, and makes such allusions to the veto power as to show that he designed to employ it, unless his own peculiar views should be consulted in renewing the charter of the bank. In his third message he takes similar ground in relation to it, but says he ‘leaves the subject to the investigation of the people and their representatives.’ This was promptly made, and resulted in rechartering the bank, by a vote of one hundred and seven to eighty-five in the house, which was as promptly vetoed by him. In his veto message is the following remarkable passage. ‘If the executive had been called on to furnish the project of a national bank, the duty would have been cheerfully performed.’
In the senate, Mr. Clay met the veto in a becoming manner, and denounced its absurd doctrines in the most faithful manner. On this occasion he gave a full exposé of his views respecting it; proving its spirit at variance with our institutions, and expressed himself decidedly in favor of permanently limiting its exercise. The most absurd of its dogmas related to expounding the constitution, which declared that every public officer might interpret it as he pleased. This called forth one of Mr. Clay’s most impetuous bursts of eloquence. ‘I conceive,’ said he, ‘with great deference,that the president has mistaken the purport of the oath to support the constitution of the United States. No one swears to support it as he understands it, but to support it simply as it is in truth. All men are bound to obey the laws—of which the constitution is supreme—but must they obey them as they understand them, or as they are? If the obligation of obedience is limited and controlled by the measure of information—in other words, if the party is bound to obey the constitution only as he understands it—what would be the consequence? There would be general disorder and confusion throughout every branch of administration, from the highest to the lowest offices—universal nullification.’
The insinuations and charges of the president led to a rigid examination of the affairs of the bank, which showed its assets to exceed its liabilities, by more than forty millions of dollars. So perfectly safe did congress consider the public deposits in its vaults, that the house passed a vote, of one hundred and nine to forty-six, expressive of their belief of their safety. Not the shadow of evidence was adduced, to give the slightest coloring of truth to the assumptions of the president, or that there was any necessity for augmenting the ‘limited powers’ (as he termed them) of the secretary of the treasury over the public money. But general Jackson had declared its continuance in the bank dangerous, and he seemed determined on acting as though it were in fact the case. It was requisite for him to have some justifying pretext for the arbitrary measure he designed to adopt, in subverting that noble institution; hence, his hints of the unconstitutionality and inexpediency of its existence, and the unsafety of the people’s money in its vaults; but these were now merged in direct attack. He succeeded in withdrawing from them the public deposits—an act that spread panic, embarrassment, and unparalleled distress, through the country, and was the great prolific cause of causes, of all the evils with which it was subsequently visited. This act, to all intents and purposes, was the president’s, although it was performed through the instrumentality of Mr. Taney, the secretary of the treasury, who executed the unconstitutional bidding of the president, for decidedly refusing to execute which, two previous secretaries, Messrs. McLane and Duane, he had removed. Indeed, in his message of 1833, he distinctly avowed, that he urged the removal of the public money.
Mr. Clay introduced resolutions to the senate, calling for a copy of the documents in which the secretary pretended to find precedents, justifying the course he had pursued, which passed the senate, and, on the thirteenth of December, Mr. Taney placed in the hands of that body, a communication, which contained, however, nothing satisfactory, or contemplated by the resolutions. Mr. Clay declared the ground which the secretary assumed, untenable, and, on the twenty-sixth of December, introduced resolutions tothe senate, pronouncing his reasons for removing the deposits, as communicated to congress, unsatisfactory and insufficient, and that the president, in dismissing the secretary of the treasury because he would not, in violation of his sense of duty, remove, as directed, the public money, had assumed the exercise of a power over the treasury of the United States, not granted by the constitution and laws, and dangerous to the liberties of the people. In defence of these, Mr. Clay made one of his ablest speeches, and forcibly demonstrated the unconstitutionality and illegality of the procedure of the president and secretary. He foretold, with prophetic accuracy, the fatal consequences which would flow from it, and depicted in glowing colors the dangers that threatened the best interests of the nation. These resolutions passed the senate, and, on the seventeenth of April, 1833, the president communicated to the senate his celebrated protest—a document perfectly characteristic of him, replete with the most arrogant assumptions and declarations. This led to a warm and protracted debate, in which Messrs. Clay, Poindexter, Sprague, Frelinghuysen, and Southard, joined, whose powerful arguments drove the president from the last vestige of the fallacious grounds he had assumed, and scattered the doctrines of his protest to the winds. The senate, by a vote of twenty-seven to sixteen, excluded it from the journals, and maintained that the president possessed no right to protest against any of its proceedings. During the discussion, Mr. Leigh, of Virginia, paid Mr. Clay a rich and merited compliment, for his services in allaying the spirit of nullification at the south, in 1832 and 1833. ‘I cannot but remember,’ said he, ‘when all men were trembling under the apprehension of civil war—trembling from the conviction, that if such a contest should arise, let it terminate how it might, it would put our present institutions in jeopardy, and end either in consolidation or disunion; for I am persuaded that the first drop of blood which shall be shed in a civil strife between the federal government and any state, will flow from an irremediable wound, that none may ever hope to see healed.I cannot but remember, that the president, though wielding such a vast power and influence, never contributed the least aid to bring about the compromise that saved us from the evils which all men, I believe, and I, certainly, so much dreaded. The men are not present to whom we are chiefly indebted for that compromise; and I am glad they are absent, since it enables me to speak of their conduct, as I feel I might not without, from a sense of delicacy. I raise my humble voice in gratitude for that service, to Henry Clay of the senate, and Robert P. Letcher, of the house of representatives.’
At the time of introducing resolutions pronouncing secretary Taney’s reasons insufficient, Mr. Clay took occasion to refute an assertion which a prominent person had made in relation to his (Mr. Clay’s) connection with the United States bank, whichintimated that it was dishonorable. He declared that he did not owe the bank, nor any of its branches, a cent; that he had never received a gratuity from it, in any form; that he had acted as counsel, and transacted a vast amount of business for it, in Ohio, and received only the customary fees; and that, in consequence of endorsing for a friend, he had become indebted to the bank, to a considerable amount, but that, by establishing a system of rigid economy, he had entirely liquidated it.