sons for repulsing it, and it is seen that the attempt was made to criminate Mr. Jefferson, and to charge him upon the journals with a violation of the laws; and that this attempt was made at a time, and under circumstances insidiously calculated to excite unjust suspicion in the minds of the people against the Chief Magistrate. Such was precisely the character of the charge; and the effect of the charge against President Jackson, with the difference only that the proceeding against President Jackson, was many ten thousand times more revolting and aggravated; commencing as it did in the Bank, carried on by a violent political party, prosecuted to sentence and condemnation; and calculated, if believed, to destroy the President, to change the administration, and to put an end to popular representative government. Yes, sir, to put an end to elective and representative government! For what are all the attacks upon President Jackson's administration but attacks upon the people who elect and re-elect him, who approve his administration, and by approving, make it their own? To condemn such a President, thus supported, is to condemn the pople, to condemn the elective principle, to condemn the fundamental principle of our government; and to establish the favorite dogma of the monarchists, that the people are incapable of self-government, and will surrender themselves as collared slaves into the hands of military chieftains.

States released from a useless and dangerous population,-all disturbing questions settled,— a gigantic moneyed institution repulsed in its march to the conquest of the government,—the highest prosperity attained, and the Hero Patriot now crowning the list of his glorious services by covering his country with the panoply of defence, and consummating his measures for the restoration and preservation of the currency of the constitution. We have had brilliant and prosperous administrations; but that of President Jackson eclipses, surpasses, and casts into the shade, all that have preceded it. And is he to be branded, stigmatized, condemned, unjustly and untruly condemned; and the records of the Senate to bear the evidence of this outrage to the latest posterity? Shall this President, so glorious in peace and in war, so successful at home and abroad, whose administration, now, hailed with applause and gratitude by the people, and destined to shine for unnumbered ages in the political firmament of our history: shall this President, whose name is to live for ever, whose retirement from life and services will be through the gate that leads to the temple of everlasting fame; shall he go down to posterity with this condemnation upon him; and that for the most glorious action of his life?

"Mr. President, I have some knowledge of history, and some acquaintance with the dangers which nations have encountered, and from "Great are the services which President which heroes and statesmen have saved them. Jackson has rendered his country. As a Gene- I have read much of ancient and modern hisral he has extended her frontiers, saved a city, tory, and nowhere have I found a parallel to and carried her renown to the highest pitch of the services rendered by President Jackson in glory. His civil administration has rivalled and crushing the conspiracy of the Bank, but in the transcended his warlike exploits. Indemnities labors of the Roman Consul in crushing the procured from the great powers of Europe for conspiracy of Catiline. The two conspiracies spoliations committed on our citizens under were identical in their objects; both directed former administrations, and which, by former against the government, and the property of administrations were reclaimed in vain; peace the country. Cicero extinguished the Catiliand friendship with the whole world, and, what narean conspiracy, and saved Rome; President is more, the respect of the whole world; the Jackson defeated the conspiracy of the Bank, character of our America exalted in Europe; and saved our America. Their heroic service so exalted that the American citizen treading was the same, and their fates have been strangethe continent of Europe, and contemplating ly alike. Cicero was condemned for violating the the sudden and great elevation of the national laws and the constitution; so has been President character, might feel as if he himself was an Jackson. The consul was refused a hearing in his hundred feet high. Such is the picture abroad! own defence: so has been President Jackson. The At home we behold a brilliant and grateful life of Cicero was attempted by two assassins; scene; the public debt paid,-taxes reduced, twice was the murderous pistol levelled at our the gold currency restored, the Southern President. All Italy, the whole Roman world,

which there is no appeal! That arbiter has pronounced against the Senate. It has sustained the President, and condemned the Senate. If it had sustained the Senate, the President must have been ruined! as it has not, the Senate must be ruined, if it perseveres in its course, and goes on to brave public opinion!—as an institution, it must be ruined!

CHAPTER CXLII.

DISTRIBUTION OF THE LAND REVENUE.

the author of the scheme-had introduced it at several sessions—and now renewed it. Mr. Webster also made a proposition to the same effect at this session. It was the summer of the presidential election; and great calculations were made by the party which favored the distribution upon its effect in adding to their popularity. Mr. Clay limited his plan of distribution to five years; but the limitation was justly considered as nothing as a mere means of beginning the system of these distributions-which once began, would go on of themselves, while our presidential elections continued, and any thing to divide could be found in the treasury. Mr. Benton opposed the whole scheme, and confronted it with a proposition to devote the surplus revenue to the purposes of national defence; thereby making an issue, as he declared, between the plunder of the country and the defence of the country. He introduced an antagonistic bill, as he termed it, devoting the surplus moneys to the public defences; and showing by reports from the war and navy departments that seven millions a year for fifteen years would be required for the completion of the naval defences, and thirty millions to complete the military defences; of which nine millions per annum could be beneficially expended; and then went on to say:

"THE great loss of the bank has been in the depreciation of the securities; and the only way to regain a capital is to restore their value. A large portion of them consists of State stocks, which are so far below their intrinsic worth that the present prices could not have been anticipated by any reasonable man. No doubt can be entertained of their ultimate payment. The States themselves, unaided, can satisfy every claim against them; they will do it speedily, if Congress adopt the measures contemplated for their relief. A division of the public lands among the States, which would enable them all "That the reports from which he had read, to pay their debts-or a pledge of the proceeds taken together, presented a complete system of of sales for that purpose-would be abundant preparation for the national defence; every arm security. Either of these acts would inspire and branch of defence was to be provided for ; an confidence, and enhance the value of all kinds increase of the navy, including steamships; apof property." This paragraph appeared in the propriate fortifications, including steam batteries; armories, foundries, arsenals, with ample Philadelphia National Gazette, was attributed supplies of arms and munitions of war; an into Mr. Biddle, President of the Bank of the crease of troops for the West and Northwest; United States; and connects that institution a line of posts and a military road from the Red River to the Wisconsin, in the rear of the settlewith all the plans for distributing the public ments, and mounted dragoons to scour the land money among the States, either in the country; every thing was considered; all was shape of a direct distribution, or in the disguise reduced to system, and a general, adequate, and of a deposit of the surplus revenue; and this for appropriate plan of national defence was prethe purpose of enhancing the value of the State sented, sufficient to absorb all the surplus revenue, and wanting nothing but the vote of stocks held by it. That institution was known Congress to carry it into effect. In this great to have interfered in the federal legislation, to system of national defence the whole Union was equally interested; for the country, in all that promote or to baffle the passage of laws, as concerned its defences, was but a unit, and every deemed to be favorable or otherwise to her in-section was interested in the defence of every terests; and this resort to the land revenue through an act of Congress was an eminent instance of the spirit of interference. This distribution had become, very nearly, a party measure; and of the party of which the bank was a member, and Mr. Clay the chief. He was

other section, and every individual citizen was interested in the defence of the whole population. It was in vain to say that the navy was on the sea, and the fortifications on the seaboard, and that the citizens in the interior States, or in the valley of the Mississippi, had no interest in these remote defences. Such an idea was

mistaken and delusive. The inhabitant of Missouri and of Indiana had a direct interest in keeping open the mouths of the rivers, defending the seaport towns, and preserving a naval force that would protect the produce of his labor in crossing the ocean, and arriving safely in foreign markets. All the forts at the mouth of the Mississippi were just as much for the benefit of the western States, as if those States were down at the mouth of that river. So of all the forts on the Gulf of Mexico. Five forts are completed in the delta of the Mississippi; two are completed on the Florida or Alabama coast; and seven or eight more are projected; all calculated to give security to western commerce in passing through the Gulf of Mexico. Much had been done for that frontier, but more remained to be done; and among the great works contemplated in that quarter were large establishments at Pensacola, Key West, or the Dry Tortugas. Large military and naval stations were contemplated at these points, and no expenditure or preparations could exceed in amount the magnitude of the interests to be protected. On the Atlantic board the commerce of the States found its way to the ocean through many outlets, from Maine to Florida; in the West, on the contrary, the whole commerce of the valley of the Mississippi, all that of the Alabama, of western Florida, and some part of Georgia, passes through a single outlet, and reaches the ocean by passing between Key West and Cuba. Here, then, is an immense commerce collected into one channel, compressed into one line, and passing, as it were, through one gate. This gives to Key West and the Dry Tortugas an importance hardly possessed by any point on the globe; for, besides commanding the commerce of the entire West, it will also command that of Mexico, of the West Indies, of the Caribbean sea, and of South America down to the middle of that continent at its most eastern projection, Cape Roque. To understand the cause of all this (Mr. B. said), it was necessary to look to the trade winds, which, blowing across the Atlantic between the tropics, strike the South American continent at Cape Roque, follow the retreating coast of that continent up to the Caribbean sea, and to the Gulf of Mexico, creating the gulf stream as they go, and by the combined effect of a current in the air and in the water, sweeping all vessels from this side Cape Roque into its stream, carrying them round west of Cuba and bringing them out between Key West and the Havana. These two positions, then, constitute the gate through which every thing must pass that comes from the valley of the Mississippi, from Mexico, and from South America as low down as Cape Roque. As the masters of the Mississippi, we should be able to predominate in the Gulf of Mexico; and, to do so, we must have great establishments at Key West and Pensacola. Such establishments are now proposed; and every citizen of the West should look upon them as the guardians of his

own immediate interests, the indispensable safeguard to his own commerce; and to him the highest, most sacred, and most beneficial object to which surplus revenue could be applied. The Gulf of Mexico should be considered as the estuary of the Mississippi. A naval and military supremacy should be established in that gulf, cost what it might; for without that supremacy the commerce of the entire West would lie at the mercy of the fleets and privateers of inimical powers.

"Mr. B. returned to the immediate object of his remarks-to the object of showing that the defences of the country would absorb every surplus dollar that would ever be found in the treasury. He recapitulated the aggregates of those heads of expenditure; for the navy, about forty millions of dollars, embracing the increase of the navy, navy yards, ordnance, and repairs of vessels for a series of years; for fortifications, about thirty millions, reported by the engineer department; and which sum, after reducing the size of some of the largest class of forts, not yet commenced, would still be large enough, with the sum reported by the ordnance department, amounting to near thirty millions, to make a totality not much less than one hundred millions; and far more than sufficient to swallow up all the surpluses which will ever be found to exist in the treasury. Even after deducting much from these estimates, the remainder will still go beyond any surplus that will actually be found. Every person knows that the present year is no criterion for estimating the revenue; excess of paper issues has inflated all business, and led to excess in all branches of the revenue; next year it will be down, and soon fall as much below the usual level as it now is above it. More than that; what is now called a surplus in the treasury is no surplus, but a mere accumulation for want of passing the appropriation bills. The whole of it is pledged to the bills which are piled upon our tables, and which we cannot get passed; for the opposition is strong enough to arrest the appropriations, to dam up the money in the treasury; and then call that a surplus which would now be in a course of expenditure, if the necessary appropriation bills could be passed.

"The public defences will require near one hundred millions of dollars; the annual amount required for these defences alone amount to thirteen or fourteen millions. The engineer department answers explicitly that it can beneficially expend six millions of dollars annually ; the ordnance that it can beneficially expend three millions; the navy that it can beneficially expend several millions; and all this for a series of years. This distribution bill has five years to run, and in that time, if the money is applied to defence instead of distribution, the great work of national defence will be so far completed as to place the United States in a condition to cause her rights and her interests, her flag and her soil, to be honored and respected by the whole world."

The bill was passed in the Senate, though by a vote somewhat close-25 to 20. The yeas

were:

Messrs. Black, Buchanan, Clay, Clayton, Crittenden, Davis, Ewing of Ohio, Goldsborough, Hendricks, Kent, Knight, Leigh, McKean, Mangum, Naudain, Nicholas, Porter, Prentiss, Preston, Robbins, Southard, Swift, Tomlinson, Webster, White.

NAYS.-Messrs. Benton, Calhoun, Cuthbert, Ewing of Illinois, Grundy, Hill, Hubbard, King of Alabama, King of Georgia, Linn, Moore, Morris, Niles, Rives, Robinson, Ruggles, Shepley, Tallmadge, Walker, Wright.

untenable as to refuse to refund a deposit which the refusal on the ground of preferring to lay their faith would be plighted to return, and rest

a tax, because it would be a bount to them, and would consequently throw the whole burden of the tax on the other States. But, be this as it may, I can tell the senator that, if they should take a course so unjust and monstrous, he may be assured that the other States would most unquestionably resist the increase of the imposts; so that the government would have to take its choice, either to go without the money, or call on the States to refund the deposits."

Mr. Benton took an objection to this scheme of deposit, that it was a distribution under a false name, making a double disposition of the same money; that the land money was to be distributed under the bill already passed by the Senate : and he moved an amendment to except that money from the operation of the deposit to be made with the States. He said it was hardly to be supposed that, in the nineteenth century, a grave legislative body would pass two bills for dividing the

Being sent to the House for concurrence it became evident that it could not pass that body; and then the friends of distribution in the Senate fell upon a new mode to effect their object, and in a form to gain the votes of many members who held distribution to be a violation of the constitution-among them Mr. Calhoun ;-who took the lead in the movement. There was a bill before the Senate to regulate the keeping of the public moneys in the deposit banks; and this was turned into distribution of the surplus public moneys with the States, in proportion to their representation in Congress, to be returned when Congress should call for it: and this was called a deposit with the States; and the faith of the States pledged for returning the money. The deposit was defended on the same argument on which Mr. Calhoun had proposed to amend thing did not become law in another bill. Mr. the constitution two years before; namely that there was no other way to get rid of the surplus. And to a suggestion from Mr. Wright that the moneys, when once so deposited might never be got back again, Mr. Calhoun answered:

same money; and it was to save the Senate from the ridicule of such a blunder that he called their attention to it, and proposed the amendment. Mr. Calhoun said there was a remedy for it in a few words, by adding a proviso of exception, if the land distribution bill became a law. Mr. Benton was utterly opposed to such a proviso-a proviso to take effect if the same

Morris also wished to know if the Senate was about to make a double distribution of the same

money? As far it respected the action of the Senate the land bill was, to all intents and purposes, a law. It had passed the Senate, and they were done with it. It had changed its title "But the senator from New-York objects to from "bill" to "act." It was now the act of the measure, that it would, in effect, amount to the Senate, and they could not know what disa distribution, on the ground, as he conceives, that the States would never refund. He does position the House would make of it. Mr. not doubt but that they would, if called on to Webster believed the land bill could not pass refund by the government; but he says that the House; that it was put to rest there; and Congress will in fact never make the call. He therefore he had no objection to voting for the rests this conclusion on the supposition that second one: thus admitting that, under the there would be a majority of the States opposed to it. He admits, in case the revenue should name of "distribution" the act could not pass become deficient, that the southern or staple the House, and that a change of name was indisStates would prefer to refund their quota, rather pensable. Mr. Wright made a speech of statethan to raise the imposts to meet the deficit; but he insists that the contrary would be the ments and facts to show that there would be no case with the manufacturing States, which would surplus; and taking up that idea, Mr. Benton prefer to increase the imposts to refunding their spoke thus: quota, on the ground that the increase of the duties would promote the interests of manufactures. I cannot agree with the senator that those States would assume a position so utterly

"About this time two years ago, the Senate was engaged in proclaiming the danger of a bankrupt Treasury, and in proving to the peo