have been the acquaintance of Horace Mann, the founder of the Worcester Asylum. Bostonians have appreciated his value as a public man ;-but few can know the generosity, the purity, the elevated principle, which distinguishes his private character. There are those who, "Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame." A few days before the Presidential election in Massachusetts I published, in the Statesman, the "Address to the people" of that State. And on Mr. Adams renewing his attack on the old federalists, as his last movement to secure the victory, I rode to Boston and proposed to the Statesman leaders the printing of a ticket of Electors composed of " old federalists,"―to be dispersed throughout the Commonwealth, and, by this means, to distract and divide the Adams party. Messrs. Henshaw, Simpson and Dunlap objected most emphatically to the project, as being calculated to introduce into the party distinguished men, who would afterwards become competitors for the public offices. Even at this early period of the struggle, they seemed to think, that the smaller the Jackson party was in Massachusetts, the better for their interests. I afterwards discovered that they had conspired to keep the Jackson party in this State conveniently small, and, especially, to repel every respectable gentleman who offered to join it. They were assiduous in procuring recruits from the lowest and most ignorant of the populace; but whenever a man of talents and information claimed their fraternity, they chanted trio" the "Fee, faw, fum, "We smell the blood of an Englishman. "Be he live, or be he dead, "Off goes his head." It was about this time that I saw, with indignation and disgust, caricatures of the Hon. Francis Baylies, (the only Representative from New-England who, in 1824, voted for Gen. Jackson,) inscribed on the walls of the Statesman office! He was pictured with a cigar in his mouth, and on his forehead was written, an old Tory!" They knew, (i. e. the Statesman party,) that Mr. B. was the author of the most popular public appeals which had appeared in the Jackson papers. But altho' he was a Jacksonian, when they were intriguing to be the adherents of any party which would accept them as partisans, they hated him for his integrity and abilities;-"aside the devils turned for envy." Jackson was elected! We heard the glad tidings, (as we supposed,) from the West, which changed our hopes to certainty. In a "white heat" of political enthusiasm, I rushed into Boston. I sought the Statesman office, and found a part of the conclave in session. Gentlemen, I exclaimed, I congratulate you on our glorious victory! Reform is established;-the Constitution is restored to its original purity;—the People have triumphed !" I noticed, as I spoke, the gradual elongation of the corners of their mouths, and I had no sooner ceased, but they sent forth a peal of laughter such as I had never heard before. Peal upon peal, rang through the room, for several minutes. Amazed and confounded, I waited impatiently for a calm, when I could demand an explanation of such conduct. Why, I exclaimed, on the first cessation of the uproar,-is not this a memorable triumph of the people? Here, they went at it again, roar upon roar, with occasional screams of,-"what an innocent!"—"quite unsophisticated!" &c. &c. Any one of my readers, who has ever seen a drop of hot tallow cooling off, can imagine, at that moment, my situation and appearance! After this tempest of laughter was over, I was quietly informed, that they had won the money of the Adamsmen in bets, and were certain to win their offices:-and that, as I had done and suffered much, I should be taken care of! My readers will make their own comments. Jackson was elected! and I had been no inconsiderable instrument in bringing about this result. If I had a window in my breast, my readers would now see how my heart is wrung with this reflection;-how remorse, with its thousand snakes, is stinging it to the core. And yet I thought I was doing a good deed, and continued in this dream, with occasional starts of returning consciousness, until the appalling seizure of the public money effectually dispersed it. Had the visible heavens, over my head, been suddenly rolled together as a scroll," I should not have been more instantly awakened to the peril which awaited all of us! It is however, most fortunate for the country, that our Julius has preceded our Augustus Cæsar ;-that the first attack on the Constitution, and public liberty, was so audacious, and undisguised that tyranny marched his legions, in open day, to the Rubicon, and assailed freedom with the sword, and not with the stiletto. Julius Cæsar overturned the Roman Republic; (in which, be it remembered, the last rampart of patriotism was the Senate ;) but it was, for a time, restored by the steel of Brutus. The cautious, subtile, and intriguing Augustus finally and hopelessly, riveted the chains of the people. CHAPTER IV. The Scramble for Office. "So many new-born flies, (his light gave life to,) "Hornets and humming scarabs,-that not one honey-bee IN Massachusetts, in 1828, the number of votes, for Jackson, was about the same as Crawford received, four years before. In Boston, the two divisions of the Jackson party united, for the last time, and mustered 800 votes for Dr. Ingalls, as Representative to Congress. Such a man as the Doctor is an honor to any party: -"Sincere, plain-hearted, hospitable, kind." He is as distinguished for active benevolence as for professional skill, and is as successful in trepanning hearts as heads. It is wonderful, that a gentleman of such universal popularity could obtain only eight hundred votes, in a City where thousands owed him vast debts of gratitude; and it satisfactorily proves the determined repugnance of its enlightened citizens to the rule of Jacksonism. The "good Doctor" was, however, restored to political health in 1832; it required only "one course" of Jackson medicine for his recovery-while some of us were obliged to take half a dozen. As I stated, in the former Chapter, early in '28 the Statesman party had driven away in disgust a large and respectable division of the friends of Jackson, whom they afterwards called the "Bulletin party." Just before the election in November, in order to keep up some show of strength they were obliged to solicit a reunion, which they intended should be only temporary. This was effected by the nomination of Dr. Ingalls. But the election was no sooner passed, than immediate measures were taken to compel another separation. As early as the 20th Nov. the Statesman party proceeded to call a meeting of its adherents "to reorganize the Jackson Republican party." The other division of the friends of Jackson well knew the object of the call, and therefore stood aloof. At this meeting it was resolved, that, for the future, the party name should be the "Jackson Democratic party;"-And a County Committee and Ward Committees having been chosen among themselves, they effectually excluded the "Jackson Republicans" from any further participation in their political transactions. Having thus shaken off a formidable host of competitors for appointments, and assumed to themselves, "par excellence," the exclusive mananagement of the Jackson party of the City, the Statesman leaders still found too many able and meritorious gentlemen belonging to their own faction, whose claims on government patronage would come in conflict with their own long cherished design of engrossing the whole. It became necessary, therefore, to deceive these men, and the trick was adroitly managed. They had already obtained the entire control of the County Committee by their own votes, and those of their relatives and personal friends, of which it was composed. But this was not considered a sufficient security against accidents, and the possibility, that some might hereafter prove refractory. They therefore constituted themselves a grand Central, or State Committee, the sun of the system, around which all the inferior litical orbs must revolve. It was a beautiful system, for if suc. cessful, it grasped the power of the whole Jackson party of the State, as well as of the City. To make the usurpation of authority palatable to the members of the County Committee, it was declared, that all claims to appointments were to be settled by the vote of that Committee alone; that they, (i. e. the States po man leaders,) had no peculiar merits to offer on the altar of official homage; were rather indifferent about preferment ;-the reward of patriotism, the people's love, was enough for them ;and, indeed, that their present occupations were much too lucrative to make the toils of office desirable or even endurable. If however the party insisted on the sacrifice, why, there was none they would not make for the good of the country; but should much prefer that other meritorious patriots would relieve them from the duty! Such discourses glided like strains of soft music into delighted ears, and removed all feelings of remonstrance against their assumption of all the party influence. To keep up the delusion, meetings of the County Committee were actually held at which some of the members, not in the plot, and claiming to be "elder soldiers" than their managers, were nominated as Naval officers, Surveyors, Weighers, Guagers, &c. And they slept on these golden dreams, until they waked to find all these offices in the possession of less confiding, and more wary politicians. Many poor fellows who had labored day and night for the "Hero," years before the Statesman leaders had concluded to embrace his cause, who had figured as Chairmen of Committees, Moderators of Meetings, Secretaries of Conventions, orators, poets and newspaper statesmen,-who had, in anticipation of the coming official harvest, indulged in the most magnificent contemplations of the future, who had said in their hearts, "I will pull down my barns, and build greater"-found themselves reduced to the necessity of accepting some petty appointment, mortifying to their hopes, and scarcely affording them the means of subsistence! Some of them, however, on the explosion of the plot, indignantly refused the proffered compromise, and attempted to set up for themselves, and to resist the conspirators in finally clutching and securing their prey. In every instance such daring individuals were undermined, defeated, and, perhaps, ruined. No matter what services to the party he had rendered; no matter what per sonal friendships were broken up; no matter how much he had contributed to their own advancement;-the least resistance, or even murmuring at their authority, by any individual, was followed by a secret but desolating vengeance. Most gentlemen in Boston will remember the fate of John Roberts, one of the |