Go!-if thy craven mind hath lost, indeed, But may such scornful greeting blast thine ear, 'My Lord Chief Justice, speak to that vain man!” Return, and fly the scoffing of thy fees; Preys on thy stubborn soul, still struggling with its fate. At the Washington Garden, the Statesman party mustered about 800 persons; of whom, at least 300 were Irishmen. At this dinner, as at all others since that day, the zealous but ignorant members of the party were furnished with toasts by the leading members, which, when published, presented a very formidable array of "public sentiment." A most ludicrous scheme! since most of those, by whom such sentiments were uttered, never had a sentiment in their lives. They were honest men, who meant well, but were wholly incapable of discharging their political inclinations in polished or even grammatical language. These toasts were always highly complimentary to the leading men of the Statesman faction, and, frequently, were designed to point out to the President and his Counsellors, what was expected by the Ajaxes of his party in Massachusetts. In another chapter I will present my readers with some amusing specimens. We left our friends at Washington:-Greene and Brodhead chuckling at their good fortune-Henshaw sullenly recoiling on his "reserved rights," and Simpson petrified with amazement that among all the good things he could get nothing. But "the course" of office-seeking, like that of "true love,-never did run smoothe." Greene's mirth was soon changed to wailing, by the refusal of the Postmaster General, the Hon. John McLean, to remove the old Postmaster of Boston, or to be the agent of the general proscription which was meditated in his Department. This startling fact being ascertained, all the thousands of petitioners for Post Office appointments, present at Washington, immediately leagued together, with the intent of relieving the General Post Office from the superintendence of Mr. McLean. Their influence and importunities were too powerful for the President to withstand, and Mr. McLean was made a Judge of the Supreme Court. Greene has been heard to say in Boston, that "he turned out the Postmaster General!" Brother Brodhead, also, was in trouble. For the peculations of Watkins having been discovered, it became necessary that Mr. Harris, the Navy Agent at Boston, should appear at the expected trial of the offender, as a witness for the Government. It was therefore considered by Mr. Kendall very bad policy to remove Mr. Harris until after the condemnation of the accused. Mr. Brodhead then had to endure the torment of beholding, for more than a year, the golden-pippin of office suspended before his "mind's eye," and bobbing against his nose, without the liberty of touching it. He retired, "a melancholy man, sore stricken," to Boston, and resumed his tailoring. Misfortunes never come singly," it is said; and it was about this time the inquisitive Simpson discovered, that his dignified friend, Henshaw, in leaning too hard upon the staff of his "reserved rights," was in imminent danger of pitching over backwards, and losing both his staff and office. In other words, he discovered that the President had concluded, (as Henshaw declined the appointment,) to make the Hon. Francis Baylies Collector of Boston, and that his nomination would be sent to the Senate the next morning! "Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro, And mounting in hot haste :" The confederates immediately assembled in consternation and dismay, and prepared for an instant interview with the President. As they rushed up Pennsylvania Avenue, the devil, out of sheer malice, launched an arrow at their rear which wonderfully quickened their movements, viz:-they were informed that General Boyd, a member of the Bulletin party, had been appointed Naval officer of Boston. Now this was a snug berth, which, for the want of a better, our sagacious friend Simpson was beginning to entertain the notion of occupying himself. Breathless with haste and anxiety, they came before the President, and in panting accents informed him, that Mr. Henshaw had relented, and would, for the good of the party, condescend to accept the Collectorship of Boston. Well,—replied the President,—I have offered it to him, I never change my intentions-he shall have it. And so Henshaw's nomination was sent to the Senate in the morning instead of Mr. Baylies's. It remained there, nearly a year, before it was confirmed. My readers will permit me to remark, that the division which existed in the Jackson party at Boston, extended throughout the whole Jackson party, in every section of the Union. The friends of the President in the U. States were separated into two distinct parties. One of them, (perhaps the least numerous, but most respectable,), being composed of moderate men, republicans in principle,-firmly attached to the Constitution, and devoted lovers of liberty based upon order and law, looked to the Administration of Jackson as destined to harmonize the various contending interests of the country; to carry on, steadily but cautiously, the work of reforming the abuses which have crept into our system of government, and having for its chief a gallant soldier, of a generous and elevated character, it was confidently trusted that the low, and time-serving, and mercenary spirit which had been gradually corrupting the national character, would be supplanted by the more liberal, lofty, and independent spirit which distinguished the first years of the Confederacy. The other faction, being composed of radicals and office-seekers, hoped for no such blessings. They cared nothing for the Constitution, or the preservation of our ancient institutions ;-law and order were their abhorrence, and public harmony was the most unhealthy atmosphere in which they could exist;-reform, unless it meant proscription, was of no consequence; and a spirit of united forbearance, magnanimity and devotedness to the general welfare, was certain to be fatal to their influence in the nation. Their design was, to use Jackson as the dispenser of the loaves and fishes" of office merely; and make him their tool, for elevating to distinction, low and base, but greedy partisans, who were conscious that they possessed neither talent or desert to acquire distinction in any other way. Most unhappily, the President, in the very first days of his official career, fell into the hands of this latter party, the leader of which was Van Buren, and its lieutenant Amos Kendall. And notwithstanding his messages have breathed the genuine sentiments common to his character, these malign advisers have never suffered him to carry one of them into effect; but on the contrary, he has been so counselled, that the Constitution has been violated, law and order contemned, public liberty put at hazard,—the country driven to the highest pitch of excitement, reform made a curse, and a spirit of rancorous hate, and grovelling cupidity, created and dispersed into every little hamlet of our once happy and independent land. Now, if any reflecting man supposes, that these things can be, without overturning our republican institutions, or exciting a revolution to reinstate them, let him "lay that flattering unction to his soul;" he will be roused in time! Mark what the Rev. Robert Hall, one of the wisest and worthiest writers of the present century, says of the French Revolution. One would imagine it a description of the present times. "Among the various passions, which that Revolution has so strikingly displayed, none is more conspicuous than vanity-vanity, both in those whose business it was to lead, and in those whose lot it was to follow-infusing into the former-into those entrusted with the enaction of laws-a spirit of rash innovation and daring empiricism-a disdain of the established usages of mankind-a foolish desire to dazzle the world with new and untried systems of policy, in which the precedents of antiquity and the experience of ages were only consulted to be trodden under foot: vanity, predominating among the latter, the million, by reason of-political power, the most seducing object of ambition, never before circulating through so many hands; the prospect of possessing it never before presented to so many minds-multitudes who, by their birth and education, and not unfrequently by their talents, seemed destined to perpetual obscurity, being, by the alternate rise and fall of parties, elevated into distinction, and sharing in the functions of government; the short-lived forms of power and office gliding with such rapidity through successive ranks of degradation, from the court to the very dregs of the people. that they seemed rather to solicit acceptance than to be a prize contending for. Yet, as it was still impossible for all to possess authority, though none were willing to obey, a general impatience to break the ranks, and rush into the foremost ground, maddened and infuriated the nation, and overwhelmed law, order, and civilization with the violence of a torrent." CHAPTER V. A Visit to Washington. "Oh! how wretched Is that poor man, that hangs on princes' favours! That sweet aspect of princes, and our ruin, More pangs and fears than wars or women have." By the advice of numerous friends, I prepared, on the last of June, '29, to visit Washington; having some commissions to execute for the people of several towns in my county. And here, like an honest man, I will confess, my political delusion was so complete, that I favoured the work of proscription, and carried with me, to Washington, petitions for the removal of five obnoxious Postmasters, in Norfolk County;-all of whom were removed. I went first to Boston, for the purpose of obtaining letters of introduction to the leading men at Washington, from the chiefs of the two factions of the Jackson party in Boston. Never having taken an active part as a partisan of either faction, I apprehended no difficulty in readily securing the recommendations of both. The leading men of the Bulletin party gave them, at once, in the most generous and gentlemanly manner. I then went to the Statesman office, and finding Dunlap and N. Greene present, announced my intention. Dunlap. You had better not go; -it will cost you a great sum. Ans. True, but I am paid for going. D. Why not do the business by letter;-it can be done just as well. Ans. I wish to see the President and the business can best be performed on the spot. I shall go at all events. Greene, give him a letter to Duff Green; but it is d—d nonsense to be going to Washington at this time. Greene busied himself in inditing a letter to General Duff. "How long are you to remain in town, and when do you start on your journey," he enquired. Ans. I remain to-night, and start in the morning's D. |