have left them the legacy of a patriot's advice. He might have left them the truth, and solemnly imprinted upon their minds and memories forever, that "they had trusted him too much," and his advice to them, "never, never in their history, to trust another man as they had trusted him," and he might have returned to them their trust, and have restored them to their senses. This, and this only, would have repaid them. It would have restored to them what has been taken from them, which alone can compensate for itself.

The last message of such a President to such a people should have been the "farewell” of a father to his children. It should have been deep in wisdom, profound in its philosophy, hallowed in its lessons of virtue, calm in its tone and temper of reason, eloquent in its appeals, sublime in its moral, and passionate only in its fervent affection. It should have been the legacy of Augustus to his successors, the "farewell" address of Washington to his countrymen!

But this is the last annual message of Andrew Jack son! I would, for him and his country, that it was any thing but what it is. And why is it what it is? Gentlemen will pardon me--I mean nothing disrespectful to the President--when I say they know it is due to candor and truth to say--it is what it is, because it is not the message at all of Andrew Jackson! They know that, immediately upon the adjournment of the last session of Congress, the President and his prime ministers were dispersed from their duties at the seat of Government, and from the cares of public business, on their respective missions to the States of this Union. He of State bore despatches to Georgia, and "the Old Chief himself" was lugged along through Western Virginia, over

"Ruts and ridges,

And bridges
Made of planks
In open ranks,"

[Dec. 13, 1836.

kill him; that there was too much travel and fatigue; too much standing and talking; too much bustle and excitement for a weak and infirm old man to bear. But still they showed him about, in the heat of summer, and still they made him roar, until he frightened the people, who at last began to apprehend he was a lion come to devour their freedom of elections, and all else they valued as dear. Defeated in his mission, he at length became dis gusted himself, chagrined, and mortified. He returned to Washington through Ohio, and, by the Guyandotte route, through Virginia again, and has been sick and disabled ever since. The loss of Tennessee, particularly the Hermitage, excited him still more, and this renewed excitement may have caused that hemorrhage at the lungs which has been pouring out the current of his life. At no moment since his return has he been able to write or dictate a message. There he has been lying, as it were, a dead lion, who could not even "shake the dew drop from his mane," and his couch of infirmity has been haunted by the Perennises and Cleanders of his palace as by vampyres. In their hands has he fallen; and it is because this last annual message" comes to us and the country reeking with the fumes of the kitchen cabinet that it is what it is!

What is it? The worst as well as the last annual mes sage which Andrew Jackson even ever wrote--I had like to have said, ever sent to both Houses of Congress. Its vanity and egotism--its profane hypocrisy and solemn mockery of the good man's supplications to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe--its sophistical nonsense, showing its duplicity to a foreign Power, and concealing its real policy from ourselves-its low, ad captandum arguments, addressed to all the prejudices of ignorance and passion, to justify the most shameless attacks upon the currency for the vile purposes of licensed depredators on the public lands-its glaring falsehoods as to the most im portant facts of trade, currency, banks of deposite, and finance-its electioneering, continually harping upon an institution dead in fact, and thrice wounded since deadits oft-repeated homily against one good bank, and its unblushing recommendation, in the same breath, of nearly half one hundred bad and irresponsible banksits disingenuous attempts to reconcile glaring inconsis tencies of the President on the deposite and distribution measures-its pitiful apologies for the disgrace of our arms by Oceola-its bold recommendation of an increase of the standing army-its unjust attempt to cast censure, due to the errors and blunders of the administration it self, upon the shoulders of an innocent State officer, and then calling for an appropriation to repair these same errors, which it says are not those of this Govern ment-its false claim of a national policy, founded in humanity towards the Indians-its reiterated jesuitical recommendation of an amendment of the constitution as to the election of President, which was never meant to be carried into effect by the party," or to be any thing more than a topic with which to prejudice the people's minds against an election by the House-its impudent boast of the intelligence and patriotism of the successor, whom executive patronage and dictation have succeeded in electing-its shallow political econo my-its demagoguism-its arts of vile deception and humbuggery-its rankling venom of party spirit-its miserable rhetoric, sinking below criticism--its grovel ling moral sentiment--its total want of all sage counsel or advice, and of all pathos and feeling--are all equalled only by its false certificate in chief to the prosperous condition of all the various executive departments," to "the ability and integrity" with which they have been conducted, and to the fact of the President's belief "that there is no just cause of complaint, from any quar ter, at the manner in which they have fulfilled the ob My friend [Mr. PEYTON] told them that they would jects of their creation!"

to Tennessee and Alabama. It is a pity, sir, that more
of the people had not witnessed the executive election-
eering tour; for then, perhaps, more of the States would
have followed the example of Georgia and Tennessee,
neither of which could be seduced or intimidated into
the support of "the man"-a Tennessee toast said,
"the dog"--as well as "the master." I am told that
they carried him about like a lion for show, and made
him roar like a lion. They had catechisms prepared for
him, and the negotiations of the mission were conducted
by preconcerted questions and answers. A crowd would
collect on the highway or in the bar-rooms, no matter
which--and some "village politician" of the party"
would inquire-"What think you, General, of such a
man?" In a loud tone, much too stentorian for those
lungs which are now lacerated, the answer rung--"He
is a traitor, sir."
"There, there!" repeated the dema-
gogues to the crowd--"did you not hear that?" "What
think you of another, General?" "He is a liar, sir!"
"What of another?" "He is a black-cockade federal-
ist!" of another? "He made a speech for which he
paid some stenographer five dollars!" And another
was-"Of no account-no account, sir, and ought to be
sent home to have his place supplied by a more efficient
man," and another was-"Upon the fence, sir-upon
the fence!" "But, General, what think you of-Mr.
(the first time Reuben was ever called mister!) Reuben
M. Whitney?" "There is no just cause of complaint
against Mr. Whitney, sir; he is as true a patriot as ever
was; they are all liars who accuse him of aught wrong,
and the official documents prove them to be so!" All
the while these responses were repeated by the deacons
of the service, and the people were called to give heed
to them. Those who saw the farce and the frauds did
heed them, sir--did heed them.

|

[H. of R.

subjects--“trade, politics, or religion." The three subjects have, since she wrote the remark, entirely amalgamated into two. Trade and politics have now become one. Some of the priests, 1 am told, are offering to join the union, and mammon is the god of this day's worship. Trade, sir, trade swallows up every thing!

Now, sir, complaints have been loudly made from various quarters, in this House and by the press, by reponsible persons, as to the condition of most of the executive departments, and as to the want of ability and integrity with which they have been conducted: and investigations by us of the truth or falsehood, justice or injustice, of these complaints, have heretofore been Tell me not this is the short session. Investigation doggedly and repeatedly refused. "The party" were was refused last winter, when the session was long, I content with the mere affirmation by the President to know, sir, that this is an inauspicious period, perhaps, the crowd of their innocence and purity, when he knew to expect gentlemen to look back at the past, or to no more about their guilt than he knew of the facts of a pause a moment on the present. I know that every eye certain event in this Capitol last winter, of which you is turned, and every mind of gentlemen is bent towards and I, Mr. Chairman, knew all, and more than we want the future. "Coming events, which cast their shadows ed to know; about which, if the Tennessee papers are to before," are much more dazzling to their hopes and be believed, the President has given another certificate, fancies than painful truths of the past or the present are though he was more than a mile off, and there were at to their memories or their wills. They know, sir, that least seven fathoms of bricks and mortar and stone besome of the swarm of "conservatives" which are now tween him and the place of the occurrence. They have fat and full of the blood of the Treasury, must be driven made him a witness in both cases, where it was impos-off for some of the lank and hungry "locofoco" flies, sible for him to be a witness; and in giving his testimony who are voraciously eager to light upon this poor body he has been compelled to resort to his "imagination for politic of ours. All things may not become new, but his facts." I cared nothing about the certificates of the there must be some changes; and for every change there President, so long as they abided in the ephemeral form will be a chance for some impatient expectant. I know of heated partisan declarations along the public roads, that General Jackson has been made to say, in this "last or so long as they were read from the stump merely, a annual message," "He that cometh after me is mightier thousand miles off. But, sir, this "certificate in chief" than I;" but he has not been made to add--" Whose is no longer a mere tavern ipse dixit on the highway, fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his but it is to be filed in the archives of this Government, floor." Sir, lest he may not purge his floor, I wish it to as a part and parcel of the "last annual message" of the be swept clean for him before he comes in, so that JackGreatest and Best! Perennis and Cleander have certison may not be blamed after he is gone. fied to their own good behaviour, innocence, and purity, have incorporated their certificate in the last annual message," and have affixed to it the official sign manual of Andrew Jackson!

Is this certificate true? I put it to gentlemen if it be not true, whether injustice has not been done to Andrew Jackson, to those who have uttered just complaints, and to the public service, by this audacious forged self-acquittal?

Is it true or false, that the various executive depart. ments have been conducted with ability and integrity, and that they are in a prosperous condition? That is the issue. How is it to be tried? Will gentlemen tell me that the President has tried the issue already, and that they are content with his certificate in form? Sir, I begin this session as I ended the last session, by asking the opportunity and power, and by claiming the right of an investigation by a committee, an efficient, able, and fair committee, with full powers to eviscerate the truth. The truth is all I desire. I make no accusations, no complaints, except of the denial of investigation.

If all have been conducted with ability and integrity, the departments have nothing to fear, and investigation may do great good. If it does not find and expose past fraud and corruption, it may prevent much evil hereafter, by the fear of scrutiny. I do sincerely, from the best of motives, earnestly desire to see the doors of the Treasury Department, of the land offices, of the Indian bureau, and of other departments and offices, thrown open to full and fair investigation. We then can have the facts, of which to judge for ourselves, and on which to make up our own verdict. It is the duty of the grand inquest to find or ignore a bill for itself, and of the venire to try the issue and find a verdict for itself. No judge, much more no party, shall find a bill, true or false, or render a verdict for them. Cleanse the Augean stables, say I; and I say more. The Numidian king, when he was carried a captive to Rome, and saw the corruptions of her citizens, returned from the city with contempt, and said, "Give me wealth, and I will buy up the whole republic." Fanny Wright, I believe, uttered a truth, that whenever you see two men talking together, there are ten chances to one they are talking on one of three

Certain it is I cannot anticipate; time must develop the course and the policy of the coming administration. And let no one accuse me of commencing an attack upon it in advance. No, sir; so far from it, though I hold Mr. Van Buren responsible for most mischief that has been done, and most that is now doing; though he has been the caucus candidate for the presidency, and was the nominated successor; though he is elected by executive patronage, corruption, and dictation; though he succeeds at the expense of the elective franchise; though he is a minority President, and has promised to follow generally in the footsteps of this kitchen-cabinet administration: yet, if he bravely dares to falsify that promise, "more honored in the breach than in the observance," if he will kick away the base ladders by which he has climbed to the height of his ambition, if he will now leave Falstaff where he found him, and array around him the wisdom, intelligence, and virtue of the country, and base his administration on a sound, elevated, and enlightened policy, free from corruption, and purely patriotic, uncontaminated by party, I will pledge my humble support to his measures, though I never can support the man, or pardon the past examples he has And why cannot I support the man whilst I approve his measures? For the very reason that he has not "entered in at the straight gate." I shall always eschew the example which has been set in 1836, as I did that of 1825, in the election of President of these United States. The one example has been rebuked with a vengeance-the other will not be forgiven by me.

set.

Sir, in this contest, one great battle only has been fought between power and the people. The result is known. The conflict was not decisive, and must, as long as there is an honest heart to hope for freedom-shall go on until constitutional liberty, law, the independence of the people and their representatives, honesty, truth, and justice, are triumphant, or all are fettered in a despot's chains! Defeated, but not conquered; checked by the prætorian bands of patronage, but not arrested in their onward march, the patriot army is not discouraged or dismayed; smitten, but not struck down; the flag of the country is still flying! Defeat may drive some, the craven or the cormorant of spoils, from the standard of the

7. Resolved, That so much of the said message as re-ed, was read, as follows: lates to the Indian tribes, except what relates to the taking the property of individuals for public use, and the relief of sufferers by Indian depredations, or by the operations of our own troops in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, be referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

8. Resolved, That so much of the said message as relates to the taking the property of individuals for public use, and the relief of sufferers by Indian depredations, or by the operations of our own troops in Florida, Alabama, and Georgia, be referred to the Committee of Claims.

delegation here, will not allow the subject to pass without referring it to the Committees on Commerce and Agriculture of the country, as well as to the Committee of Ways and Means. These were his reasons for offering the resolution. If the House should think that the Committee of Ways and Means was the appropriate committee, far be it from him to complain. Such a course would be an alleviation to his duties on that committee, and he and the members appointed upon it with him might, from that moment, take a general holyday to the termination of the session.

Mr. CAMBRELENG said he did not rise to oppose the motion of the gentleman from Massachusetts, [Mr. ADAMS,] nor did he propose to enter into any debate. He (Mr. C.) was very happy to hear the gentleman from Massachusetts say that he had examined the President's message on the subject of protective duties, and he (Mr. C.) had no objection to refer any thing relating to the manufactures of the country to the appropriate committee. But the gentleman had made statements which required correction.

Mr. C. was understood to say that, two years ago, a memorial for the repeal of the duties on foreign coal had been sent to the Committee of Ways and Means, where it remained until reported on by the then chairman, the present Speaker of the House, and to instance similar references.

[DEC. 14, 1836.

on Manufactures should bave charge of all these questions; but a little experience soon taught the majority of the members of this House, who were not in favor of taxa. tion to the extent of the power which it was supposed by some had been conferred by the constitution for the purpose of protecting the manufacturing interests, that this question and the things connected with it should be properly before the Committee of Ways and Means. Now, if the object of the amendment was to take from the Committee of Ways and Means those questions in relation to the reduction of a revenue already too large, he was opposed to it, because it did not come within the spirit of the rule which points out the duties which the several committees have to perform.

The gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. ADAMS] had complained of the President's message because there was no reference to the manufacturing interests. The gentleman might as well complain of the absence of reference too. Probably be might complain that there was no reference to the agriculture of the country, and yet he knew not what the Committee on Agriculture had to do with the duties on coal, inasmuch as coal was not an article of cultivation. He considered the reference to the Committee on Manufactures as inappropriate, and he hoped the House would send the subject, as hereto fore, to the Committee of Ways and Means, to which it properly belonged.

Mr. DENNY thought it was difficult to determine precisely whether the Committee on Manufactures or of Ways and Means had jurisdiction, because they had, in some instances, equal jurisdiction, and because the subject referred might have connexion with the interests of both. One had charge of the revenue, the other of manufactures, or the domestic industry of the country. To protect that industry, it became necessary to levy duties. Hence the two committees came on common ground; and in referring the subject to the Committee on Manufactures, the House took nothing from the Com

the latter to take up the same subject, and to show how the question affected the revenue of the country, whilst the other committee showed how it affected the indus try of the country.

When (Mr. C. said) the Committee on Manufactures was established, and a portion of the duties of the Committee of Ways and Means had been transferred to the former, it was made their duty to examine the various commodities introduced into the country, and to select such articles as should be protected. The duties were not levied in those cases with any view to the revenue of the country. A revenue was collected, not to be put into the Treasury of the United States, but into the pockets of the capitalists engaged in that particular business. The duty of that committee was to see how many prohibitions should be imposed, and on what arti-mittee of Ways and Means. It was still competent for cles. But now we found ourselves in a different position. Millions upon millions had been collected under the system established in 1816. Now we had a revenue of forty or fifty millions beyond the wants of our Government; and the only question to be decided was, in what way the revenue should be brought to correspond with the wants of the Government. This was a question of finance, and not of manufactures. He believed that the whole discussion would result in the appointment of a select committee. Was it the province of the Committee on Agriculture, or Manufactures, or Commerce, to pass upon every interest in the country? The question would again come up on Monday, on a motion to postpone, and the House might then determine to whom the whole subject should be committed. In the mean time, he hoped that the discussion would terminate for the present.

Mr. ADAMS explained that he confined his proposition to so much of the President's message as related to the protective duties alone; and he asked for the yeas and nays on the adoption of the amendment. And the House ordered them.

Mr. HARDIN requested the Speaker to state the question to the House; which having been done,

Mr. MANN, of New York, said that this question of reference was one which had often been brought up before. He did not exactly know how far back the question had been considered, but he believed that, from the foundation of the Government up to the year 1806 or 1808, the Committee on Finance had had jurisdiction over all questions of raising the revenue; and that independently of all questions which might collaterally affect the interests of manufactures. At one time, for one or two sessions, the House determined that the Committee

He had no objection to giving the subject to the Committee of Ways and Means; in some respects, it would be proper; but he thought, when a great change, like the present, was proposed in the policy of the country, and which had been urgently recommended by the Chief Magistrate of the nation, the subject should go to the Committee on Manufactures, that they might present it to the House in all its bearings. He thought that the House had a right to complain that the President had neglected to make any reference to the home trade; that trade which employed many more millions than the foreign trade, and which had enriched the nation, and filled the Treas ury with forty or fifty millions of surplus money. But it had not even been noticed. There was something behind all this darkness which ought to be brought to light, and he hoped the subject would be referred to

the Committee on Manufactures.

Mr. PARKER thought that both the committees named might, with perfect propriety, have charge of the subject at the same time; one as a question of revenue, and the other looking to it as a question bearing on the particu lar interests on which the proposed reduction may ope rate. He would vote for such a reference. He wished that all the committees having charge, immediately or remotely, of these great interests, should investigate the subject, and give the result of their deliberations to the

House.

Mr. BOON said that it had not been his intention to say one word on the question now before the House, had it not been for the most extraordinary doctrine ad