CH. II.] EXCITEMENT AND DISTRESS. and denounced the evident tendency on Jackson's part, towards high-handed exercise of executive power and patronage. Whilst this contest was going on in the national legislature, the people in all the great cities and towns throughout the Union, and in many of less note, held meetings, and dispatched petitions to Congress, and committees to wait in person on the president, for the purpose of representing their distress, and begging him to recommend some measure of relief. As the session advanced, this popular action on the executive and Congress grew in intensity, both as to the numbers and urgency of the applications. The petitioners for relief were told, that the government could provide neither remedy nor relief; it was all in the hands of the bank, or the banks, and themselves; for "they who traded on borrowed capital ought to break." The Senate willingly received the petitions which complained of distress, and implored relief; but in the House of Representatives, where the majority supported the president, they met with little countenance. Nevertheless, all the session long, these proofs of commercial embarrassment and popular excitement continued to pour into Washington; nor was it possible for any, quite to shut out the conviction, that the country had to pay dearly for the accomplishment of the president's design. 1834. In the House of Representatives, a line of operations, wholly distinct, and indeed opposed to that we have seen proceeding in the Senate, was being carried on. There, the message, the 397 secretary's report, the bank memorial, and the other documents relating to the matter, were all referred to the committee of ways and means; and Mr. Polk, the chairman, on the 4th of March, reported four resolutions, which were carried on the 4th of April, to this ef fect:-That the bank ought not to be rechartered; that the deposits ought not to be replaced; that state banks ought to be used as places of deposit, but that Congress (and here they implicitly blamed the president, and that with some severity,) ought to prescribe the mode of selecting them, the securities, the terms, and the manner of employing them; and that a complete investigation of the affairs of the Bank of the United States should be made, for the purpose of ascertaining "the cause of the commercial embarrassment and distress, complained of by numerous citizens of the United States."* These resolutions were yet under discussion in the House, when, at the beginning of February, several incidents occurred, which mark the onward movement of the struggle. On the 4th, the president sent a message to both Houses of Congress, in which he censured the bank for refusing to deliver to him the books, papers, and funds, connected with the pension to the surviving sol * According to a report presented in the Senate, at the close of April, "in relation to the memorials for and against the removal of the public deposits," it appeared, that the number of signatures attached to memorials against the removal, and for the replacement of the deposits in the national bank, was a hundred and fourteen thousand nine hundred and eighteen; while those in favor of the proceeding of the president, amounted to eight thousand seven hundred and twenty-one. diers of the Revolution. A censure A censure which the judiciary committee of the Senate, on the 17th of the month, reported as undeserved; which decision was affirmed by the Senate, after much debate, near the end of May. Many speeches were made by Mr. Clay, Mr. Webster, and others; and it was in one of these that Henry Clay made his wellknown apostrophe to Mr. Van Buren, calling upon him to go to the president, and tell him of the distress of the country, and of the obligation resting upon him to afford relief. "Tell him," said the eloquent Kentuckian, "that in his bosom alone, under actual circumstances, does the power abide to relieve the country; and that unless he opens it to conviction, and corrects the errors of his administration, no human imagination can conceive, and no human tongue can express, the awful consequences which may follow. Entreat him to pause, and reflect that there is a point beyond which human endurance cannot go; and let him not drive this brave, generous, and patriotic people to madness and despair." twenty-eight and twenty-nine to sixteen; and they were sent to the House. There, however, on the motion of Mr. Polk, the resolutions were laid upon the table by a vote of one hundred and fourteen to a hundred and one. At the beginning of June, Mr. Stevenson, who had been nominated minister to England, resigned his post as speaker; and after a number of ballotings, John Bell, of Tennessee, was elected to fill the vacancy. On the 23d of June, just at the close of 1834. the session, the president sent in Mr. Taney's name for confirmation as secretary of the treasury. The Senate rejected the nomination by a vote of twenty-eight to eighteen. The next day, Mr. Stevenson's nomination as minister to England was rejected by a vote of twenty-three to twenty-two. On the 30th, after a long and busy session, Congress brought its labors to a close.* The elections, during 1834, showed, that though General Jackson's course was largely popular with the mass of the people, still, in the commercial states, there was no little dissatisfaction; and the opposition, organized under the name of "whigs," determined to do all The Senate having refused to entertain the president's protest, Mr. Clay proposed two other resolutions, in which he hoped that the House also would join;-to the effect, that the reasons for removing the deposits, offered by the secretary, were unsatisfactory and insufficient, and that the public money ought to be placed in the Bank of the United States again. After a long de-quested to deliver an oration on the life and character * Just before the close of the session, the news of the death of General Lafayette, on the 20th of May, 1834, reached the United States. Suitable resolutions were adopted in Congress on the 24th of June, and the venerable John Quincy Adams was unanimously re of the eminent deceased, at the next session. Accordingly, "the old man eloquent," on the 31st of December, before the two Houses, delivered his admirable and touching discourse upon the life and career of the nobleresolu-hearted patriot, for whom our country was mourning bate, in which no argument of novelty enough to deserve attention was advanced, the Senate accepted the resolutions, on the 4th of June, by votes of with deep and unfeigned sorrow. CH. II.] THE FRENCH SPOLIATION CLAIMS. 399 in their power to effect a change in the twenty-third Congress expired, it left administration of public affairs. almost all of the important measures of this session, which had been discussed and partly acted upon, unfinished; amongst which was the post-office reform bill, the custom house regulations bill, the judiciary bill, the bill regulating the deposit of the public moneys in the deposit banks, the bill respecting the tenure of office and removals from office, the bill for indemnifying the claimants for French spoli- 1835. ations before the year 1800, and the fortification bill. 1834. Congress reassembled on the 1st of December, for its closing session; and the president's message was read on the following day. Beside a full consideration of foreign affairs, the message dilated upon the subjects then occupying the attention of nearly all our citizens, viz.: in relation to the currency, the revenue, the United States Bank, the local banks, etc. Other topics, as the army, the navy, Indian affairs, the post-office, defects in the judicial system, and the like, were recommended to the notice and action of Congress. Not much, however, was accomplished during the session. The report of the bank investigation committee was presented, in the Senate, by John Tyler; but nothing new or important was evolved; the subject had already been discussed almost ad nauseam. Mr. Benton brought forward his expunging resolution, but obtained only seven votes in its favor. Some appropriations were made to carry on internal improvements;* branches of the mint were established at the gold mines in North Carolina and Georgia, and also at New Orleans. But when the 3d of March arrived, and the * Mr. Calhoun, indulging in some denunciatory remarks upon the party in power, sharply said, "The only cohesive principle, (a principle as flexible as Indiarubber, and as tough too, he said, later in his speech,) which binds together the powerful party rallied under the name of General Jackson, is official patronage. Their object is to get and to hold office; and their leading political maxim, openly avowed on this floor, by one of the former senators from New York, now governor of that state, is, that 'to the victors belong the spoils of victory !'" On several occasions we have spoken of the unwillingness and negligence of France to give proper attention to the subject of indemnity for spoliations on American commerce; and other European powers, emboldened by this conduct on the part of France, were holding back and endeavoring to evade the just demands of the United States. (See pp. 321, 322.) Previous administrations had labored to effect a settlement of this matter with the French government, but without success. General Jackson determined, that, as the executive of the nation, he would not suffer this topic to be continued longer in dispute. He resolved to bring France to terms, and he took his measures accordingly. Mr. W. C. Rives, of Virginia, who had been appointed minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary to Paris, for the purpose of pressing these claims, succeeded in negotiating, in 1831, with the government of Louis Philippe, the newly established citizen king, a treaty by which twenty-five millions of francs, (less one million and a half on account of counter-claims by the royal treasury, or French citizens) were to be paid in six equal annual instalments, to satisfy all demands on the part of American citizens and the government of the United States. Interest at four per cent. was to be paid upon this sum, after the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty. This sum did not amount to one half of the real value of the damages sustained, and there was no allowance of interest before the treaty; yet it was deemed expedient to accept this compromise, and both the president and the people of the United States congratulated themselves that at length this troublesome matter was arranged. In February, 1832, the ratifications of this treaty were duly exchanged, but neither the king, nor his ministers, nor the chambers, took any steps to carry its stipulations into effect. Congress, for its part, passed the needful laws; and on the 7th of July, 1833, the secretary of the treasury drew a bill of exchange upon the minister of state and finance of the French government, directing the first instalment to be paid to the order of the cashier of the United States Bank. When this bill was forwarded, through the bank, to Paris, it was not accepted; and the French government acted with very vexatious and annoying indifference as to whether the United States took it well or ill. A bill to provide for this instalment was brought before the French chambers, but it was lost through want of proper attention. Instructions were then given to the American minister to urge a prompt compliance with the treaty upon the government of Louis 1834. Philippe; and to add, that the United States would demand indemnity for the refusal to accept the bill for the first instalment. And in his sixth annual message, in December, 1834, the president said, "It is my conviction, that the United States ought to insist on a prompt execution of the treaty, and in case it be refused, or longer delayed, to take redress into their own hands. After the delay on the part of France of a quarter of a century in acknowledging these claims by treaty, it is not to be tolerated that another quarter of a century is to be wasted in negotiating about the payment. The laws of nations provide a remedy for such occasions. It is a wellsettled principle of the international code, that when one nation owes another a liquidated debt, which it refuses or neglects to pay, the aggrieved party may may seize on the property belonging to the other, its citizens or subjects, sufficient to pay the debt, without giving just cause of war." This was looked upon by France as a very summary measure, and was resented with a good deal of spirit. The French minister at Washington was recalled, and Mr. Livingston, at Paris, was offered his passports. In the Senate, a long and able report on this subject was presented by Mr. Clay, disapproving of the president's recommendation to make reprisals; and on the 14th of January, 1835, a resolution unanimously passed the Senate, declaring it inexpedient that there should be any more legislation concerning the state of affairs between France and the United States. The House of Repre 1835. CH. II.] FOREIGN DIPLOMACY OF JACKSON. sentatives took no action upon the suggestion of the president's message. France, although willing to pay the money, thought that her dignity required some explanations from the American government, and a clause to this effect was introduced in the bill before the chambers to authorize the payments. Any thing of this sort was, of course, out of the question. Neither the president nor the people would demean themselves to make apologies for having insisted upon their just rights. About the 1836. middle of January, 1836, the president informed Congress, that the French government had peremptorily refused to execute the treaty, "except on terms incompatible with the honor and independence of the United States," having, in fact, demanded "an official written expression of regrets, and a direct explanation addressed to it," and having intimated that this was a sine qua non. The suspension of diplomatic intercourse with France was notified, and Congress was counselled "to retaliate her present refusal to comply with her engagements by prohibiting the introduction of French products, and the entry of French vessels into our ports." It was also recommended, that, as France was preparing a naval armament for the American seas, the navy should be increased, and the coast defences completed. Before the committee on foreign relations, to which this communication was referred, could make any report upon it, a new message informed Congress, on the 8th of February, that Great Britain had offered her mediaVOL. III.-51 401 tion, and that both he and the government of France had accepted it; and recommended the suspension of retaliatory measures, as well as the vigorous prosecution of the works for permanent national defence. "Within a month from the date of that message," adds Mr. Benton, "the four instalments of the indemnities then due were fully paid; and without waiting for any action on the part of the mediator." In the present connection, following Senator Benton's summary of General Jackson's "foreign diplomacy," we may properly state the result of the claims for indemnity on other powers. Denmark agreed to indemnify the citizens of the United States for various injuries inflicted during the years 1808 to 1811, to the amount of $650,000; and renounced all the counter-claims it had before advanced. The convention preceded the treaty with France. After the signature of the last-named treaty, Naples also yielded to the demands of justice, and agreed to the payment of two millions one hundred and fifty thousand ducats, for the satisfaction of the claimants. In like manner Spain, which had inflicted much damage upon American commerce, during the time when it was fruitlessly endeavoring to recover its revolted provinces, now consented to pay twelve millions of reals in compensation for it; the president at the same time renouncing all unfounded claims, and pressing those only which were consistent with "the laws of nations." Indemnity for seizures made by Portugal in 1829 and 1830 was also paid, after some delay, in full, in 1837. We may also mention here, that a |