Address to the people of Delaware, on the approaching presidential election

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PEOFZ.S OF BELAWABB,

ON THE

APFHOAClnxrO FHSSISEITTIAL ELECTIOSTs

PREPARED

iN OBEDIENCE TO A RESOLUTIOA

^ OF THE

Convention of the Friends of the National Administration

ASSEMBLED AT DOVERj

ON THE FIFTEENTH DAT OF JULT, 1828.

COVER, DEL. — J, ROBERTSON, PRINTER*

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ii

1

ADDRESS

TO THE

PDOPLE CS" r^LA77A^E.

Fdloxv Citizens^

The convention of the friends of the Administration of the
General Government, composed of one hundred and fiftv Dele-
gates from the several counties, held at Dover on the 15th instant,
appointed us to prepare and publish, in their name, an address
to the people of this State. In the discharge of that important
duty, we humbly implore that di\ ine Goodness, which has so
often and so signally favoured this happv nation, to remove
from us all bitterness towards our opponents, to give us to speak,
fearlessly, but temperatly, the language of truth, that if we be right
and they be wrong, our bretheren may be drawn from the error
of their ways, and be persuaded to unite with us in efforts for
the good of our connuon Country.

Blind devotion to men in power has never characterised the
People of the United States. They do not require to have in-
culcated upon them die maxim that 'men feel power and forget
right.' The history of the sad misrule which, happily for us —
happily for the world, — separated this Country from Great Brit-
ain, is too fresh in the recollection of Americans, for them ea-
sily to err by confiding too much in their public functionaries.

Salutary confidence and trust in future intelligence and up-
rightness of purpose, which former good conduct invites and
justifies, is all that can be claimed for men in their private or
public lives. This is all that is asked of the people, by the
friends of the present Administration of the General Govern-
ment. But surely it cannot be proper, — every honest man, whe-
ther of this or that party, must say it is unjustifiable, — to form
combinations to oppose measures as they rise, be they right or
wrong. An attempt lias been made to vindicate an indiscrim-
inate opposition to the measures of the present Administration,
upon the ground that Congress, when voting by States, did not
choose the candidate who had the highest number of electoral
votes. Congress elected the President in the manner the Con-
stitution directs. It was their duty to choose, from the three
highest in vote, that individual whom they thought the most
suitable and best qua:lified to be President:— and this they
were bound, this they were sworn to do, without having any
*r€gar4 to the namWcv of votes by which they were respectively

returned to the House. Can it be necessary to argue this mat"
ter to shew that a combination for opposition, founded upon
this ground, is every way reprehensible? In Dehiware, partic-
ularly, the advocates of this Doctrine, can never find favour;
because it lenders inoperative the very provision in the Con-
stitution, which gives to the smaller States the only efficient
influence they possess in the choice of a President. When the
election, from a want of a majority for any one candidate for
that high office, is brought to the House of Representatives, that
body votes by States; and in settling this important question,
the smallest State in the Union has as much weight as the
largest.

It was not surprising that a party formed, in the open and
avowed spirit of hostility to the Constitution, should be found
capable of unjustly imputing wicked and corrupt motives to
their opponents, and that the cry of bargain and sale in the e-
lection should have been sent through the land. That charge
has been fully investigated, and has been proved, to the satis-
faction of the people, to be entirely unfounded. The facts which
are now established prove, most unhappily for the opposition,
that all the attempts at corruption were made by the friends of
General Jackson. ^Vhy was their candidate called upon to
deny that he had determined, in the event of his election to the
Presidency, to make Mr. Adams Secretary of State — why was
he desired positively to declare that he would never appoint
Mr. Adams to that office, if it were not intended by that decla-
ration to win the support of the fricn'Is of Mr. Clay? The e-
lection of Mr. Adams to the Presidency, vacated, of course, the
office of Secretary of Stale. To put General Jackson upon an
equal footing, in this respect, his friends avowed that they were
desirous he should be brought to say lie would not continue
Mr. Adams, as Secretary of State. What measures they a-
dopted to accomplish this object, which, upon their own rea-
soning, was a corrupt one, does not appear. It is only known,
and it is known by their own avowal, that they formed the corrupt
purpose; and we are left to conjecture how far they proceeded to
carry it into execution. Having determined upon an unfair and
improper course themselves, it is not wonderfid that they should
have suspected others of being as easily led into an equal dere-
liction of duty: or, without any belief whatever in its existence,
that they should have been capable of knowingly calumniating
their opponents.

The Constitution permits the re-election of a President of
the United States. Here, too, the opposition is wiser than the
law. Our frame of Government has settled the principle, as
well as the mode, of the choice by the Hotise of Representatives.
Wheia the question of any pioposed alteration in the Constitu-
tion is fairly before the States, for their adoption or rejection,
(■n-ery thing which can be urged for or against the proposed al-

leration, is a proper subject for consicUraUoiu But men who,
for selfish purposes of their own, call upon the people to disr
reeard their own form of Government, in any one ol its existing
provisions, are utterly unworthy of trust. The rule of con-
duct prescribed by the Constitution every good citizen is bound

^°ThTpeople of the United States will never give their confir
dence to a party, or favour the pretensions of a Candidate,
whose friends attempt to set up, for the rule of conduct, any o-
ther than that of the Constitution— who, taking advantage ot
the spirit of vigilance, which freemen ought to exercise over
those in power, endeavour, for their own sinister purposes, U.
alienate the fair confidence and regard which are due to taitn-
ful public servants. The charge of ihe basest corruption has
been laid before the people, and strictly examined,_and iound to-
tally croundless: 1 he wildest and most profligate extrava-
gance, in the expenditure of the public money, having been a.
Sain and again "imputed to their opponents, a young and un-
trained member of their party, led no doubt to beneve in the,
truth of the charge, called for the institution ot a strict enquiry
into this matter, Ihose who had spread the charge before the
country, endeavoured to frown him into silence, i ae accu-
sers shrunk from the maintenance of their own accusation, and
the partv accused demanded that the investigation should go
on. It did go on, and it resulted, after the closest and sever-
est scrutiny, in proving the strictest order and economy in the
public expenditure.

The two leading narties which are nov/ formed m this coun^-
trv, are at issue with each other, as to the expediency or inex-
pediency of that great system of measures, which is emphatic
c-iUv termed the 'American Svstem.'— The inends ot the
Administration, believing that the wealth and greatness oi thq
United States, the happiness and prosperity oi the people, de-
pend upon the establishment and maintenance oi that system,
are its firm and zealous supporters. A very large proportion
ofthe opposite part) indulge themselves in the deadliest enmi-
tv to these measures. It is not our purpose to enter into an e-
laborate examination or vindication of this system. All that
can be urged for or against it, is already l^efore the people. 1 he
northern, the middle and the western States have adopted it,
with scarcely a dissenting voice among their citizens; and it-
has already enlisted in its favour a good deal of the intelli-
gence and "virtue of the southern portion of the Union. To the
friends of that system, it stems a question whether landed pro-
perty and the products of our soil shall undergo a still greater,
depression, or be doubled, at least, in their present value-— whe-
ther the people shall be ignorant and indigent- or mtelligeiU
enterprising, prosperous and independent. If the ^ system,
here referred to be as beneficent in its effects as is insisted up-

JB

'ui-i by Its friends, a well deserves the great name it bears; and
no good citizen ^vlll support a party whose efforts are directed
agamst it. Independently, dien, of the respective characters
or tnc two great candidates, who are before the people for the
Presidency of the Union, it seems to us that the question would
be settled in favour of Mr. Adams, by the single consideration,
that ne belongs to the party whose measures are most likely to
promote the public interest. There is too much intelligence a-
mong the citizens of the United States, to give anv just cause to
tear that a nyyority of them can be led off from a course their
own prosperity requires them to pursue.

There are, however, involved in the great question before
the States, considerations, if possil^le, of graver and weightier
import. A country may be n>istaken in the choice of its inter-
nal policy, and yet be turned back, by the light of experience,
irom the error of its measures, to the adoption of a wiser and
more prudent course. But there are great leading principles
of truth and virtue, which when a people venture to set at
iiought, it is not often permitted to them, without extreme na-
tional humiliation and suffering, to regain their former erectness
of character. The lapse from virtue to vice ma\- happen to a
people collectively, as to the separate individuals' that compose
their community. Among the great obligations which freemen
^we to themselves, is to entrust with their power, and reward
with the-ir favour, no individual whose private life has not given
ilie strongest pledge of his being worthy of their confidence.
When, in die selection of public functionaries, it shall be deem-
*:d unnecessary to inquire how far a man's life has been virtu-
ous, high minded and bonourabh-, the great securities for pri-
vate \irtu£ and pu'jlic worth will be exposed to the highest pe-
fil Dispense with this test of fitness for public emplovment,
^rlet the people be led to hold it in light estimation, and tiie
wodes are innumerable, by which unprincipled and dangerous
«-ien, will win their wa>' to the highest posts of honour. Smart-
ness will claim the distinction which belongs to goodness;
and brilliancy and not solidity of talent will only be in request.'
The morals of the people will be corrupted, and the wisdom of
the government will be as folly. When such a time shall ar-
rive among us — which may God, in his mercy and kindness
keep^ far from us! — his moral government of the Avorld can be
vindicated only by our downfall. Let us then listen to the

voice of all experience — let the pages of all history warn us

let the sacred volumes of our religion teach us — how a people
may be lost or preserved. If careless of private worth, we
shall be regardless of public virtue. If the violation of the
duties of private life, are no bar to our confidence and trust, we
shall soon learn to look, with complacency and indulgence, upon
outrages committed against the most sacred of our public in-
stitTitions. If there be- any thing of truth and fitness in thes^

f^marks it cannot be wrong freely and closely to examine the
pvaSnl of the two great candidates belore the people, for

the hichest office within their gift. .

The whole private life of John Quincy Adams is not only
free from blemish, but stands conspicuous for so^^^-'^^)' ^^'^:
mand of temper, republican simplicity of manners, unrelaxins
d Lence, thJ most extended charity and uniform piety. H s
p blic lie has given proof to the world of the most chstinguish-
L ta ler^ s, and^the utmost devotedness to the cause of his coun-
try Fom all those who have been highest in the confidence
o? the citizens of the United Stajes-Washington Jefters^^^^
Madison and Monroe-vve have the most unqualified testimo-
nv in his favour: and the age in which he has lived has here-
tofore delighted, with one voice, to award him the meed of virtue
and wisdom. Allow us here to incorporate into our address,
onlv two sentences from the Newhampshrre patriot of 1820--
at present the leading Jackson paper in New England. 1 hf.

MORE WE CONTEMPLATE THE CHARACTER OF THIS ABLE, AS-
SIDUOUS AND EXCELLENT STATESMAN AND PATRIOT— THT.
rURTHER WE WITNESS HIS PROGRESS, IN THE DIPLOMATIC
HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY, THE MORE WE SEE TO ADMIRE AND
^PPL^UD. No MAN UNITES MORE OF THE QUALITIES OF THF
HONEST, UPRIGHT AND ABLE STATESMAN, THAN JoHN QuiNCY

* The same naoer. soeakingof General Jackson, four years af-^
terwarcis, tnatis on tne 31st of Mav, 1824, observed 'he (Gen-
eral J acksonj is, IN NO RESPECT, QUALIFIED FOR THE OF-
FICE OF THE President of the United States.' We might
oo on and quote the former opinions of those who are now, in
our own State, his leading and most influential advocates; all
going to show him ''the most unsafe and unfitting man m the
nation for public trust and confidence." We might follow up
these quotations and produce evidence from the lips ot those
who have since become his most strenuous advocates, in every
part of the Union, to prove the same unfitness and incapacity.
These have been laid before the people again and again. In-
deed, if we were to permit ourselves to quote against General
Jackson the gross and vulgar, indecent and profane terras ap-
plied to him four years back, by some of the most prominent
in his party, we should offend against good manners. If we
were disposed to surrender ourselves up to the utmost bitter-
ness of vituperation, we could use no language which would
not fall infinitely short of their then severe philippics against
this their present '^second IVashhip07iV'— this their now **Iiere

of tivo rmrsV . , r 1 1

If General Jackson's private life had been entirely faultless,
and his public character free fro-Ti those blemishes which he,
himself has brought upon it— if the laurels gathered bv him at
New Orleans, had been fresh and untarnished, the citizens of

8

fhe United States would never have placed in the highest civil
post in the Government, an illiterate man and an inexperien-
ced statesman. They would never have ventured upon so
hazardous an experiment to themselves, nor have set so dange-
rous an example to posterity. The victory of New Orleans I
was an important one. Its magnitude cannot be overrated.
The nation has awarded to General Jackson, a full share of the
glory it gained upon that occasion: and in its delight to honour
him for that service, it has almost forgotten what was due to
its other functionaries, and even to the citizens and soldiers,
who, under him, achieved that victory. The friends of Gen-
eral Jackson seem desirous of throwing into dark and distant
perspective all the other illustrious instances of consummate skill
and distinguished gallantry, by sea and by land, which gave,
during the late war, so high a character to the national prow-
ess. The triumph over the "invincibles of Wellington," in the
0]5cn field, with bayonet to bayonet — the naval victories on
Lake Erie and Lake Champlam — and the immortal honour
gained by our flag in every se;^ are all forgotten, that this ci-
tizen soldier may wear a chaplet of unrivalled brightness. This
the people of the United States will never endure — it would be
to give up too large a portion of the national glory. They will
cherish with even more distingu'shed notice, their other He-
roes, because their private and their public lives have done
6qual honour to themselves and their country. Distinguished
as was the victory of New Orleans — and we are willing to
give it an importance which has scarcelv been claimed for it,
as frustrating under Providence, a scheme of perfidy in the
enemy which will ever be a blot on the character of Great
Britain---the achievements of our Naval Heroes and our gal-
lant tars, rescuing our flag from the humiliation it had un-
dergone, in the uunappv affair of the Chesapeake, and giving to
Our star-spangled banner to shine with unrivalled brilliancy
and glory, on every sea and in every harbour, are more pre-
cious in the estimation of every genuine American, and have
Inore truly illustrated the character of out country, than a hun-
dred such victories as that of New Orleans. The measure of
our nation's honour was full and overflowing, when the battles
of the lakes came, almost with the fasrin-ition of romance* gui-
ded by the youthful heroes, whose namts will forever live in
the story of our country, to give the proof that, ship to ship, or
fleet to fleet, we need fear no enemy; and that the people of this
broad spread and rising empire, while they are true to them-
selves, and animated by the noble examples now set ihcrn, may
go in safety and honour to every part of the world, or dwell at
home in peace and independence. Our ocean shore of a thou-
sand leagues is girt as with a wall — and our noble rivers and
our inland seas, are alive with the song and the sail of the ma-
riner.

&

Was it not ei^ough to satisfy General Jackson, that tlie coun-
try assigned him his place among the heroes of the nation?
Was it not sufficient that the people were willing that the man-
tle of oblivion should be thrown over private errors and public
transgressions, which no victory could redeem, which no tro-
phy could hide? General Jackson should not have suffered
others to thrust him forward into a situation, where sacred
duty to the public rendered it imperiously necessary to strip
from him this mantle. It was, indeed, a wretched miscalcula-
tion upon the character of the people of this country, that they
would be so dazzled by the splendour of a single victory, as to
be incapable of examining closely and clearly into his preten-
sions for trust in the highest civil employment in their gift.
With a full and perfect knowledge of his unfitness for civil
office, and of the multiplied transgressions of his private and
public duty— proclaimed with their own lips, from the house-tops,
to the people— they have committed a great crime against their
country, and jusdy forfeited, themselves, all right to fair con-
sideration, in dragging him forward as a candidate for its

highest honours. ,v •

The great security for the continuance of our republic is to
be found in the frame of our government, and in the character
of the citizens of the United States. The constitution was
formed and adopted at a time peculiarly favourable to calm and
careful deliberation. It was the work of the best and ablest
men in our country; and came to us under the sanction, and
with the earnest recommendation, of Washington, the most il-
lustrious patriot the world has ever seen. It contains every
provision necessary for the safeguard of our religious rights
and civil liberties. The people have only to hold every public
functionary to the strictest observance of its injunctions, and to
trust no man who shall be hardy enough to commit upon it the
slightest violation: and the great truth which has now gone
forth to the world that "man is capable of governing himself,'
will be sustained, to the total overthrow of the false and de-
grading doctrine, which it has suited the lordlings of the earth
to preadi up and inculcate, that man is too weak and impotent
a creature to do without a master. Gracious God ! need we
fear that the time has already come— at the end, too, of the first
half centurv, during which so much has been done to illustrate
and establish this great, this noble truth— that we are to give it
up, as a splendid but hopeless illusion? The time has come—
yes, it has alreadv arrived— if the citizens of the United States,
recreants to the cause of liberty, can regard with base submis-
sion and apathy the open ^ iolation of their sacred charter;— and,
if, in the fair temple of their freedom, they can raise their voi-
ces and sing Hosannas to the guilty violater, they have made it
the great sepulchre of their country. Need we advance to the
-proof that General Jackson is that guilty violater? We ask you

2

10

to spread before 3 ou the great charter of your liberties ahd
to ph<ce your hnger upon the most efficient and emphi ic pro!
vision for their secur ty. You refer n>. u. th , '"'^"'^ P'^""
the sa... institution to\vhich^^'i:.l^^^^^^- -f -
some o the portraits ot the father of his cotintry, is seen noint
jng, and seems as d he wouhl say, ^preserve but this m^ybT
loved countrymen, from unhallowed louch, and you libc^-tts
are safe ' And yet Andrew Jacksonhas twice trampled lis ut
de his feet; not merely refusing-which was never ventured n
on before, either in Great Britain or this country_to 3 eld it the
^^t.t ..dience, but dragging to a prison the be^erf of ^

It is not our intention to jro into i de-iW,..! ^
Gener il Inr!-<;rn'<. ,.. ■ , ""^^'^''t^" enumeration of

Oeneial Jackson s tiansgressions; but we ask you to select the
next most prominent feature in your Government. You -ef r
us to th arrangement to preserve the independence and ime;
my of the States, within the spheres marked out foi them fo"
occupy.. The Molence which Cromwell committed nnmtK^
Parliament ot England when, stampmg his H^^ 1^'C ^
ordered hem to depart- which the soldier Napoleon e^ceiched
to.vard the council of five hundred, when he Z them out
from tneir place of asseinbling. at the point of the^bayonet-r

dent^stSi^:L:^.^^^5eo^^r2r:;;;^' t'-- ^-^^^r

rij order whilst I am in the field " ^ '■^ i '^t- a nuiiia'-

co„n,rs. an,! «I,ere tint now,',- U "^'STea est power it-

difficuuy i„ s„,i,.g .ha; it ir.L; we rra i,, ."'p';"- , ""

and Congress to raise armies and make wa, Ro h ,1 '"'

ers this recUess soldier has ven„„''a to" IstHp" n 1 e^r^";'"
He has raised an ar,ny, created ofiices and fill„| hem He 1,.;
made war. not only upon Ins own autho.itv a, d in "ioluion of

i-ssued throuch him Tl/ n • , ' "'^ «--overnmeni

discharged! He rfosed o 0^""^"' ^•"^""^"^^ '^'^ ^"'"y '^ be
in service, evcml.ev 1,^ 1 -■ 'l' ^'^^~^^ kept his men

-and caused six no en ''""'^^^^^'^ 7^^^^^ they were drafted

,oftheir settee h::i'ex;:;rer"^"""^^^^'"r^^^^- ^^^

11

When to this guUty catalogue of great sins against the con-
sthutioa, we add the ruthless manner in which he waged a war
of extermination against the poor, unhappy aborigines ot our
country, putting to death, in cold blood, nien, women and chil-
dren—and the stcrv of the dark and dismal despo'ism of his
sad misrule in Floiida:— and when we remind you o{ his threat
to the President, that he would burn up one of the officers of the
Government, in the house belonging to the people of the Uni-
ted States, we are lost in amazement to think that the author
of those outrages is still before the States, and seriously sup-
ported by a formidable party for the highest post in the Go-
vernment. 'Ihe frenzied zeal of so many misguided citizens,
in making an Idol of this man, who has committed so many fla-
grant trespasses on the laws and constitution of his country—
who, to use their own former language, has violated almost every
law, human and divine— must be curbed by the united eiforts ot
the good and sane portion of our country, or our liberties are
gone. -Rather than that our civil liberties and religious right^s
should perish, we would join in the prayer that if we have en-
fended against God, he would send upon us for our chastise-
ment, the pestilence and the famine: and agree that any alllic-
tion will be light compared with the loss of our feeedom.

The reiga of Jackson has been truly a reign of terror-
ferocious, merciless and bloody. And is this man of violence,
with a heart of stone, and a temper constantly working itself
into fury, fitted to sit in the President's chair, and execute
justice in mercy? I-f he is to be our President, let us blot out
from our constitution the noblest feature of our own and e% e-
py Government— the power to pardon— for he will find no oc-
casion to exercise it. Let our laws, like those of Draco, be
written in characters of blood; and the experiment be fully
made, whether Americans, in an age more tender in the in-
fliction of capital punishment, than any that has gone before rt,
are willing to present themselves to the world, as pre eminent-
ly regardless of human life. If the citizens of the United
States can bear, themselves, such a reign as this— and all on
account of the victory at New Orleans— it will be well for them
to inquire, what security they will have for that respect to pub-
lic law to which the present civilized world requires implirit
obedience, v/ith a man at the head of their Government, who
knows not the difference between a pirate and a prisoner at xvar
—who knows how a pirate is to be punished, but knows not
how he is to be tried. ,

In referring to the off"ences of General Jackson against the
laws and constitution of his country, and the constituted au-
thorities of our Government, we have omitted any notice of the
violence that he threatened, and advanced to the Capitol to
carry into execution, on the persons of memhers of Congress;
tf which, while we write^ the evidence of Mr. Laceck is lai4

12

before us. That a man who can trample upon the constitution
and violate its most sacred provisions, over and over asain, can
coolly resolve to cut off the ears of members of Conm-ess, for
venturing m discharge of their duty to investigate his conduct
can be matter of no surprise. It is in strict keeping with his
other misdeeds. What security has the country that he would
not, It 1 resident, and made commander in chief of its armies
follow out fully the example oi his great predecessors, Crom*
well and Bonaparte— march his soldiers to the Capitol and ex-
pel Congress at the point of the bayonet? If, fellow-citizens,
with such earnest before your eyes of what we may expect, you
elevate this man to the Presidency, you will be prepared to v'ote
him first Consul for life and afterwards Emperor.

One of the reasons, assigned by your convention, for depre-
catmg the election of General Jackson to the Presidencv is,
that as a public Ambassador, he caused to be appended to a pub-
lic treaty a grant; of land for his own aggrandisement. That
stipulation was m the following words. 'JFis/iinP- to icive a
rwtional mark cf gratiWdc to Major General Andrew Jcfckson.
Jor /us diHtingm.shed services rendered us, at the head of the ar-
nnj from Tennessee, vce' {the said Indian nation) ^give and 'nant
him, and his heirs jor ever, three miles square of land, «'
such place as he may select out of the national lands.' This was
equal to five thousand seven hundred and sixty acres, and,'if
judiciously located, would have been worth, at this time five
hundred thousand dollars. There have been instances in Eu^
rope, where prmces have conferred upon foreign ministers, on
their taking leave, some small token of respect and courtesy.
Upon one occasion— we think it was the case of Colonel Hum-
phreys—a present, perhaps of a sword, was made to him. That
gentleman subn.itted the matter to Congress, who directed it
should be returned. We belie^ e we should be warranted in
saying that, if an estimate could be made of the acgrecate of
all the presents of this description, of all the Potentates of Eu-
rope, horn the earliest age down to this day, the amount would
Jail infinitely short, in value, of this Indian gift to General Tack-
son. What citizen is there, of either party, who can look at
this transaction without the most marked indignation? A
pubxic Minister, sent to transact the public business— well paid
for his ser^-Ices by his own Government-and transmitting,
with the treaty he negotiated, a stipulation for his own agj^rait-
d.sement! It has no parrallel in the annals of the civHized
%vorId. A free gift of a nation of wretched, half starved In-
dians, brought to his feet in unconditional submission! Were
they prompted directly or indirectly, by General Jackson, to
make hnn this grant? Was it a reward to him for the seJvi-
ces he had rendered them, in bringing into their country the
ftre, the famine and the sword? Or was it an offering from the
♦gnorance and superstition of the poor children of thS forest, t«

13

propitiate him as their evil genius — to soften his heart and avert
his wrath? What terms of reprobation are strong enough to
express the abhorrence of every honest man at such a transac-
tion ! This is a specimen of his fitnes and talents for civil
emplovment. As a soldier, ws see him deliver himself up to
his fiery passions, and his sword thirsting for the blood of
friend and foe. As a civilian, the gross and grovelling spirit of
cupidity takes hold of him. In the one situation, no feeling of
mercy enters his heart: — and, in the other, no moral sense of
decency and honour can curb his rapacity.

Our State has been flooded with handbills entitled ^General
Jackson's land speculations'^^ in which an attempt is made to ex-
plain and gloss over a series of circumstances, any one of which,
in a citizen of this state, would have wrecked his character for-
ever. We would have thrown this into the mass of offences,
which we have passed over, had not the plastic hands of his a-
pologists endeavoured to convert a most reprehensible transac-
tion, into a pattern of generous liberality. A candidate for the
Presidency obliged to have a white-washing committee, whose
composition peels off almost as fast as it is put on! A judge of
a court — for such was General Jackson, at the time — to take a
fee of ten diousand acres of land to ^have' so simple a matter
accomplished, as the foreclosure of a mortgage! This suit, he in-
stituted in the court of the United States of that district; which
court had no jurisdiction of the cause. A decree of foreclosure is
obtained — the eighty five thousand acres of land sold, and purcha-
sed for less than two thousand dollars, by General Jackson and
company. Sales are afterwards made to settlers, by the pur-
chasers, on general warranty deeds, which, in Tennessee, at,
that time, rendered the grantors liable for the improved value.
When it was discovered that the court of the United States had
no jurisdiction of the case, and that the decree there rendered
was erroneous, the General and his partners became alarmed
for the probable consequences of their covenants of warranty.
At this moment it occurred to General Jackson that he had au
old debt, of about $wenty thousand dollars, due him from the
estate of the morfgaafilg "^^^^^ ^"^^ died insolvent, in Georgia,
where his heirs re'^ffft To that state he proceeded forthwith,
to purchase the equity of redemption of those heirs, for this old
debt barred by the statute of limitations. He accomplished
this without:l:onsideri^g that the estate of the insolvent mort-
gagor was-bound, beyonc\ its utmost value, for unbarred debts
— and without Reflecting that the time for prosecuting a writ of
error, to reverse the decree of foreclosure, having elapsed, the
sale under the moi-tgage, altho' originally erroneous, had now
become valid, by l^pse of time. His purchase of the heirs could
have availed not a cent, if the time for prosecuting the writ of
error had not passed by. It would have been only a fund in
his hands for the payment of good and subsisting 4ebts. Hf

14

has thus coTnniitted tuo blunders — one in having the suit
brought in the wrong court — the other in bu\ing from the heir*
tvliat they had no right to sell, and what, of course, was of no
value. But he resolves to make 'the thorn bring forth figs.'
He turns upon his partners and bis employers — claims, first, to
stand in the place of the mortgagor, and tenders the payment of
the mortgage money. He can now save himself from liability,
under his own covenants ef wanantv — and the rest of the land,
with all the improvements upon it, is to be his — and he is per-
fectly reckless of die ruin of his partners and employers He
eomes, however, afterwards, to the determinatioH to be content-
ed with the payment of his debt of twenty thousand dollars,
barred by the statute of limitations. He finds, in a Mr Erwin^
the representative of his original employer, a man more know-
ing and as unyieiding as himself. He contends in vain, with
this gentleman for years. To protract the controversy with
him. is to jeopardise his claim on the settlers. He had better
take half than lose all, Erwin shaken oft" from his skirts, he
finds no difRcultv in o'otaining from the settlers, ten thousand
dollars for this idle and unfounded claim — not for himself, but
for his near relative James Jackson. He has, for this free and
unpurchased relinquishment to Erwin, not only the induce-
ment of getting one half of his unjust claim, when he was in
peril of losing all — but die time, 18:23, had arrived, when his
evil star had brought him before tlie people, as a Candidate for
the Presidency. The sorry story of this land speculation
might take wind — and Erwin held the fatal scissors to clip the
^V"ings of his soaring ambition. Neither Erwin nor wife will
come to him, and be must go to them, — that his friends here-
after might white-wash this transaction, by holding up to the
people his gratuitous renunciation, to shew that 'the gallant de-
fender of New Orleans, was not proof to a woman's tears and
distress; when, in fact there was not a sigh heaved, nor a tear
'jh^^d; for Mrs. Erwin, could have had no inducement for at-
tem-jjting to excite hi« commisseration. It is true there were,
under the roof of each settler, upon these lands, women who
■could implore and shed tears, as eloquently as Mrs. Erwin.
To them it was evident he exhibited no compassion, and it is
equally clear that 1^ could not have been a stranger to their dis-
tresses. It is bad enough to see bold and flagrant transgres-
sions— but to be called upon to laud them to the skies, as
instances of God-1-ikc virtue, is beyond human patience to euf
dure.

There is another great land concern of the General which
our duty to the Con\ ention will not permit us to pass over
xvithout notice. The aifair of the mortgage already discussed,
was a private land speculation, and serves to show the princi-
ples which have guided him, in his traiisactlons as a citizen.
U does, indeed, go fuidier, and establishes great official mis-

13

eonduct, in having — he being a judge at the time — any thing
to do, for fee or reward, with the carrying on of a suit, in a
State where he held that situation. 'I he grant of a tract of
land three miles square, which General Jackson managed
to extort from the Creek Ind'a s, was an enormous offence a-
gainst his country and the honour and purity of an ambassador;
one, certainly, without a parallel in the history of diplomacy,
except in the fresh instance to which we now refer. He was
sent by the President, with Governour Shelby, of Kentucky, to
negotiate a treaty of cession, with the Chickasaw nation of In-
dians. Here he accomplished an arrangement by which — but
for the prudence and virtuous firmness of his colleague — his
near relative, the same James Jackson, woidd have been made
worth, at least, half a million of dollars. The old Gover"
nour, unmoved by the hectoring violence of the (General, per-
tinaciously insisted that a stipulation in behalf of the United
States should be incoip-orated with the arrangement, by which
they became entitled to take the purchased pro])erty at the same
price — twenty thousand dollars — which James Jackson was to
pay for it. The Government, without hesitation, took it at this
price: and, of course, what was intended for private emolu-
ment, became public property. Governour Shelby always be-
lieved, and so said, that General Jackson's corruption, in that
negociation, had cost the United. States from one to two hundred
thousand dollars,* Thus we find that General Jackson, yield-

*Thefollowvig' is an extract of a letter from the son of Gover-
nour Shelby, dated G/assland, April tiSt/i^ 1828.
*'IVIy father set out on the 10th September, 1818, and ari-
red at General Jackson's on the 15th, where he remained a
few days, and, in company with his colleague, proceded to
Nashville. In a day or two we set out for the treaty ground^,
accompanied by eight or ten gentlemen, friends of General
Jackson, with all of whom, (excepting Col, Butler,) my father
was unacquainted. During the journey, little was said on the
subi,ect of the treaty, I heard the general, on one occasion, ask
my father how high he was willing to go for the Indian boun-
dary. My father replied, that he was prepared to go as high
as S300,000, rather than not effect the purchase — but, said be,
'General Jackson, I have not the least idea that we shall find it-
necessary to give half that sum.* After this conversation, a
profound silence was observed by General Jackson and the
friends who accompanied him, on the subject of the treaty, in
my father's presence. At length, we arrived at the treaty ground.
— the Indians assembled. My father soon observed great inter-
course between the General's friends and the Indians, of which
he spoke frequently to me. On one occasion, the General and
a part of his suite were absent from camp all night — the
Gefieral withheld the motive of his nocturnal visit from hi?

1(3

Ing to the utmost rapaclousness, has, in the inorduiate pursuit
of his land speculations — in one instance, violated his duty as

colleague, by studied silence on the subject. I did understand,
by some means, that the General passed the night with Col-
bert, one of the principal Chiefs, My father expressed to mc
his suspicions 'that there was something not right going on.'
Before any Council had convened, the General informed hie
colleague, 'that some of the principal Chiefs were violently
opposed to selling land, and that those fellows would have to
be bought over.' At length, a council was called. Among
other objections made by the Indians to the selling of their land,
it was urged by them 'that the United States was largely in
arrears to them, and until old debts were paid, they would not
contract new ones.' The Commissioners found it necessary^
to send to Nashville for money to pay those claims, and thus
remove the main difficulty. In about a week, the messenger
to Nashville arrives — the money is distributed agreeably to
the census of the nation taken during his absence. A second
council is convened. General Jackson inquires of the Chiefs,

*What do you ask for this land?'

Interpreter — ^We don't know — what will you give?'

General Jackson — 'We will give you Sl50,000.'

Interpreter — *Wc can't take it.'

General Jackson — 'We will give you S200,000.'

Interpreter — 'No, we cannot take it.'

General Jackson — 'We will give you S250,000.''

Interpreter — 'No, no.' 'S300,000,' says the General.

M)^ father left the table, and the council broke up. The
General observed to my father, in conversation, that the Chiefs
contended for the privilege of selling a large reservation of
land to whom they might think proper. My father objected
to this proposition: he said, 'they might sell to the King ot
England.' The General observed, 'that there was then a com-
pany of gentlemen on the ground that would pay them down
their price, 'S20,000.' My father refused positively to permit the
Indians to sell land to private individuals. He contended
that the Government should have the option of taking the reser-
vation at the price stipulated, and the General and the Chiefs
were, in the end, obliged to consent to it-

My father told the General that he had made the Indians of-
fers that he could not sanction. 'Why, Governour, Goddamn
it, did you not say that you would give 8300,000?' 'No; sir; I
gave ) ou no authority to speak for me, I am hear to speak for
•myself,' 'Why, Governour, God damn my soul, if you did
not say so.* 'I did not authorize you to make any such proposi-
tion.' The parties seemed on the very point of coming to
blows, when I stepped between them, laying a hand on each, and
entreated them to talk the matter over more dispassionately-

a Judge and a citizen — and in two other instances, pfoStituted
the sacred character of an ambassador. We sicken at the re-
cital of such flagrant offences, and loath all further comment on
them.

There has been, heretofore, but one sentiment in this coun-
try, as to Colonel Burr's expedition — and that feeling has con-
signed, unhesitatingly, to lasting infamy, every citizen that had
the slightest participation in it. The proof that implicates
General Jackson in that conspiracy, is thickening against him
every moment; and has, perhaps, become irrefutable. The e-
vidence, so far as it has yet been developed, establishes a dou-
ble treachery — treachery to his country — treachery to his co-
conspirators.

That a man of General Jackson's temperament and reckless-
ness of character should make a successful appeal to a certain
class of society, is not extraordinary. There have been in ev-
ery age, and among every people, enough of turbulence and vi-
olence to render such an appeal formidable. But when the
restless and dangerovis agencies of this description are invoked
and accredited, by any considerable body of respectable citizens,
the crisis becomes truly alarming. That those, from whom
their country had a right to expect better things, should, in the
selection of their candidate and in the concoction of their party,
have based themselves upon this calculation, and the prone-

My father told me afterwards, that it was well for the old
rascal that I interfered, that he should have knocked him
twenty feet. Not a word passed between the commissioners
until next day, when the General broke out on his colleague
in a strain, if possible, more rough and boisterous than be-
fore. I again stept between them, and called on the friends
of the General to interfere. Old Major Smith stept up and
observed, 'Gentlemen, I am no dictator, but I will be mode-
rator,' and we kept them apart. My father told the General
he should leave him and go home.' *Go, Governour,' replied
the General, '^by God I will make the treaty without you.*
While our horses were saddling, the friends of the General
urged me to use my influence with m) father not to go. He
at length agreed to remain. Another council was called. The
Indians demanded the S300,000, and would treat for nothing
less — finally, the treaty was made. My father thought that
Gen. Jackson's corruption and folly had cost the Govern-
ment from 100,000 to 200,000 dollars. His mind underwent
;no change on this subject to the dav of his death.

II have thus given you a detail of facts, which came under
my own observation: you are at liberty to make what use of it
you may think proper. Your friend,
THO. H. SHELBY.
Colonel C. S. Todb.

a

iiess of the unenlightened to bedazzled by military glory, as
the foundations of their strength, must be matter of deep and
humbling concern to every upright and intelligent citizen.
Notwithstan.ling the guilty ambition of these men, none know
better than themselves that, v,'hen the united efforts of such an
nssociation as this Ivave been crowned with success, and a
party thus formed has mounted into power, there immediately
etisues a struggle between those v/ho are prepared to go all
lengths in the said misrule of aiTairs, and such as are disposed
to a uiorvj orderly course; and that this struggle has never yet
failed to terminate in the destruction of those who are desirous
of maintaining the v/holesome restraints of society. These
are, hov/ever, determined to assist in raising the whirlwind, and
they must be the very iirst to perish in it. Enquire who are
openly preaching up treason, and unfurling the banners of re-
bellion— who are demanding a severance of the Union, — and
you will learn that none but the friends of General Jackson are
engaged in this goodly work. That the leaders of this band
will turn back upon their steps, v/c have no hope. Our re-
liance is upon the general intelhgence, good sense and virtue of
the people: they will not follow in the train of such desperate
politicians.

We, perhapp, ouglit not to close this address Avithout noti
cingthe attempt which is making, with so much industry, to per-
suade the people that the Administration has lost the colonial
trade, and that this has occasioned the fall in the price of grain.
We will not occupy your time by a detailed history of the facts
in relation to this subject — they arc contained in the able and
luminous reports and Documents which have been from time
to time laid before Congress by the Executive. They are
now before the people and prove to the satisfaction of every
intelligent citizen and sensible merchant, that the Adminis-
tration has saved the country from an arrangement, by
Vv'hich the most substantial commercial and agricultural inte-
rests would have been jeopardised. If there be truth in the cus-
tom house returns, our colonial trade has been increased since
these gentlemen say it was 'lost.'

V/e should trespass too much on your time, fellow-citizens, if
v.'e were to attempt a detailed examination of the measures of
the present Administration. You have seen a 'combination*
entered into at the commencement of the Administration, to
oppose its measures — and, we may say trulv, to oppose those
measures, whether they were right or wrong. VVould such
a combination have passed unnoticed a single false step in the
Executive? And what has this sharp-sighted and vindictive
inquest — determined to be s-itisfied with nothing — yet laid be-
fore the public as the great sins of this Administration? Cor-
vu])tion? The charge has recoiled upon themselves. For men
to talk of corruption, who are so far gone in it themselves, as

19

to declare the)' would keep up and persist in their Oj^positionto
the Government, if it were as *pure as the Angels that stand at
the right hand of the throne of God!' — Extravagance in the ex-
penditure of public money? Let their own waste and extrav-
agance— their own improper conduct at the last session of Con-
gress, in making the legislative halis a great electioneering are-
na, where every public object was lost sight of but one — that of
securing the election of their military chief — let tiiis be taken
into view, and it would greatly exceed any thing which they
might call the mis-expenditure of this and every preceding
Administration. But what single mis-expenditure have they
found out against the present government? They have, when
called upon to make good their charges against it and when
forced, against their will, into the examination, after i-ansack-
ing every department, failed to establish the slightest instance
of disregard to strict economy in the public expenditure. Flave
they proved anv thing to be wrong ir. the appointments to office,
or in the diplomacy of the Executive? 1 hey have set in coun-
cil themselves upon all of the nominations, and have consented
to and advised the greater part of the appointments. As to the
mission to the southern republics, which has been the theme
of such heated controversy, some of the leading members in
the opposition declared at the 'time, in the course of good na-
tured conversation with the friends of the Administration, 'had
you taken the opposite course, and refused to respond to the
call of your sister republicks, we would have put you with
ease to the wall.' Has the arm of public defence been withered,
or in any respect been enfeebled during this Administration?
It is not pretended that it has. Have measures for future se-
curity, by sea or by land, been relaxed? Nobody charges it.
Where then are the great sins of this Administration? Its
greatest fault is that it is faultless — that it wears an armour
these gentlemen cannot pierce. Their great reliance is upon their
arts of deception, by which they hope to blind and mislead the
people — and the illusive hopes of better prices, with which they
endeavour to amuse them. There is more intelligence in the
country than these gentlemen calculate upon. A war in Eu-
rope— the rest of the civilized world in strife, while we are at
peace — is known to the least enlightened citizen among us, to
give wider spread to the wings of our commerce, and to afford
frgsh life and spirit to our agriculture. When, however, angry
nations have exhausted their fury towards each other — when
the blessings of peace come to make up to them for the ravages
of war; when the sword is exchanged for the sickle and the
ploughshare, does it become us as a Christian people, to grieve
that the further effusion of human blood is stayed, or to mur-
mur that we have no longer hosts of fierce and hungry soldiers
to feed? Instead of desiring, like vultures, to fatten on the dis-
^ tresses and calamities of others, ought we not rather to offer up

20

our fervent thanksgivings to God that he placed the lot of our
forefathers, and our own, far remote from scenes of wild havoc,
and to implore his goodness to prosper those efforts of our go-
vernment which are directed to the developement of our own
native sources of virtue, industry and enterprise? Our adver-
saries may descant as wildly and fiercely as they please about
what they call their rights, but when they unfurl the banners
of rebellion — when thev call upon the citizens of the United
States to rally around the standard of a military chief, who,
upon all occasions, tramples under his feet the sacred charter of
our liberties — when they oppose with headlong fury and vio-
lence, every measure calculated to establish the firm and solid
foundations of permanent comfort and prosperity for the people
— there is too much good sense — too much virtue — in the coun-
try, to heed their noisy and senseless clamour. Their 'tree
will be judged by its fruit.' As yet every blossom it has borne
is blighted, and its product, even if it could, in this soil, ripen
into maturity, would be unseendy to the eye and bitter to the
taste.

We have now, fellow-citizens, nearly performed the task as-
signed us. VVe ask leave only to remark on the inconsistency
of our opponents; who, blowing hot and cold with the same
breath, represent General Jackson as a candidate of the Fede-
ralists or of the Democrats, as they address themselves to those
•who were formerly of this or that party. It has suited these
gentlemen in Delaware to ordain and publish to the world the
downfall of the old parties. How many of the turbulent and
violent of each party have enlisted under their banners, we leave
it to others to say. We have the satisfaction to believe that
the greater part of the moderate and relkcting. cool and dis-
passionate members of the community are arrayed v.'ith the
friends of the Administration: and we are firmly of opinion
that the present organization of parties will be permanent

We cannot take leave of this subject without remarking upon
the entire indelicacy of General Jackson becoming the calum-
niator of his rival candidate. For the first time, in the history
of our country, has a candidate for the Presidency travelled
through any portion of the Union, spreading charges far and
wide against his competitor. What single letter has Mr. A-
dams written, what syllable has he uttered to the prejudice of
General Jackson? The friends of Mr. Adams have done what
their duty to themselves and the government called upon them
to do: they have met and repelled the charges of his great ac-
cuser. Those charges have recoiled upon their author. They
have examined with freedom into the pretensions of the gen*
tleman who challenges so boldly for himself the highest ho-
nours of the country. Much would have been spared to Gen.
Jackson if, after cordially, to all appearances, felicitating Mr.
•Adums on his election — instead of immediately becoming his

21

open and secret accuser, he had retired in peace and quietness
to his Hermitage, bowed in submission to the public will, and
acquiesced cheerfully in the supremacy of the law and constitu-
tion of his country. He could, it is true, have had no exemption
in any case from a full enquiry into his fitness for the highest of-
fice to which his inordinate ambition had tempted him to aspire;
and that enquiry could never have resulted favourably to his
hopes. As matters now stand, he is doubly proved unworthy
of tlie confidence of the people of the United States.

In respect to Mr. Clay, we know not that we can add force
to the sentiment expressed by your convention when they say
*'that if there has been among us, since the days of the immor-
tal Washington, an individual who deserved to be the first in
the confidence and the affections of his countrymen, it is Hen-
ry Clav: that able and upright statesman, to whom the Presi-
dent, obeying the voice of the people, has assigned the most
distinguished situation in his councils." Yet this is the man
whom General Jackson singled out, to aim at his fair fame and
reputation the most poisoned shafts — not putting him up as a
target among his family and friends, at the Hermitage, around
his ov;a fire side, as he would have us to believe; but indulg-
ing himself in this cruel and w'anton sport, at every other fire
side, in every Steam-boat and at every Inn. What are we to
think, as has been justly observed, of the morals of him who
holds not the reputation of others sacred, at home as well as
abroad? And what are we to think of General Jackson,
as a man, who urging this lame and impotent apology, stands
proved to the world as the persevering and unwearied propaga-
tor of the sam.e slander in every other situation? Mr. Clav
came to the councils of the nation, with all that spirit of fresh-
ness and freedom — with all that genius and talent — with all
that openness and goodness of heart and frankness of manners
which made him — if we mav say so — but the harbinger of still
brighter times in the west — but the earnest as it were, of v/hat
that noble portion of our country is destined to yield to the
cominon stock of the moral worth and greatness of our empire.
W^ho can believe that such a man as this has fallen, and fallen,
too, where there was no temptation to betray?

Fellow-citizens, we have done. We leave your own cause in
3'our own hands. We ask you to join with us, in humble sup-
plications to the author of all goodness, to continue still to guide
this young and rising nation — to give our citizens to know and
perform their duty to their God and their country — that they
may be an example worthy to be held up for virtue and piety,
and true patriotism, to man in every clime and country — that
he may purge them of all bitterness and uncharitableness to-
wards each other; — to ordain that turbulence and violence shall
not set up their misrule in our land — that the noble fabric pf

22

our Government shall be preserved— that the ark of our safety
and glory shall float securely and ride triumphantly amid the
fierce and threatening storms now gathering to overwhelm and
sink with it the last hope of the friends of freedom.

DAVID HAZZARD,
MOSES BRADFORD,
WILLIAM H. WELLS,
ALEXANDER CRAWFORD,
ISAAC DAVIS,
CALEB S. LAYTON,
GEORGE B. RODNEY,
SAMUEL S. GRUBB,
JOHN ROBERTSON.

Aun'iist 1,1828.

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