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CHARLES HAMMOND
AND
His Relations to Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams
OR
- s.
CONSTITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS AND THE CONTEST
"FOR FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND THE PRESS
AnI Address delivered before the ChicagoJHistdrical
Society, May 20, 1884
By WM. HENRY SMITH
I
Published for the Chicago Historical Society
1885 .
>«« ■iv^^^p'
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CHARLES HAMMOND
AND
• H is Relations to Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams
m
OR
^ ITUTIONAL LIMITATIONS AND THE CONTEST
)R FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND THE PRESS
An Addrbss dblivbrbd bbforb thb Chicago Historical
SociBTY,! May 20, 1884
By WM. HENRY SMITH
J -J ■J ^ ^ ^^ ^ •* ^ «M rf i4
Published for the Chicago Historical Society
1885
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1
TO
ROBERT CLARKE, ESQ.
AS A RECOGNITION OF HIS INTELLIGENT EFFORTS TO ENLARGE
THE SCOPE OF AMERICAN HISTORY, OF HIS PATRIOTISM
AS A CITIZEN, AND OF GENIAL AND MANLY TRAITS
THAT ARE ADMIRED BY HIS FRIENDS.
J
CHICAGO HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
PROCEEDINGS OF A MEETING HELD MAY 20, 1884.
An adjourned quarterly meeting of the Society was held May
20, 1884. Vice President E. B. Washburne occupied the chair.
From the Librarian's Report it appeared that the accessions to
the Library during the quarter were 226 bound volumes and 170
unbound books and pamphlets.
Judge Mark Skinner introduced the following tribute to the
memory of the late President of the Society, Hon. I. N. Arnold,
which was unanimously adopted :
^^ Resolved^ ist, In the removal by death of the Hon. Isaac N.
Arnold, the Historical Society mourns the loss of one of its origi-
nal founders, of one of its most active, efficient, and reliable mem-
bers, and its honored and greatly respected President.
" During all the active years of a brief and well-spent life,
Mr. Arnold has been a citizen of Chicago, contributing by his
indefatigable industry, unimpeachable integrity, his patriotism,
his public spirit, his rare abilities, his great acquirements, his
spotless moral character, his high qualifications, and his instincts
as a thorough gentleman, to give luster to the city, his residence,
and to the generation to which he belonged.
"A successful lawyer, that stood in the front rank of his pro-
fession, a cautious, far-seeing and wise legislator, distinguishing
(V)
vi Introductory.
himself in the halls of legislation, as well national as state, a suc-
cessful public speaker, and a writer of great power and wide-
spread popularity, he has left to the generations that succeed him
the legacy of a noble example and a good name ; therefore,
'''' Resolved y 2nd, That the Hon. E. B. Washburne be re-
quested to prepare and deliver before this Society, at his con-
venience, a memorial address commemorative of the life and
character of the Hon. Isaac N. Arnold."
Mr. Washburne responded to the resolution as follows :
"I am certain that all the members of the Chicago Historical
Society, and all others present, will have heard with emotion the
resolution in respect to our President.
*' The Society has met with a great and almost irreparable
loss in the death of Mr. Arnold. Long identified with it, giving
to it his attention and his services, he has done much to elevate
its character and increase its usefulness. We can never forget
with what courtesy and dignity he presided at our meetings.
Dying, as it were, in the harness, he has left to us the recollection
of an honest man, a cultivated gentleman, a good citizen, and an
honored public servant. At some time in the future, the Society
will pay appropriate honors to his memory."
Hon. William Bross was requested by the Society to prepare
and read before it a memorial notice of the late Thomas H.
Armstrong, who was for some time the Secretary and Treasurer
of this Society.
Mr. E. H. Sheldon introduced the following memorial notice
of the late Sir Alpheus Todd, which was unanimously adopted
and ordered spread upon the records :
'' Sir Alpheus Todd, late of Ottawa, Canada, was born in
England in 1821, and at the age of twelve emigrated to Canada.
In 1856 he became Librarian of the Legislative Assembly of
Canada and held the position till the time of his death. In 1866
Mr. Todd was elected a corresponding member of this Society.
He wrote several works, which were highly commended, relating
to the government of Canada and England. The ability and
Introductory. vii
noble manhood exhibited in Mr. Todd's works won for him the
honor of knighthood and the high esteem of those who knew him.
"As a mark of respect, this Society places his name with
the honored dead upon its records."
The President appointed Messrs. E. H. Sheldon, Mark
Skinner, and W. K. Ackerman a committee to draft resolutions
of respect to the memory of the late Cyrus H. McCormick. an
annual member of this Society.
The President then introduced Mr. Wm. Henry Smith, who
read the following historical paper upon '* Charles Hammond
and his relations to Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams."
Upon the address being concluded. General A. L. Chetlain
moved that the thanks of this Society be tendered to Mr. Smith
for his excellent historical paper, and a request was made that he
furnish the Society a copy for its archives. The motion was
unanimously adopted and the meeting adjourned.
ALBfiRT D. Hager, Secretary.
V,'
, »
CHARLES HAMMOND.
In the winter of 1 860-1, on the eve of the great
civil war, I heard that brilliant Democratic orator,
Ex-Senator Geo. E. Pugh, declare to an audience that
filled the old Smith & Nixon's Hall, and embraced
the intelligence and wealth of Cincinnati, that if the
differences between the North and South resulted in
war, the commerce of Cincinnati would be destroyed,
grass would grow in her streets, and the glory of the
Queen City would depart forever. The eloquent Sena-
tor doubtless expressed his honest convictions ; he
certainly did express the opinion of a large number of
the business men of that city. Considerations of
patriotism, of legal rights, and of manhood, did not
enter into their thoughts. The only question was, how
could the trade of the South be preserved for Cin-
cinnati? These merchants thought most sarely by
asking the South to write the terms on which they
would consent to remain in the Union, and continue
to govern the country. They called this conserva-
tism — a word often representing 'wisdom in the ad-
ministration of affairs. But there is conservatism and
conservatism. This of the eventful period preceding
the war, was what Carlyle would have called "slothful
cowardice," but what may be more accurately described
(9)
lo Charles Hammond.
as the conservatism of cowardice — destructive of the
soul.
This was but the echo of other days. The fathers
of many there present had heard a similar prediction
from the lips of a distinguished citizen (sometime jus-
tice of the Supreme Court, and United States Senator),
if the subject of slavery were even permitted to be
discussed by the press north of the Ohio river, and in
this opinion there seemed to be for a season an almost
universal concurrence. There was, however, one man,
in that day the most eminent of the citizens of Ohio
or of the West, who controverted that opinion, and who
continued to discuss the subject of slavery, its relations
to society and the state, despite the passionate remon-
strances of friends, and in the face of mobs, with
sublime courage, and a calmness and wisdom that dis-
armed the violent and carried conviction to thousands.
This was the conservatism of life — the power of truth
that ever has and ever will put the devil to flight.
The ghost of a controversy is haunting the present
generation, seeking to be laid when it shall be de-
termined who first proposed immediate emancipation.
What does it matter? Gradual emancipation at one
time, through restrictive measures was practicable; but
the conservatism of cowardice had permitted greed and
lust for power to so far override the spirit of the Con-
stitution as to fasten the evil of slavery firmly upon
the Union, so that emancipation, except by the sword,
was impracticable. It has come to be fashionable to
seek for heroes supposed to be, in the days when there
was a shadow over the land, the sole keepers of the
conscience of the Republic. Bronze monuments are
^•w
Charles Hammond. ii
— ■ ■ ■ ■ ■■ •■' MW" — ^■ " * ■■ - ^■- ■ ■■ ■ ■ I ■ ■ I ■ ■ ■ I ■ ■ ■ ■■ II ■ ■■■. I. ■■■■»»■■■■ »■■ M ■■ ■ ■ ■ I ■ I
erected in memory, and verses are sung by immortal
bards in honor of men (a few impracticables) who de-
nounced the Constitution as "a covenant with death,
and an agreement with hell." Forgotten are the wise
men, who abhorring wrong, addressed themselves to the.
task of securing the amelioration of slavery through
practicable means under the Constitution. The venerable
Franklin petitioning for the restriction of slavery at
the seat of government by legal enactment; Charles
Hammond, insisting that slavery should be discussed
with the same freedom as any other question affecting
the welfare of society; John Quincy Adams in the
midst of a storm of passions asserting the right of peti-
tion ; and Owen Lovejoy, defending his press with his
life, are figures that stand out boldly in the history of
this great moral contest, and challenge the grateful ad-
miration of the American people. Their influence was
the power that created a healthy public opinion ; it was
the influence of a noble manhood. Yet they did not
indulge in idle denunciation. They labored to give to
the people an intelligent and just appreciation of their
own rights, and to establish the true relations of the
states to each other under the Constitution, which they
believed, as we believe to-day, was and is the most ben-
eficent instrument of government ever devised by man.
Passion may serve as a spur, but it is the judgment
intrenched in conviction that endures in the hour of
trial, and commands success.
Pardon this long prologue. It seemed necessary to
properly introduce my subject. Perhaps it may not be
unprofitable to draw the line between those who receive
and those who deserve the mead of praise.
12 Charles Hammond.
I am to speak to you to-night of the career of Charles
Hammond, a famous man in his time, who conferred
honor upon two professions, and left the world richer
for his having lived. The American people are greatly
indebted to him. As we have chiefly to do with pub-
lic aflFairs, I shall omit details of Hammond's early
life, merely remarking by way of introduction, that he
was born near Baltimore, Maryland, September 19,
1779. ^'^ parents, George and Elizabeth Wells
Hammond, belonged to the Episcopal Church, were
well educated and noted for strong traits of character.
With their help and that of a tutor in mathematics and
Latin, Charles received the basis of that thorough cul-
ture which he afterwards acquired.
There are men who are superior mentally, and to
whom the extrinsic aids aflForded by a thorough college
course do not seem to be necessary. Charles Ham-
mond was of this class. There is little in journalistic
or periodical writing equal to his for directness, sim-
plicity, and beauty of diction ; or in the productions
of the Bar, in logical force and perspicuity. His
printed legal arguments, we are assured by an admiring
contemporary, were the pride and delight of the Bar in
his day. One of these, I chanced to find among some
rubbish fifteen years ago, with the title page missing,
and no mark to indicate the author. It was an argu-
ment in criticism of the opinion of Chief Justice
Mashall, in Wayman v. Southard, in 1825. So perfect
was the construction, and so direct and natural the ar-
gument, that I said there were not more than two men
in the United States who could have written that, and
one of them was Hammond, and bore the precious
Charles Hammond. 13
document away and had it bound with Hammond's
name. Since then in letters to Henry Clay and Judge
Wright, I found the authorship avowed.
*' Hammond spoke at the Bar," said the venerable
Thomas Ewing three or four years before his death,
" Hammond spoke at the Bar as good English as Ad-
dison wrote in the Spectator." And Ex-Justice Swayne
remarked to me recently that, "It was Mr. Ham-
mond's habit to argue great questions of constitutional
law in the editorial columns of the 'Gazette. The
depth, the fine discrimination, the iron-linked logic of
those disquisitions, were surpassed by nothing I heard
from the first lawyers of the land while on the Supreme
Bench." .
Mr. Edward D. Mansfield said that he knew of no
writer who could express an idea so clearly and so
briefly. " He wrote the pure old English — the
vernacular tongue, unmixed with French or Latin
phrases or idioms, and unperverted with any scholastic
logic. His language was like himself — plain, sensible,
and unaffected. His force, however, lay not so much
in this as in his truth, honesty, and courage, those
moral qualities which made him distinguished at that
day, and would distinguish him now."
The Revolutionary War left George Hammond poor,
and hoping to better his condition, he removed with
his family and slaves to Western Virginia, in 1785,
locating near Wellsburg, in Brooke county.
Judge Cranmer, of the Wheeling Bar, says that **he
was a man of education and some culture, and possessed
a retentive memory and an appreciative taste. He
would frequently recite whole plays of Shakespeare, and
14 Charles Hammond.
he had committed to memory Young's Night Thoughts,
and many other poems. He was a man of uncommon
mental force and physical endurance. He was tall and
spare; his carriage was erect and imposing. He had
firm, practical judgment, uncompromising prejudices,,
was a thoughtful reader, and a good talker."
A picture of no common man.
Charles Hammond inclined to the printing business,
but finding no encouragement in Washington, whither
he had gone, he returned to the West, and in 1800 en-
tered the law oflice of Philip Doddridge, a name not
without honor in the Old Dominion. Hammond was
admitted to practice in the state courts and, the courts
of the United States, in 1803. In the first year of his
graduation as an attorney, he married Sarah Tilling-
hast, and settled in Wheeling.
Something of the intellectual grasp that so greatly dis-
tinguished Alexander Hamilton was also characteristic
of the mind of Charles Hammond ; not in as high degree,
perhaps, but still in a high degree. Within a year after
his admission to the Bar, and when only twenty-four
years of age, Hammond was employed in a case arising
under the excise law, and made an argument on the
constitutional questions involved that attracted very
wide attention. It was issued in the East and accepted
by the Federalists as sound in doctrine. The editor of
the United States Gazette, who printed it entire to the
exclusion of much other matter, said that the import-
ance of the questions discussed and the ability displayed
were sufficient apology to his readers for giving so much
space to it.
I pass directly to a celebrated case, in which Ham-
-^
Charles Hammond. 15
mond and Clay were pitted against each other, merely
noting chronologically that it was in 18 10 that Ham-
mond removed to Ohio and settled on a farm near St.
Glairsville ; that a year later, he began the publication
of the Ohio Federalist, which he continued until 181 8 ;
that the exigencies of the Federalist party, of which he
was the leader, required him, in 1813, to stand for the
State Senate, to which he was elected ; that at the re-
quest of the Bar, he served as a member of the House
for five years, refusing, in 1821, to spend further time;
that he made a revision of the laws of Ohio, and was
the author of the acts regulating the course of descents,
distribution of personal estates, and chancery proceed-
ings ; and that he accepted the appointment of Re-
porter for the Court in Bank, and edited the first ten
volumes of Ohio Reports. During all these years, he
was exceedingly busy in the practice, the interests of his
clients often calling him to Washington.
The melancholy failure of Mr. Madison's adminis-
tration, and the financial distress logically resulting from
embargoes and unsound theories inherited from the Jef-
ferson administration, unwise relations between the na-
tional treasury and state banks and overtrading on
every hand, compelled the establishment of a new
United States Bank in 18 16. Mr. Calhoun reported
the bill, and led the debate in favor of the meas-
ure in speeches that contrast strangely with his nullify-
ing arguments sixteen years later. Mr. Madison signed
the bill with great reluctance. When in operation, the
Bank established branches in diflFerent cities, and, among
other places, at Cincinnati and Chillicothe, Ohio. The
people of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys were largely
indebted for land, and, instead of finding relief through
i6 Charles Hammond.
* these banking agencies, their embarrassments became so
onerous as to lead them to cast about for some agency
of relief more closely allied to their interests than the
eastern corporation. They saw, or fancied they sa^v,
the little specie in the Mississippi Valley fast disappear-
ing over the mountains and the ruin of the business
newly begun since the close of the war. Hence, the
anti-bank movement in Ohio. Here, parties were
changed in their relations to the institution. The
JefFersonians who had denounced the old United States
Bank were the supporters of the new United States
Bank, and the Federalists were the leaders in the oppo-
sition, although all parties shared in the feeling of dis-
content.
In 1 8 19, Ohio passed a general act, taxing banks,,
individuals, and companies transacting a banking busi-
ness in the state without being authorized to do so by
the laws thereof, and providing that if the United States
Bank should continue to transact business in the state
after the 15th September ensuing, it should pay a tax of
$50,000 for each branch, and made it mandatory on^the
Auditor of State to assess and collect the tax. Ralph
Osborn was Auditor, and on the day assigned, his
agent, John L. Harper, assisted by Thomas Orr, ap-
peared at the Chillicothe Bank just as the cashier was
opening the safe and forcibly took possession of jfjioo,-
000 in coin and bank notes, which they bore off to
Columbus and deposited with H. M. Curry, Treasurer
of the State. Curry, upon retiring from office, deliv-
ered this money to his successor, Mr. Sullivan, and in-
formed him that it was the money collected from the
United States Bank. It was kept separate and apart
from the State deposits, in obedience to an injunction
J
Charles Hammond. 17
granted by the United States Circuit Court. These are
the names that figure as appellants in the celebrated case
of Osborn v. The Bank of the United States. There was
intense excitement throughout the Union at this forci-
ble entry of the bank by officers of the state. In view
of the decision of the Supreme Court in McCulloch v.-
The State of Maryland, the bold act seemed like defi-
ance of national authority. The Bank employed
Henry Clay as attorney, and the state Charles Ham-
mond. Harper and Orr went to jail, where they re-
mained for many months, refusing the bail the Bank
pressed upon them. Details of the legal fencing in this
case would be interesting had we time. When a decision
was reached in the Circuit Court, in 1821, Hammond
appealed the case to the Supreme Court of the United
States. Pending final hearing, there was great activity
in the public prints, among legal pamphleteers. The
Ohio Legislature published an appeal to the people
(written by Hammond), copies of which were sent to
JeflFerson and Madison and drew forth guarded compli-
ments from these retired statesmen. The Governor and
General Assembly of Connecticut and the Legislatures
of New Hampshire and New York had something to
say upon the contest. Virginia and Georgia had cases
of their own, and an effort was made to combine the
influence of these with Ohio so as to make the opposi-
tion to the Bank side more formidable. Expectation in
the West already contemplated' a victory. Governor
Brown declared that, in his opinion, the Ohio pamphlet
reviewing the decision of the court in McCulloch v.
Maryland so completely refuted the Supreme Court
2
1 8 Charles Hammond.
that, as the judges were not deficient in intelligence,
they could not fail to feel much chagrin. The manage-
ment of the Bank was very exasperating. ^* The mam-
moth Bank," says Hammond to Wright, December 14,
** has been taking more rash measures. It has required the
poor devils at Cincinnati to renew their notes and pay
the reductions and discounts at Chillicothe. They have
demurred, and y^sttYd2Ly precipes came to the Clerk of
the Federal Court, putting the whole debts in suit —
about one hundred. Gen. Harrison's heart began to
misgive him for uniting in my report to put them out
of the protection of state laws. These precipes come
opportunely to brace his resolution."
The question was, what would the great Chief Justice
do.? Would he permit a review of McCulloch v.
Maryland? To solve the doubt, Hammond, in 1823,
wrote an argument, which he submitted to Marshall,
accompanied by a letter, in which the wishes of the an-
ti-bank party were frankly expressed. The response is
not without interest to us :
Marshall to Hammond.
Richmond, December 28, 1823.
Dear Sir :
I received some time past your printed argument in
the case of Sullivan and others against the Bank of the
United States, and, a day or two afterwards, your letter
of the 4th instant which was intended to accompany it.
I have read the argument with that pleasure which I
always feel in reading or hearing one in which the sub-
ject is discussed with real ability, whether I concur or
not in opinion with the person who makes it. This is
r
Charles Hammond.
^9
certainly exempt from any thing like the charge of
Jacobinism or disrespect to the court, and is at the
same time, I think, less vulnerable than a certain re-
port* to which you allude, which, however, was far
from being deficient in vigor.
If Judge Washington will not consent to receive it
absolutely and unconditionally as an argument, it must
be read over in court, and he must view it in the light
of notes, and as a substitute for those which might be
taken by himself.
I abstain scrupulously from all intermeddling in the
election of President ; but as your letter on that sub-
ject was undoubtedly intended to be seen, I have shown
it to some gentlemen who will not fail to communicate
its contents to others. A resolution is now before our
House of Delegates recommending a congressional
caucus. It may probably pass ; but not without some
considerable opposition. It is supported by the friends
of Mr. Crawford, who undoubtedly constitute a ma-
jority of the assembly, and I believe of the state. I
rather conjecture that Mr. Clay is the second man with
Virginia. I, however, know too little of public opin-
ion to say any thing about it which deserves attention.
For myself I can say that I consider Mr. Clay as an
enlighted statesman who has ever since his mission to
Europe acted on a system which displays enlarged and
liberal views ; and I think him entitled to particular
credit for having brought the Missouri conflict to a
* Doubtless the report to the Ohio Legislature written by Ham-
mond.
20 Charles Hammond.
peaceful termination. I shall be perfectly content with
the choice of the nation, whoever he may be.
With great respect and esteem, I am, sir, your obedi-
ent J. Marshall.
This argument was finally made before the court in
February, 1824. It was a master-piece. Admirable in
temper, perfect in logical construction, comprehensive
in its grasp of principles, original, and as a specimen
of English composition, will challenge comparison with
any thing emanating from the most eminent of the
legal profession. Hammond's reputation was already
great, but this increased it although the decision of the
Supreme Court was against him. To attempt to give
you a clear idea of the argument, would be to mar a
work that should be considered as a whole to be en-
joyed and appreciated.
Mr. Edward D. Mansfield in his Memoirs says, that
Hammond in his argument advocated States Rights,
an error inexcusable in so industrious a writer. Mr.
Hammond was a Nationalist of the Washington school,
and in this Bank case he was careful to leave no doubt
of his position. He was endeavoring to ascertain the lia-
bilities of states — their constitutional limitations, as
well as to have determined the extent of the jurisdiction
of the Circuit Courts. He laid down the proposition
that the State of Ohio was the sole defendant in this
cause, and by the eleventh amendment of the Constitu-
tion of the United States, the Circuit Court was ex-
cluded — that it was a case of original jurisdiction in
which the Supreme Court alone was authorized to act.
This proposition is enforced with a clearness of ex-
Charles Hammond, 21
plication and force of reasoning that seems to leave no
opening for further discussion. " The question whether
the Bank of the United States," said Mr. Hammond,
"as now constituted, is exempt by the Constitution of
the Union from the taxing power of the state, depends
upon the nature and character of the institution. If it
stands upon the same foundation with the mint and
post-office — if its business can justly be assimilated to
the process and proceedings of the federal courts, I
admit without hesitation that it is entitled to the ex-
emption it claims. The states can not tax the offices,
establishments, and operations of the national gov-
ernment. It is not the argument of the opinion in
Maryland and McCulloch, but the premises upon
which that argument is founded, that I ask the court
now to re-examine and re-consider. I ask what that
opinion, as I conceive, does not contain — a full, dis-
tinct, and explicit exposition and definiton of the true
nature and character of the Bank."
** Whether Congress could constitutionally create a
Bank, was not and ought not to have been considered
an open question in 1819. It was certainly injudicious
to move this question, and connect it with that of ex-
emption from taxation by the states, when they stand
wholly unconnected. The power to incorporate a Bank
is one thing, the privileges with which it may be in-
vested is another, and a very different thing. The old
Bank established in 1791, preserved faithfully the
character given to it by its founders ; it answered all the
purposes, and effected all the advantages anticipated by
its friends, and terminated its existence without pro-
ducing any of the mischief predicted by its enemies.
22 Charles Hammond.
It originated, existed, and acted in the true spirit of
the Constitution; and of necessity, good, and not evil
was the result."
The original founders of the first Bank of the United
States did not claim for it immunity from taxation, as
incident to its charter. Nor did the politicians or
jurists of the time consider it as entitled to any privi-
lege of the kind. It was taxed by the State of Georgia;
the tax was collected and kept. The opinion of the
court in the case of Deveaux seemed obviously to
recognize the power of taxation. It treated the Bank
as a company of traders, not as a public institu-
tion.
The second Bank of the United States — the Bank of
1816 — was established under different circumstances,
and by different hands. It was established by those
who once represented an incorporation as some "great,
independent, substantial thing ; as a political end of
peculiar magnitude and moment." And although the
attempt to fasten this character upon it, was made,
for the purpose of proving it an alien to the Consti-
tution, yet, in perfect consistency with their original
opinions, they claimed for the institution in their hands,
that very character, so earnestly disclaimed by the
original advocates of the power to incorporate. They
were not content to derive quality and capacity from
their charter. They claimed political power and politi-
cal exemption.
The corollary resulting from Mr. Hammond's reason-
ing was, that the creation of a corportion did not con-
fer political power or political character, and that the
ifc » ■
Charles Hammond. 23
operations, as well as the property of the Bank, were
subject to the same rule of taxation as the operations
and property of other associations. The Bank, not-
withstanding their charter, remained a private associa-
tion, bound by a contract for a consideration paid, to
perform certain employments for the government. To
decide that the Bank was a public instrument stand-
ing in the same relation to the government as a public
office and its incumbent, would necessarily involve the
government in some strange and monstrous practices.
The very fact that the stockholders paid a consideration
in money for their chartered privileges, forbade attach-
ing to their public employments the character of a
public office.
"Let the doctrine be established," said he, ''that
the states can not tax either the institutions, or the
property of the nation, and that Congress can with-
draw nothing that is private from the taxing power of
the states, and the division line is clearly and distinctly
marked."
** It derogates nothing from the supremacy of the
national government to assert that private property
neither exists nor is introduced by its authority. Its
objects are national, not municipal. If it creates pri-
vate property by a grant of lands, its power over the
land ceases when the grant is completed ; its subsequent
disposition and protection appertains to the states. If
it grant a patent for useful inventions, it is in virtue of
a specific power, and the invention when brought into
use becomes subject to state legislation. So if it grant
a corporate franchise to individuals to conduct a private
24 Charles Hammond.
trade, it confers a capacity, but can not regulate the
business. It may provide for the naturalization of
aliens^ but it can not authorize aliens to acquire or hold
estates. In all these cases, the act done by the na-
tional government is supreme, so far as its power ex-
tends."
Mr. Hammond concluded as follows : " The prop-
osition I have labored to sustain, is plain, precise, and
unambiguous. It is, that whatever is private property
is subject to the taxing power of the states; that what-
ever is private business and employment, is subject to
the same power, excepting a tax on exports, imports and
tonnage. This proposition is founded upon the express
letter of the Constitution, and in its very terms excludes
all pretension to tax the offices, institutions, or property
of the national government. If this power of assess-
ing taxes be confined to the private individual property
found or employed within the territorial limits of the
state, its exercise never can become repugnant to the
constitutional laws of the Union. If a law of the
Union be enacted, which assumes to restrain the exer-
cise of this power upon the ground of repugnancy, such
law can not be warranted by the Constitution. For the
Constitution can not, at the same time, authorize an
exercise of power by the states and a restraint of that
power by the nation.
"This proposition, so simple in its terms, so easy to
be understood, so free from all complexity or difficulty
in its application, is neither denied nor admitted. But
an attempt is made to escape its consequences by advanc-
ing other propositions, and deducing corroUaries, by
which the question is instantly involved in confusion.
Charles Hammond. 25
from which the most highly-gifted powers of argument
have failed to extricate it.
" It has ever appeared to me that the error of the
argument I have endeavored to confute, consists in two
misconceptions of the case — first, in considering the
Bank, as an institution of the government, of a strictly
public character ; and, secondly, in regarding the power
of taxation claimed for the states as extending to every
description of property and business, national as well
as individual, public as well as private. It has been my
object to remove these misconceptions and place the
subject before the court in what I have considered its
true light — the Bank, as an association of individuals,
conducting a private trade for their own advantage and
emolument; the right of taxation as extending to noth-
ing but the property and business of private individ-
uals. When thus considered, I have attempted to dem-
onstrate that the power to tax is not repugnant to the
power to create or preserve, and can not be drawn into
collision with any legitimate power of the national gov-
ernment.
'' I have founded no argument upon a supposed
abuse of power by Congress. I have sought to recon-
cile no inconsistencies by ^ the magic of the word con-
fidence.' In governments constituted like ours, such
topics of argument are, at best, of little force. If the
national government may abuse power, so may the
states ; if the states may call for confidence, so may the
national government. Where power is conferred, con-
fidence is reposed that it will be executed for the public
good. Where power is denied, the public good can not
a 6 Charles Hammond.
justify an attempt to exercise it. If the Constitution
leaves, in the hands of the states, power by which they'
may do mischief, this court can not deprive them of it.
If the action of the national government be imperfect
in consequence of a defect of power, this court can not
help it. The Constitution itself is the rule. To that
we must resort; and we must determine the extent of
its provisions by the known and established maxims of
interpretation. It has declared the cases in which the
states shall not exercise the power of taxation. The
effect of this declaration is, that they can not be re-
strained in the exercise of this power in any cases but
those specified. Every attempt to withdraw individual
property from the action of this power, in other cases,
is an attempt to do that which the people in their sov-
ereign capacity alone can do — to change the principles of
the Constitution."
The point raised by Mr. Hammond as to jurisdiction
moved the court to ask for areargument, and the Bank
hastened to bring in Daniel Webster and John Sergeant
to assist Mr. Clay. It is not known how the court
was divided originally on the question of jurisdiction,
but after the reargument Justice Johnston only dis-
sented.
** The full pressure of this argument is felt," said the
great Chief Justice, ''and the difficulties it presents are
acknowledged. The direct interest of the state in the
suit, as brought, is admitted; and had it been in the
power of the Bank to make it a party, perhaps no de-
cree ought to have been pronounced in the cause, until
the state was before the court. But this was not in the
power of the Bank. The eleventh amendment of the
i_ .
Charles Hammond. 27
Constitution has exempted a state from the suits of cit-
izens of other states, or aliens; and the very difficult
question is to be decided, whether in such a case the
court may act upon the agents employed by the state,
and on the property in their hands."
And then, before proceeding with his 'argument, he
indulges in a patriotic exordium, which, in the light of
more recent history, has a striking, a pathetic interest
to us.
The great Virginian is at his best. In pertinence of
illustration, in vigor and in subtlety of reasoning, per-
haps no other one of his remarkable opinions surpasses
this. He boldly asserts the public character of the
Bank, and at a stroke evades the dilemma presented by
Hammond, and rescues the opinion in the case of
McCulloch V. Maryland, thus opening the Circuit Courts
to the Bank of the United States without limitation.
The patriotic impulse carried him beyond the logical
line of his argument, into the realm of partisanship.
The determination to strengthen the Bank by bringing
to its support in all cases the protection of the Federal
Courts is apparent. As a political policy, this was
unwise. The anti-bank party leaders were not slow to
seize upon the advantage thus given to them and to
stimulate popular prejudices against the consolidation
of political power with wealth. Upon this wave, An-
drew Jackson and the modern Democratic party rode
into power.
There is one point in that decision which has an
important bearing on a question of living interest, viz :
the relations of the national government to corpora-
tions. Marshall said :
**That the mere business of banking is, in its own
28 Charles Hammond.
nature, a private business, and may be carried on by-
individuals or companies having no political connection
with the government, is admitted; but the Bank is
not such an individual or company. It was not created
for its own sake, or for private purposes* It has never
been supposed that Congress could create such a corporation.^*
You mark the passage. Has Congress, as this language
of the greatest expounder of the Constitution implies,
chartered railroad and other companies without due au-
thority ?
We have had a glimpse, and I fear a very imperfect
and unsatisfactory one, of Charles Hammond as a jurist.
Before dismissing this part of our subject, it will be
interesting to know something of Chief Justice Marsh-
all's opinion of Hammond. The compliment paid in
the letter I read and in the decision of the court, was
repeated a few months later in a private conversation,
and being free from all official formality, is more in-
teresting to us.
Lieut. Governor Greene, of Rhode Island, relates that
in 1824, after the conclusion of the great Bank case, he
took a trip with Chief Justice Marshall down the Poto-
mac, and the latter made many inquiries about Ham-
mond. *'He spoke of his remarkable acuteness and
accuracy of mind, and referred with emphatic admira-
tion to his argument before the Supreme Court in the
Bank case. He said that he had met no judicial record
of equal intellectual power since Lord Hardwick's
time.
Governor Greene, who knew Hammond intimately
during the last twenty years of his life, and himself
was prominent as a lawyer, expressed the opinion pub-
Charles Hammond. 29
licly after Hammond's decease that, "intellectually he
was without a superior in our country."
** In the legal action of his mind, he was eminently self-
reliant, and cared little for what is called authority, except
as it agreed with his own views. In this respect, he be-
longed to the same class as the English Holt, Hard-
wick, and Mansfield, and the American Marshall, Par-
sons, and Webster. These men got their law from
their own minds, and not mainly from books that re-
corded the opinions of others ; in other words they
made authority rather than followed it."
So much for Hammond's career at the Bar.
Personally, I have a deeper interest in him as a
journalist and popular advocate of principles dear to
mankind, and we shall now consider his work in this
field. Charles Hammond was the most distinguished
American editor of his day. In one respect, he has
never been equaled. In a consistent adherence to
principle, through a long series of years of professional
labor. On this account quite as much as on account
of great ability, is to be attributed the extent and en-
durance of his influence. Many a young journalist
since his day has found the shadow of this traditional
fame following him in all his eflForts, and while crushed
by the inevitable comparison he has been nerved to
greater eflFort. Yet journalism to Hammond was an
incident merely in his career. He was by intellectual
endowments, education, temperament, and taste, fitted
for the bar. He said that he added journalism to eke
out an income sufficient for his family. It is true that
until he reached the age of forty-five he was poor; but
I suspect that writing was essential to his complete in-
30 Charles Hammond.
tellectual enjoyment. He had a message to deliver to
the world, if you please, an irresistible impulse to be
useful to society. The newspaper was the means. Mr.
Hammond was a man of strong political convictions,
but a pure and lofty patriotism was the guiding princi-
ple.
George Hammond was a slaveholder, and it is be-
lieved that a repugnance to the system is what induced
Charles to cross the river into Ohio, in 1810. He
never failed to speak plainly of it on ail appropriate
occasions. A newspaper was the medium through
which he could most effectually reach the public con-
science. The political principles which he had espoused,
were being trampled in the dust, and he seized the
opportunity to enter the arena, and bid defiance to all
comers. He established the Ohio Federalist^ at St.
Clairsville, and became the leader of the party in the
state. The weight of his opposition was felt. Em-
bargo laws and war with England, were themes treated
by him with greater wit and sarcasm than was displayed
by '*A New England Farmer."
We learn something of this Federalist in the Per-
sonal Recollections which that sterling citizen, Robert
Buchanan left. He says:
" My first aquaintapce with Mr. Hammond was
about 1813, through his paper the Ohio Federalist^ then
published at St. Clairsville. I had met with it casually,
and noticing some pungent and witty articles against
the war then in full blast, and Mr. Clay, who in after
years was his bosom friend, I subscribed for it — weekly
JJ53.50 per annum.
^' It was against my politics, for like all boys, I
Charles Hammond. 31
was for the present and next war, careless of conse-
quences, and Mr. Clay, being then a strong advocate of
the war in Congress, was a great favorite. But I loved
fun, and in Mr. Hammond's articles that was to be
found."
The publication of the Federalist ceased in 18 18, and
Hammond, with all the rest of the Federalists, was ab-
sorbeH by the Republican party, under the influence of
the Monroe administration. But he was no less a
Washington Federalist than before, for twenty years
later we find him saying: '* It is, it has been my pride
to follow in the paths where they (Washington, Hamil-
ton, and Jay) led, longum intervallum^ indeed, but with
unshaken confidence and unfaltering step."
All questions of interest to the American people
were discussed by him during these years of activity at
the Bar, including the question of slavery. Of these,
his earlier utterances, I shall make no mention, as prior
to the Missouri controversy, the shadow over the Union
was but as the breadth of one's hand.
He influenced the Legislature of Ohio, in 18 19, to
adopt his views, and to declare that the existence of
slavery had ever been deemed a great moral and political
evil ; that its tendency was to impair our national
character and materially affect .our national happiness;
and that inasmuch as the extension of a slave population
in the United States was fraught with the most fearful
consequences to the permanency and durability of our
Republican institutions, therefore it should be strenu-
ously resisted, and the Senators of that state in Con-
gress were instructed accordingly.
Later, in his correspondence in 1820, he flamed out
32 Charles Hammond.
against this proposed extension of slavery : ** I am
filled with wrath," said he to John C. Wright, "at the
trick put upon the yankees in the Senate plan to bring
in Maine. Let Maine go to the devil (the state, a
legal entity now-a-days) rather than make a state of it
in concession to the slave interest.
" The Slave States move in a compact body. Others
are disturbed by constitutional scruples. I am in hopes
the states where there are no slaves, can in due season
find men who do not bogle upon that point. That is,
in my mind, a great question, and fraught with im-
portant consequences. A new state of parties must
grow out of it. Give me a Northern President,
whether John Quincy Adams or DeWitt Clinton, or
anybody else, rather than that things should remain as
they are."
The depth of Mr. Hammond's hatred of slavery,
with which he was associated in his youth, is shown in
this proposition to make Mr. Adams the candidate,
toward whom he felt a prejudice on account of what he
believed to be his apostacy from Federalism during
Mr. Jefferson's administration. He would condone
this grave political sin to advance the cause of freedom.
The West resolved to stand by Mr. Clay, and under
the leadership of Mr. Hammond, the contest was
fought out with great vigor. His plan was to have
Mr. Clay first nominated by the Legislature of Ohio,
and then to combine the States of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, and Kentucky in his support. To further this
plan he wrote a pamphlet as early as 1822, which was
widely circulated.
In 1823, Hammond opened the campaign formally
^ ^_ " "•*
Charles Hammond. ^^
in the Gazette, in an able discussion of men and
measures which would engage the attention of the
American people. He foresaw that the election would
be carried into the House, The important measures,
internal improvements and domestic manufactures, were
to be the test of political wisdom, and govern the ulti-
mate choice. *' To make effective these principles of
public policy," said Hammond, "involving the mani-
fest interests of the nation, we want no military man at
the head of our affairs, but, on the contrary, a states-
man, well versed in the science of government, a man
of moderation, yet firm and resolute, and possessed of
a steady but pacific temperament. Such a man, if we
have been rightly informed, is not General Jackson.
He is impatient and impetuous, and loves the noise and
din of the camp more than the peaceful labors of the
cabinet."
But while thus conducting Mr. Clay's campaign — what
is more correctly the Clay-Adams campaign — he did not
cease to strike heavy blows at slavery. The supporters
of the system had become aggressive. The success in
the case of Missouri incited them to seek new territory
for their property. Thus, Dr. Floyd, of Virginia, had
used this language in an address to his constituents :
" The grand objection to Mr. Adams is his having ceded
to Spain the province of Texas, a territory which would
have made two Slave-holding States, and secured to the
Southern interest four Senators."
*'Such language," said Mr. Hammond, "is too plain
to be misapprehended, and coming from a member of
Congress, discovers the views and feelings which will
prevail among the slave-holding members on every im-
3
34 ' Charles Hammond.
portant national question. A coalition, cemented by
a sameness of manners, and by a mutuality of interests,
will be formed, and when once it can get the predomin-
ance, will overpower and trample under foot all opposi-
tion. We can not help making the inquiry whether
such views are not opposed to the prosperity and peace
of the United States ? And whether men who wish an
extension of slavery for political purposes, are not ad-
vocating measures which lead not only to moral degra-
dation and misery, but to great ultimate national calam-
ities. To urge the farther extention of involuntary serv-
itude, appears, not only morally wrong, but politically
dangerous." Words of wisdom, but alas ! unheeded
by government or people then. In time all became
conscious of their sagacity. Men individually rarely,
and organized into communities never, at first choose
as the Corinthian hero of old —
**Life or death,
But never death in life for me. O King."
The campaign which began in 1824, having for its
ultimate object the possession of political power, and
the distribution of the spoils, was the most remarkable in
many respects in the history of our government — re-
markable in its violence of conduct and abuse of men,
and in the fact that a political party depended entirely
upon greed, ignorance, prejudice, and passion, for suc-
cess. It would have succeeded in 1824, but for a single
circumstance, viz : the financial distress of the country,
which compelled attention to business interests. The
value of property had fallen 50 per cent in ten years.
The balance of trade being largely against us, the
Charles Hammond. 35
country was drained of its specie, and there was em-
barrassment in all of the centers of trade, and distress
cvery-where. The protective policy was extorted from
unwilling public men, whose favorite theory did not ad-
mit of its necessity to an agricultural and commercial
people. The result was the election of Adams through
the help of Clay, and the postponement of the Jackson-
Democratic spoils era for four years.
During the contest, Hammond, in a pamphlet form-
ulated the platform for the Adams-Clay party. It was
Protection to American Industry^ and Internal Improve^
ments. What came after in Whig days, was but a repe-
tition of this in more elaborate phrase, suited to the
growing importance of Mr. Clay's American system.
An attempt was made to compel Jackson to show his
hand on the tariff, but that old fox was quietly making
terms with Pennsvlvania, before the vote of Tennessee
was recorded. ** How is it," wrote Hammond to Clay,
"that no one speaks freely of this man? Is he not act-
ing the part of a most contemptible seeker after popu-
larity ? Instead of being a frank, open, fearless, honest
man, is he not the victim of strong passions and preju-
dices, violent when irresponsible, cautious when differ-
ently situated, ambitious, vain and hasty, a fit instru-
ment for others to work upon, subject to be governed
by flatterers, and still inclined to hate every man of tal-
ents who has firmness to look through him, and speak
of him as he deserves ? I think he is strongly endowed
with these traits of character, and that if classed as a
mere animal, he would be a kind of monkey-tiger. I
do not know but that it would be well for such a
monster to be placed in the Presidential chair for the
36 Charles Hammond.
next term. King Snake succeeding King Log, and the
citizen frogs made to scamper. I am almost sure that if
I had been this winter at Washington, I should have
contrived to quarrel with him. I dislike him for cause,
I hate him peremptorily, and I could wish that his sup-
porters for the presidency, one and all were snugly by
themselves in some Island of Barrataria, and he be their
King, provided, that they constituted the entire popula-
tion. They would make a glorious terrestrial pande-
monium, and as fast as they cut each other's throats the
world would be rid of very troublesome politicians, and,
in general, right worthless citizens." But instead of an
island, we know that His Majesty, in 1829, took pos-
session of the continent, and punished his enemies in
right royal style; and that he set such an example of
lust for power as to move almost the entire population
of these United States to emulate it; every boy carry-
ing pinned in his hat this legend: The highest prize is
possible to every American.
But to return to Mr. Clay's campaign of 1824:
During the campaign, Hammond was urged from
Washington to undertake to form a union between Mr.
Crawford and Mr. Clay, but he declined to be the agent.
Mr. Clay, in a confidential letter from Frankfort, Oc-
tober 25th, said: **You treated the proposition from
the friends of Mr. Crawford in regard to the Vice-Pres-
idency, transmitted to you, with much discretion and
propriety. ... It was impossible to accede to it,
and it was impracticable if it had been accepted. As
for me, before I could listen to it, I must entirely
change my nature and character and violate all the prin-
ciples which I have made my guide during the agitation
I
2jta»- fc -J-*' —
Charles Hammond. 37
of the Presidential question. According to these prin-
ciples, I have felt it my duty to abstain from every spe-
cies of compromitment ; to reject every overture look-
ing to arrangements or compromises ; and to preserve
my perfect freedom of action, whether I am elected or
not.
. . . **Of one thing you and the rest of my
friends may be perfectly assured, that if I am elected, I
shall enter upon the office without one solitary promise
or pledge to any man to redeem ; and if 1 am not elected,
I will at least preserve unsullied that public integrity
and those principles which my friends have supposed
me to possess.
"What course my friends may take, what it may be
proper for me to pursue in the event of my not enter-
ing the House of Representatives, I have not yet de-
termined. I have indeed purposely postponed the con-
sideration of that question, partly from a* hope that it
may not be necessary to decide it, and partly from the
embarrassments incident to it.
" There are strong objections to each of the three
gentlemen from among whom we may have to make a
selection. How can we get over in regard to Mr.
Crawford :
" I. The caucus nomination by a minority.
" 2. The state of his health.
"3. The principles of administration which there is
reason to fear will be adopted by him from his position
and his Southern support ? " ,
Mr. Clay had sanguine expectations of the West.
He said he might lose one vote in Illinois, but the rest
would undoubtedly stand by him. If New York
3 8 Charles Hammond.
should vote for either Mr. Adams or Mr. Crawford he
did not despair of Virginia.
This letter has a historic value, as we shall see later
when we come to consider the charges of bargain and
sale.
As to what should be Mr. Clay's policy if defeated,
Mr. Hammond advised that he should retain the office
of Speaker of the House, as in no subordinate position
could he be so useful. It was the chiefest blunder of
his career that Mr. Clav failed to heed this advice of
his friend. But ambition knows no halting place short
of the possession of power. If it can not possess the
throne, it must possess the power behind the throne.
The office of Secretary of State was supposed to be the
place of power. From that office, Presidents had
stepped into the White House for a quarter of a cen-
tury, y
The Jackson leaders were determined that Mr. Clay
should not take that step. When they failed to make a
bargain — for a bargain they attempted — with Clay, they
opened a war of slander — slander the most vile that
disappointment could invent. They charged bargain
and sale against Adams and Clay, and invented testi-
mony to sustain the charge. Out of their own evil
hearts, they judged these two. There is abundant evi-
dence accessible now to prove this. Mr. Clay, justly
indignant at the personal assaults, unwisely took notice
of his detractors, and in a public card denounced the
Pennsylvanian who circulated the slander as '^an infa-
mous caluminator, a dastard, and liar." Very true
words, but Mr. Clay should have been superior to
their utterance. Hammond saw the mistake. To a
Charles Hammond. 39
correspondent, he wrote under date of February loth:
" I am concerned at Clav's card. He is out of tem-
per. He calls hard names. He lets himself down to
the level of Printers' Devils, which things ought not to
be. But we are not all wise at all times. There are
some poor devils in the Pennsylvania delegation who
are beneath his level, and his publication will not bring
them out — and if it does, where's the honor ? and if it
does not, who is disgraced? I regret the publication,
and have no more to say."
When Clay's nomination came before the Senate for
confirmation. Branch, of North Carolina, made a vio-
lent speech against it; and all of the Jackson men, and
some of Crawford's friends, voted against confirmation.
Revenge did not control all, as we learn from a letter
from General Harrison to Hammond, dated March 9th,
1825, that ** Mason told Rowan and myself yesterday
that his vote against Clay was not on account of his
conduct on the election of President, but for his con-
struction of the Constitution, I suppose, in relation to
internal improvements."
You have in this the real reason for the alliance be-
tween Adams and Clay : it was one of principle. They
both favored protection to American industry and gov-
ernmental aid to internal improvements. It was on that
platform that the campaign was conducted by the friends
of Mr. Clay, as we have seen ; and Mr. Adams was the
only one of the three entering the House who sympa-
thized with this policy. For Mr. Clay to have cast his
vote for either Crawford or Jackson would have been to
sacrifice his principles and his friends. We have seen
what he said in his letter to Hammond about the ex-
40 Charles Hammond.
treme Southern views of Crawford which he could not
approve. Not only did this objection Ije against Jack-
son, but there was also a personal antagonism of long
standing. Why did not intelligent men accept these
rational and natural reasons for Mr. Clay's course?
Because party necessity required a campaign of detrac-
tion and misrepresentation to render nugatory the meas*
ures of the new administration, so strong in capacity,
and the elements of usefulness.
Hammond struck such vigorous blows upon the ene-
my as to receive compliments from Peter Force and a
warm letter of thanks from Clay.
The campaign of slander was prosecuted with con-
stantly augmenting violence during the Adams admin-
istration. The conspirators had succeeded so well in
poisoning the public mind by 1826 as to foreshadow
their success in 1828. The opposition was consoli-
dated. "There is a terrible feeling of rancor," wrote
Hammond, "infused into the public mind against
Clay. The union of Crawford, Calhoun, Jackson, and
Clinton to attack him is rather unexpected. They have
at least that point of cohesion — deadly enmity — which
their united strength can alone gratify. It is perhaps
as strong as any other — at least, for the purpose of de-
struction."
During the contest the Crawford business was
brought forward to prove Clay's corruption. As Ham-
mond represented Clay, upon receipt of a letter from
his friend, he came forward with a clear, manly state-
ment addressed to Gales and Seaton, but it was refused
admittance to the columns of the Intelligencer. If a
newspaper of to-day were to refuse such an act of
Charles Hammond. 41
justice towards a man of Mr. Clay's prominence, it
would dig its own grave.
John Randolph, of Roanoke, whom it would be
charity to suppose mad, was put forward to lead the
opposition in Congress. The speeches on the Panama
Mission were designed to consolidate the slaveholders
against the administration. The shocking black-
guardism which characterizes them, was merely inci-
dental. "I should suppose/' said Hammond, **that
the cloven foot of negro slavery and Southern dominancy
is so manifest in the votes connected with Randolph's
speeches, that some of our free state Jacksonians must
open their eyes." He improved the opportunity to
discuss the question of slavery in a series of brilliant
editorials in the Gazette, which created a profound im-
pression. His argument hewed to the constitutional
line, and the rights of all under the fundamental law
were clearly defined. To Hayne's appeal to the House,
*' Let us then cease to^talk of slavery; let us cease
to negotiate upon any subject connected with it,"
Hammond replied, pointing out the absurdity of such
a proposition, which was made within three years of
the adoption of a resolution requesting the President
to prosecute negotiations with the maritime powers for
the effectual abolition of the slave trade. Hammond's
argument was on the clauses of the Constitution bear-
ing on slavery, apportionment, representation, the pro-
tection of states against domestic violence, etc.
The power to regulate commerce among the several
states, is given to Congress. Traffic in slaves was one
species of commerce, and was therefore subject to the
regulations of the national government. The power of
42 Charles Hammond.
prohibiting this commerce altogether, and to confine the
slaves to their habitations in the slave states, was neces-
sarily involved in this provision. The right to property
in slaves, he said, could not be questioned by the Fed-
eral Government, or by any state beyond its own terri-
tory. But in every thing else, slaves and slavery, like
other persons, property, and things, were subjects, and
proper subjects of legislation and negotiations, not to
be slightly interfered with, but when a proper case
should arise, to be acted upon calmly, decisively, and
fearlessly, regardless of the blustering of interested de-
nunciation. ^' Ftat justitia^ ruat coelum^
Randolph, he styled the Senatorial Thersites, and
proved that he filched from Burke in the oratory which
the faithful deemed matchless. With the skill of a
master in Hudabrastic work, he drew from the Iliad a
striking portrait of the man of Roanoke, whose sharp
voice pierced the ears of his auditor in shrillest tone.
" Loquacious, loud and turbulent of tongue :
Awed by no shame by no respect controlled ;
In scandal busy, in reproach bold ;
Scorn all his joy, and laughter all his aim ;
But chief he gloiied with licentious style,
To lash the great, and statesmen to revile.
His figure such as might his soul proclaim.
. • • * .
Spleen to mankind his envious soul possest.
And much hated all, but most the best."
One fact will explain the anomalous condition of
things during these days of party strife. Mr. Adams's
Postmaster-General was a Jackson man, and participated
in the warfare upon the President and his Secretary of
Charles Hammond. 43
State. Such a lack of the sense of honor in a man who
afterwards held a position on the Supreme Bench, and
aspired to the highest place seems almost inexplicable.
His own correspondence which I have seen, makes it a
clear case of disingenuousness. In a letter, April 19,
1826, from Mr. Clay to Mr. Hammond, I find the
following statement:
"As to the association of our names, I have seen
nothing to wound me. I am provoked with a little
article smuggled into the National Intelligencer under
the editorial head (I understand by the Postmaster-
General) casting an indecent reflection on you, as the
assumed author of a certain letter."
And then he refers to a delicate subject I suspect
much nearer his heart :
" The Panama articles in the Liberty Hall are able
and highly useful. The remarks on slavery are fully
justified by the course of Mr. Randolph, etc., still it is
a subject on which there should be mutual forbearance,
and perhaps most on the side of the non-slaveholding
states, as the stronger, safer, and happier party.'*
Thirteen years later, when Henry Clay himself was
constrained to appear in the Senate as the defender of
the institution of Slavery, Hammond reminded him of
this letter approving his editorial on the Panama Mis-
sion, which was written when he was in the vigor of a
noble manhood.
I must pass by Mr. Clay's aflfair of honor with Ran-
dolph, and his correspondence with Hammond in
which much interesting history of a personal character
is to be found. Clay said that he was compelled to
send the challenge; that he rejoiced that no injury had
happened to Randolph; and that he regretted only
44 Charles Hammond.
that the religious and moral part of the community
would feel offended. Submission longer on his part
would have rendered existence intolerable.
The din of personal warfare did not prevent the
friends from indulging in much pleasant confidential
correspondence on the political outlook. Clay was
disappointed in the result of the Illinois election, but
his optimistic mind drew comfort and hope from Mary-
land, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. ^^ Fas est doceri
ab hoste^ — it is proper to take counsel from one's ene-
my — wrote Hammond, and he expressed the hope that
Mr. Adams would disappoint Tazewell & Co., by leav-
ing no vulnerable point of attack in his message. The
message is to Hammond's taste, brief, statemanlike,
and written in a style that may very well serve as a
model to Presidents.
These days of hope and sunshine are but for a season.
The war of detraction, of villiany, goes on more vigor-
ously than ever. In a little over a year the political
sky is overcast with thunderous clouds. Hammond
instituted a libel suit in his own defense, and advised
Clay *'to accept the defiance of his enemies and ask of
the House an investigation of the charges against him."
Clay lost the control of his own state, and in despair
Hammond gave him up for 1828. He suggested that
it might be well to hint to Virginia to break down the
new Democracy by bringing father Monroe once more
to the front. But it was .decided all round that Mr.
Adams should be supported as against Jackson. This
decision was reached with great reluctance. Why ?
The answer will be found to be instructive to us. The
administration of Mr. Adams must stand in our history
Charles Hammond. 45
as one of the purest and ablest since the foundation of
the government. It was devoted to the fostering of the
industrial interests and the direction of public affairs on
strict business principles. It stands out as the one non-
partisan administration. It had not a trace of color
in it. And here was the trouble. There was nothing
for the boys to rally round. The business people, gen-
erally, were for the re-election of Mr. Adams. He had
influenced the adoption of wise financial and commercial
measures, and the golden music of a sound currency
was heard in the land once more. But there was noth-
ing for ambition to lay hold of. Nobody was turned
out of office except for cause, and death seldom entered
the Federal temples. Hammond had to protest most
vigorously against the threatened appointment of John
McLean (the Jackson Postmaster-General) to fill a va-
cancy in the Circuit Court. He said to his friend, " I
• shall consider the appointment of McLean as an indis-
cretion, evincing such incorrect views, or such incapacity
of judgment as makes it clear that the administration
can not sustain itself. No administration ever did, no
one ever can succeed, that proceeds upon the ground of
conciliating open or covert hostility. Such conduct is
the result of fear, of a total want of confidence in them-
selves and their supporters ; it necessarily intimidates
friends, as it certainly stimulates and encourages oppo-
sition.
Mr. Adams was charged with being imprudent in his
communications which reached the public. Thus on
the ebony and topaz business, Hammond pours out his
feelings to Mr. Clay:
" I wish Mr. Adams's ^^(?/ry and topaz were submerged
46 Charles Hammond.
in the deepest profound of the bathos. You great men
have no privilege to commit blunders. You belong to
others whom you can not always consult, and whom it
IS not always safe to confide in. I had said to myself,
Mr. Adams wrote for Walsh the article on the Colonial
trade, and I am resolved to have him in high estimation,
and here comes this (I have no name for it) to mar all
my resolutions. Is there no hope for Walsh ? I wish
he were pleased or would go over to the enemy."
The whole business lacked the spirit and passion of
party. Yet let it not be supposed that the evil of office-
seeking had yet tempted any to attempt a departure
from the methods of a constitutional civil service.
Hammond, on behalf of the good citizens of Ohio, ex-
pressed their preference for the appointment of a com-
petent and reputable man for district attorney, and sug-
gested the propriety of the Representatives joining in
the recommendation. There was no soliciting from a
Senatorial Boss — a Boss Roscoe, Boss Don, or Boss
Jack, for the Senate then considered nominations to
office, sitting as a court, and had not usurped the
function of appointment conferred by the Constitution
upon the President. The necessities of the bosses
have worked a revolutionary change in the fundamental
law which originally contemplated the dignity of the ex-
ecutive and the rights of the people. Now the power
and the dignity and the rights are all embraced in the
Senatorial office.
We have reached the last Presidential contest between
Adams and Jackson. The scheme of opposition which
had been formed originally had been pursued with hard
persistence for three years — three years of falsehood,
Charles Hammond. 47
blackguardism, and violence, as well as of idiotic adu-
lation of a man possessed of some good, and many bad
traits, but who had had the fortune to defend New Orleans
and defeat the British. Around him gathered the cor-
rupt and vicious, and waged a war of defamation against
upright statesmen. Jackson was herein the leader, as
he was in all movements with which he was connected.
He shrewdly understood the advantage of constantly
pressing his enemy. '*Say what you will," wrote Ham-
mond, '* these Jacksonians are excellent politicians."
And so they were, if the word " excellent," may be in-
terpretated to mean shrewd, cunning, false, and
malicious.
" I assert," said McDuflie, ^*and am willing to stake
my humble stock of reputation upon the truth of the
assertion, that the circumstances of the extraordinary
coalition between Adams and Clay, furnish as strong evi-
dence of an abandonment of political principle on the
part of Mr. Clay, and of a corrupt political bargain be-
tweeen him and Mr. Adams, as is ordinarily required
to establish the guilt of those who are charged in a
Court of Quarter Sessions with the common crimes
known to the law."
This published in the Heroite prints, and in the Ja-
cobin Clubs, and reiterated in every gin shop, made a
great impression on the people* Against it only the
simple facts could be related. But
"Truth lies entrapped where cunning finds no bar."
There was one friend of the administration who had
the courage to face this clamorous horde and assail their
leader single handed. In November, 1827, Hammond
wrote Mr. Clay :
48 Charles Hammond.
" I send you the prospectus of a new work, intended
to be conducted with spirit, and calculated to travel into
all the by-ways of politics. It will be adapted to the
meridian of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and not un-
suited to Pennsylvania. If the press can effect any
thing we are determined to do what we can in that way."
The title of this unique campaign paper was " Truth's
Advocate," which Hammond edited in addition to his
practice at the Bar and work on the Gazette. It was an
extraordinary paper. "It was terribly severe on Jack-
son," says Mr. Mansfield, in his Memoirs, ** chiefly
because it was truth that it stated and proved. But of
what value is truth when opposed to human passions?"
The historical articles on Jackson's military career, his
arbitrary conduct, despotic character, and illegal mar-
riage provoked Jackson to retaliatory measures. He
threatened to challenge Clay and force a duel. This
phase will be explained by the following letters :
Clay to Hammond.
Washington, December 23, 1826.
(Confidential.)
Dear Sir :
I had a curious call the day before yesterday from
Major Eaton. He came at the instance of General
Jackson to inform me that the General had received a
letter from some person in Kentucky (whose name was
not given), communicating to him that you had, during
your visit to Kentucky, last summer, obtained from me
papers which I had collected for the purpose of an at-
tack on Mrs. Jackson which you were preparing; and
Charles Hammond. 49
to inquire if I had furnished any such papers. As
there was not a particle of truth in the communication
which had been made to the General, I, of course, con-
tradicted it, adding what is perfectly true that I had
never seen the papers relating to the transaction re-
ferred to, nor did I know that you had on your above-
mentioned visit procured any such papers. I stated
that I saw you in Lexington a day or two, and that I
understood when you left it you passed by Paris to
visit Judge Trimble on your return home.
I have now no recollection that the case of Mrs,
Jackson formed any topic of conversation between us
when you were in Lexington. I do recollect that you
mentioned something about a suit in chancery concern-
ing the purchase of the press in Lexington, and that
you had obtained a copy of the bill, etc.
The session so far remains calm. In what quarter
the storm of opposition will burst forth can only now
be a matter of conjecture. I think it will be the Brit-
ish colonial question, on what, if I am not greatly de-
ceived, you will agree with me in thinking that the ad-
ministration stands on perfectly impregnable ground.
The subject of the Vice-Presidency begins to engage
conversation. My name, I find, is spoken of by some.
I confess my judgment leans against its use. What
is your opinion ?
I am yours with great regard.
4
50 Charles Hammond.
Hammond to Eaton.
Cincinnati, January 3, 1827.
Sir :
I am advised information has been communicated to
General Jackson that Mr. Clay had furnished me with
certain documents in relation to Mrs. Jackson, upon
which I was preparing an attack on her. I deem it an
act of justice to say to you that this information is
wholly incorrect. I never received from Mr. Clay any
paper or document upon that subject ; it was never but
once a subject of conversation between us. According
to my present recollection, from my earliest knowledge
of General Jackson's character, I had heard exception
taken to the manner in which his connubial relation was
commenced. I had heard various stories with respect
to it. At Columbus, in the summer of 1824, I en-
quired of Mr. Clay what was the true state of facts.
He stated that he knew nothing but by report. The
relation he gave was palliatory, and he expressed his
opinion that the subject ought not to be brought be-
fore the public. I mentioned this conversation to Col-
onel Andrew Mack, of this city, on our return from
Columbus, who is now and was then a warm supporter
of General Jackson for the Presidency, and he expressed
himself entirely satisfied with the conduct of Mr. Clay.
It has been for some time my opinion that this mat-
ter should be investigated, and I set on foot an inquiry
to obtain the information that would enable me to de-
cide, for myself, at least, how far the public were inter-
ested in it. From Mr. Edward Day, a traveling col-
lector for merchants of Baltimore, I obtained reference
Charles Hammond. 51
\
\
\
\
to the petition of Roberts for a divorce, addressed to
the Virginia Legislature in 1790; the act that was
passed by that body December 20th of the same year,
and the judicial proceedings founded upon it, in Mercer
county, Kentucky. What use I shall make of these
documents, and the facts connected with them, must de-
pend upon future events. I meditate no attack upon
Mrs. Jackson. I do not view the character of the Gen-
eral in a light so favorable as you and many others do ;
and I propose to use this affair in no other manner than
to elucidate my estimate of that character. I wish to
shun no proper responsibility, and should I make any
publication, it will be accompanied with my name.
This letter is addressed to you in a spirit of frank-
ness to prevent any misconception of my intention,
and any mistake as to the channels through which I de-
rived my information.
Respectfully yours, etc.,
(To John H. Eaton, Esq.) C. HAMMOND.
One purpose Hammond had in view in reciting the
story of the Hero's life, was accomplished: Jackson
drew off his dogs for a time and the administration had
a few weeks of peace.
A glance at *' Truth's Advocate" may not prove un-
acceptable. Besides the telling exposition of Jackson's
\ career of blood and violence, there are thoughtful and
able discussions of public affairs, and the qualifications
requisite in an administrator of civil government, and
many flashes of wit and humor interspersed. Among
the lighter papers, a drama in five acts, entitled " The
Hero of two Wars," well pays a reading. The verse
5 a Charles Hammond.
is much above the average of such productions, the wit
is capital, and the political characterizations accurate.
The characters are Hero, Lady Hero, Antiquary (Caleb
Atwater)j Toady (Lee), Director (Van Buren), Out-
cast (Aaron Burr), Cypher, Orator PufF, citizens,
messengers, and ghosts, the latter seven in number,
representing the shades of the seven, including Harris,
the Baptist preacher, whose violent deaths Jackson. was
responsible for. The drama opens — scene, an inn at
the capitol — with Hero soliloquizing and plotting for
the overthrow of Adams and Clay :
Hero: Kremer, importing charge of vile intrigue,
Corruption, management, and base design,
Against the opposers of my great intent,
Has laid the corner-stone on which I'll build
The glorious edifice of future fame.
Born in the tempest of tumultuous war,
I relish not this '' piping times of peace ;"
Hero must be foremost or be nothing.
Sink to oblivion, and be known no' more,
*' Or mount the whirlwind and direct the storm."
Propitious now the season to begin,
ril fan the spark of slander's fiery brand,
Until ril wrap the nation in a flame
That shall consume my foes, though they were pure
As min'st'ring angels from the realms of light.
*^f ^^ ^^ ^f ^^
^^^ *^% ^^* ^^* ^^^
The disaflected first I'll conjure up.
Mischief! how apt a counsellor art thou,
For now thou dost remind me of a wretch
Whom once his country at her bar arraigned
For deep conspiracy against the state.
And though he 'scaped the meshes of the law,
Yet dark suspicion fastened on his name,
For which he bears that country deadly hate.
Charles Hammond. 53
This person, of course, is Burr, to whom the Hero-
writes and dispatches the letter by a messenger, and
then adds :
He wants no prompter
But his strong revenge — no spur to action,
But his, and kindred spirits aggrandisement.
Thus will I start the quarry, and the pack
Of hungry office-hunters will join in,
And raise the general clamor of the chase.
The portrait of Van Buren and his attempt to over-
reach Aaron Burr, is a cleVer piece of work. I can
read but two or three passages :
Van Buren is introduced as Director. He is not
prepared to trust the Hero, without further information
as to his faithfulness to political pledges. If this is
favorable, he resolves to accept the trust and become
Hero's manager. He decides to go and consult Out-
cast (Burr).
He knows this chieftain well — has fully proved him ;
His nerves, his faith, his mighty master passion,
Have all been probed ; their deep and secret working
Drawn to the surface, and made bare before him.
The times are in conjunction too, with Outcast ;
His friends are in repute, and he looks upward :
A second Marius from the dust of Afric,
Rising to wreak his vengeance on his country,
And die with gloating joy, a bloody dotard.
His hopes are in full action, and awake him
To old ambitions and deep smothered vengeance.
*Tis long since he were soothed with courtier-language,
'Twill steal upon his soul, as I shall use it —
Oh thou ! the subtle genius, by whose aid
I have threaded the dark maze of policy,
54 Charles Hammond.
In all its crooked windings, and have reached
The lofty pinnacle on which I stand !
Inspire me now with Machiavelian skill ;
Grant that the bland, insinuating smile
In all its softest tints may rest upon me ;
Let every look evince sincerity,
And every motive seem as undisguised
As maiden's blushes at a tale of love.
Give me the eye of Argus : let me hear
As with a thousand ears : let nought escape me,
For now the crisis of my fate approaches,
I rise to power, or fall to rise no more.
Scene shifts again, a parlor in which is Outcast seated.
Cypher enters and informs him that Director seeks a
private interview.
Outcast. — With me, and does not name the object of it ?
Cypher. — He does so ; and he says he has good reasons,
Which, when disclosed, you will appreciate.
He speaks you fairly, as it is his wont.
When he would serve himself by others' aid.
Matters of high import, of deep concernment,
To you, your friends ; thus he speaks :
Smiles graciously, and grasps the yielding palm,
Presses it softly, looking wondrous things.
Outcast knows his man and reads him unerringly.
He resolves to expose him and teach him a lesson in the
art of the crafty politician. He consents to see Director,
and appoints an hour and place of meeting. He sends
word to his associates to meet him at the appointed
place, where they lie concealed, and appear at a given
signal to the confusion of Director.
Last scene. — A chamber dimly lighted. I wish I
could give you this scene entire. As a subtle piece of
Charles Hammond. 55
wit and character delineating, it is well worth reading.
The old politician outshines the new in blandishments,
and outwits him in craft. At a signal his witnesses
appear, but the Director, although knowing that he is
caught, preserves a calm exterior. He greets the
friends cordially as compatriots banded in the common
cause.
" Give me your hands ; I hope to know you better.
The fiat shall go forth. The mouthing herd,
The hurrah boys, can not be safely trusted.
Power must be wrested from them, and confided
To our kindred spirits who will wield it.
To place our chieftain in the highest seat.
Success is never treason. Mv humble board,
My services are all at your command ;
Time moves apace. My honored friends, adieu."
{Exit Director^ smiling' and bowing gracefully^
Outcast. — And this man passes for a deep intriguer I
The times indeed are altered. Can it be
The great Magician,* my once hated rival,
Was duped by such a caitiff?
Cypher — Nothing more certain ; but his powers were
sinking,
And death removed him from the humiliation,
As in compassion of his former greatness.
Toady. — ^*T is useless to disparage the Director.
Say what you may, he's a well spoken man,
A polished gentleman — his easy manner,
His sweet insinuating smile, his bow,
The pressure of his hand, his every motion.
Steal on the good opinion of his friends-
He 's almost Hero's equal in the graces.
The reflections of Outcast need not be rehearsed.
He is sure of outwitting the Director in case of Hero's
* Alexander Hamilton.
\
56 Charles Hammond.
election. When, he exclaims, was a southern nabob
ruled by Low Dutch cunning !
Towards the close of Mr. Adams' administration,
the President tendered to Clay a position on the
Supreme Bench — :a fact communicated to Hammond in
one of those confidential letters Mr. Clay was wont to
write to him. Later, this appointment was tendered to
Mr. Hammond, and was declined. In my opinion it
was declined because the place had first been oflFered to
another. Hammond knew that he was better fitted for
a judicial position than Clay, and he knew, too, that his
great services merited high recognition. I know the
friends of Hammond assign another reason, but the
correspondence to which I have referred to-night, and
human nature confirm my opinion. It is true Ham-
mond refused all political honors, but the Bench was his
place, and there his great talents would have shown
brilliantly. In 1829, the correspondence between Clay
and Hammond ceased, and was not renewed until 1832,
after the nomination at Baltimore. During this and
the following year, the great editor with characteristic
independence, wrote a series of articles to show that the
strength of Jacksonism was so great, a new policy
should be adopted, and the old leaders retired. This
gave oflFense to Clay. In 1832, Hammond wrote Clay
a manly letter vindicating his independence. One pas-
sage is worth our attention : *' My life," wrote he, " has
been devoted to politics rather as a master passion, than
from any yearning of the most honorable ambition. I
have never wished or sought public employment, either
for the pecuniary reward, or that of distinction.
Though always an ardent actor, I felt myself a disinter-
Charles Hammond. 57
ested one, and have therefore (not very modestly per-
haps) claimed to be a more impartial judge of surround-
ing prospects than others of equal experience."
Mr. Hammond had found a new favorite, and one
with tastes in harmony with his own. *^ I am much
gratified to mark how rapidly Mr. Webster is growing
in public estimation. That such a man acquires a per-
manent popularity, as he becomes better known, is
highly creditable to the good sense of the community.
In my view it is a redeeming trait in the character
of a people sufficient to atone for very many aberra-
tions/' This was in 1826. Later, he submitted to
Mr. Webster, a plan for the reorganization of the
courts.
Hammond had formed a much higher opinion of Mr.
Adams, whose motives in political action he had come
to understand better. I am tempted to read to you a
letter from Mr. Adams after he had retired from office,
but our brief time will not admit of it.
The history of the effort to crush out the freedom of
speech and the press in America in the interest of the
slave-holders of the Southern States, is full of exciting
interest and deep humiliation. You are familiar with
the Virginia Bill of rights drawn by George Mason,
and the fact of the opposition to the adoption of the
Federal Constitution by Southern Statesmen, because a
similar clause had not been incorporated in that instru-
ment. Either these distinguished gentlemen were mere
theorists or their successors were degenerate in a love
of liberty. Most conspicuous in the Virginia Consti-
tution during these years whose events we are consider-
ing, was this clause :
**The freedom of the press is one of the great bul-
58 Charles Hammond.
warks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by
despotic governments."
We have seen that Charles Hammond freely dis-
cussed the slavery question in its relations to govern-
ment and society for years, while being a leader of his
party and intimately associated with Mr. Clay. The
influence of his pen was widely felt. We have seen how
Hayne, White, and others, demanded that all discus-
sions, and all negotations affecting slavery, should cease.
In time other men came to the front, who were not con-
tent to abide by constitutional rights, or rely on a firm
assertion of the same, but who, holding that slavery was
,a sin, proclaimed a crusade against the Constitution it-
self. The combined commercial and political power of
the South was exerted, after 1830, to crush out agitation
with remarkable vigor. The general acquiescence on the
part of the North was no less remarkable. The moral
degradation, and the subserviency to party must have been
great when a President could recommend in an annual mes-
sage, the exclusion from the mails of anti-slavery litera-
ature ; ^nd when his Postmaster-General openly en-
couraged the rifling of the public mail. And yet these
things were done under the administration of Andrew
Jackson.
The logical result of all this was a resort to mob
violence, and the attempted forcible suppression of the
freedom of speech. Hammond continues his manly
assertion of constitutional rights, and in this way is surely
quickening the conscience, self-respect, and manhood of
the North which in time shall be overwhelming. His
soul is moved as never before. He strikes ponderous
blows. He is indignant at the subserviency of the
Charles Hammond. 59
NtJTtti. The radiant humor that has heretofore charac-
terized his editorials, gives place to sarcasm and fierce
denunciation. The Methodist General Conference of
the West met alid resolved that the church was opposed
to modern abolitionism, and disclaimed any purpose to
interfere between master and slave. Hammond's com-
ment was brief but effective: "What strange revolu-
tions of feelings and sentiment are produced in which
just principles bear no part! If, at the General Con-
ference of 1828, it could have been suggested that such
a proceeding could have been had at the General Con-
ference of 1836, every member would have indignantly
exclaimed : * Are we dogs that we should do this
thing?'"
To those who demanded that agitation should cease
because slavery was recognized in the Constitution, he
replied with crushing force: ** It is said the Constitu-
tion has secured slave property, and now none should
argue against it. Yes, the Constitution has secured it,
and how ? By never naming it. By a kind of shame-
faced endurance of it ! But the Constitution has se-
cured freedom of speech by a broad, strong, explicit
declaration, and now collision has arisen between that
which is barely tolerated as an admitted curse, and that
which is asserted as an essential good, viz. : * Freedom
of speech and of the press.' "
James G. Birney, Gamaliel Bailey, Dr. Colby, and-
others, had established a press in Cincinnati, under the
direction of the Anti-Slavery Society of Ohio. The
Philanthropist newspaper had Achiles Pugh for printer
and publisher. These are familiar names. In the sum-
mer of 1836, there was an active agitation in the com-
6o Charles Hammond.
munity against the publication of this paper, which
culminated in a citizens' meeting in Lower Market, and
the appointment of a committee to endea.vof to secure
its suppression by peaceful means. On that committee
were such distinguished citizens as Judge Jacob Burnet,
Nicholas Longworth, Morgan Neville, John C. Wright,
Wm. Greene, David T. Disney, Robert Buchanan, and
John P. Foote. These gentlemen represented to Mr.
Birney and his associates that the publication of the
Philanthropist would drive away the Southern trade,
and ruin the property interests of the city, and begged
them to desist. This being refused, a mob under the
direction of the mayor, took possession of the city for
two days and nights, destroyed the presses and office of
Mr. Pugh, destroyed the residences of several inoffen-
sive colored people, and established a reign of terror.
During the progress of the storm, Mr. Hammond
called a few citizens together at the Gazette office, and
arranged for a public meeting at the court-house of the
friends of law and order and the Constitution. The
call bears the names of forty well known citizens, in-
cluding Charles Hammond, W. D. Gallagher, and
Salmon P. Chase, the latter a young man then pre-
paring for the great part he was afterwards to take in
public affairs. When these law and order citizens and
friends of the Constitution went to the court-house,
they found a meeting already organized in the interest
of the other side. The only way to reach the public
was through the columns of the Gazette. Mr. Ham-
mond made a public statement, and in it included what
he had prepared for adoption at the meeting.
Charles Hammond. 6i
The spirit of it will be understood from the follow-
ing paragraph :
" We regard slavery as a domestic institution of the
states in which it exists, with which the other states have
no right to interfere. But while we respect the rights of
our fellow-citizens of the slave-holding states, and
would, by no means, break through or suffer any others
to break through the sacred barriers of the law for the
purpose of invading those rights ; we also respect the
rights of our fellow-citizens of the non-slave-holding
states, and will never suffer the law and Constitution to
be trampled in the dust for the purpose of destroying
those rights. Among these rights — and of all the dear-
est, because it is the bulwark of all the rest, is the right
of FREE DISCUSSION — the right of every citizen to write,
speak, and print upon every subject as he may think
proper, being responsible to the laws and the laws only,
for the abuse of that liberty. If this right shall perish
through the violence of a mob, the grave that entombs
it must be the sepulchre of American freedom. True-
hearted Americans, therefore, must defend this right at
all times, in all places, under all circumstances, by
whomsoever assailed. When this right is abused, the
remedy is at hand. The courts are open. If the ex-
isting laws do not provide an efficient remedy, let new
laws, adapted to the object, be enacted. The annual
sessions of our Legislature are held for that purpose.
But let not the hand of violence be raised against the
exercise of this precious right. However obnoxious
the exercise may be, let the right itself be acknowledged
and respected. Let us not for the sake of removing
62 Charles Hammond.
some unsightly blemish, pull out the very corner-stone
of the great temple of constitutional liberty,"
Hammond's calm statement exasperated the desperate
men in control of the city. They sent bullies to attack
him and threaten his life, and mobs with tar and
feathers to terrify him, but these he faced with splendid
courage, and single and alone drove them before him —
the cowardly scullions ! A night raid on the Gazette
office was organized, but the sight of that brave man
scattered the mob:
The successive issues of the Gazette for several days
had no editorial comments, but instead, contained that
chapter from Job, in which the just man says:
" Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the
night in which it was said, ' there is a man child con-
ceived.
Passages from the Declaration of Independence, the
Constitution, and the Ordinance of 1787, bearing on the
freedom of speech and the press. A contemporary, an
eloquent divine, says that the citizeas concerned in the
disgraceful events I have described, afterwards attempted
to destroy the records of their shame, and that the
Gazette for July 24, 1836, was removed from the
library files. After the civil war had destroyed slavery,
he referred to Hammond's work in these words :
" Since now no wind on this mighty continent bears
on its wings the sigh of a slave, or will bear one for-
ever, let Charles Hammond's biography be written.
Let our children's children declaim his sentences. Let
their prize orations paint him at that darkest hour of
the Republic, far darker than the darkest . battle-day of
the war, standing here at the commercial head-quarters
Charles Hammond. 63
of slavery, and standing alone against the brutal terrors
of mobs by which many fell ; against aristocratic threats
and hatred; against children weeping and entreating;
against the diabolical ferocities of caste ; against the
fulminations of the sanhedrims of Protestantism ;
against mercantile avarice and greed ; against all his
political enemies and associates; yet standing at the
wheel when all the timbers below him were cracking and
giving way ; the fragments of three abolition presses
broken by mobs lying round his feet*; driven back, ab-
solutely pushed out of his own editorial chair, retreat-
ing behind the Bible, the Declaration of Independence,
the Bill of Rights, and by the sole force of his integrity
and truth, filling the assailants of freedom and justice
with such terror, as to drive them to seek the shelter of
oblivion, by destroying the records of. that day."
Mobs at Alton, mobs at Boston, and mobs at Phila-
delphia, are also notable events. But these are chiefly
exhibitions of passion aroused by prejudice and ignor-
ahce. Far different were the scenes enacted in Congress
during this, the midnight of the American dark
age. In the House of Representatives, surrounded
by men whose faces indicated fierce passions and in-
tense hate, there stood a man day after day, and week
after week, defending and upholding the Constitution,
asserting the right of petition, and the freedom of
debate — to my eyes the noblest figure ever seen in
the American Congress, and one of the noblest and
grandest ever seen in parliament of men in any
country — this Old Man Eloquent, then and there in
the nineteenth century, representing the conscience and
manhood yet alive in the nation. As for myself, I
can not think of this struggle for constitutional princi-
64 Charles Hammond.
pies without emotion, and a feeling of thankfulness
that, under divine Providence, America was then blessed
with men of courage and wisdom and patriotism like
John Quincy Adams and Charles Hammond. I can
not look upon the cramped handwriting of these letters
which tell the story of the struggle for freedom, without
a feeling of reverence for this the noblest of all the
Adamses. He was the superior man contending for
righteousness in the midst of " the thieves of virtue."
Possessing that sublime courage, unerring vision, and
largeness of soul, that distinguishes the man gf action
from his fellows. It is profitable to dwell on this scene.
A man who has enjoyed the highest honors, pos-
sessed of wealth, and invited to the comforts of leisure,
filling a lower station, surrounded by warring elements,
and of these, he only comprehending the danger to the
Republic. Will he to the rescue ?
** On a sudden, from the opposite side of the hori-
zon, see, miraculous Opportunity, rushing hitherward
-^swiftj terrible, clothed with lightning like a courser
of the gods ;— dare he clutch him by the thunder-mane,
and fling himself upon him, and make for the Empy-
rean by that course rather? Then must he be quick
about it ; the time is now or never ! "
The deed is done ! Freedom of the press, the right
of petition, are saved to the citizens, and under their
blessed influence in time, Liberty and Union do be-
come one and indivisible.
Fifteen years before Adams, Hammond was discuss-
ing these very principles. He now rejoices that a voice
is heard in the Halls of Congress, proclaiming the truth.
He says, in the Gazette, February 16, 1837 :
Charles Hammond, 65
** The course of J. Q. Adams, in Congress, on the
subject of presenting abolition petitions, has been cen-
sured by some. It meets my unqualified approbation.
I rejoice that there is one manin Congress who has the
boldness to stand up for what is right ; the firmness to
maintain his ground against denunciation ; the talent to
sustain himself, though assailed by violence on one side
and meanly deserted by cowardly skulkers on the
other.
*' Mr. Adams is avowedly no abolitionist. He
plants himself upon the right of petition ; upon the
right of every citizen to present his grievances for hear-
ing and redress to a legislative body whom the peti-
tioner honestly supposes may act upon his case.
. . . ** The Constitution of the United States
secures the right of petition. The provision is found
in the first amendment ; that amendment originated in
Virginia, and is in these words : "
(Here follows the amendment.)
" The right to petition is here secured in connection
with the right to enjoy religious opinion and the free-
dom of speech and of the press. Thus, this right of
petition is arranged with, and noted as one of the great
fundamental rights of freemen. Mr. Adams does
nothing but maintain this right in presenting abolition
petitions. In the uproar raised by Southern members
of Congress against receiving these petitions, there is a
direct attempt to subvert a constitutional right. I ven-
erate the man who distinguishes between the unwise use
of a right on one side, and an unconstitutional effort to
subvert that right on the other: who plants himself in
5
66 Charles Hammond.
the breach, between fanaticism and usurpation, and re-
gardless of consequences does his duty.
<< < In Freedom's field, advancing his firm foot,
He plants it on the line that Justice draws,
And will prevail or perish in her cause/ "
Then follows an argument on the duty of Congress
to act on the subject of slavery in several particulars,
which are specified, and the powers of that body under
the Constitution. Mr. Hammond concludes in these
words :
** In respect to abolition petitions, the South* has as-
sumed an unconstitutional attitude. She denies the right
to petition. She denounces the exercise of the right, and
she contemns members of Congress, who differently
regard their constitutional obligations, as no better than
incendiaries. Mr. Adams, in the true spirit of those
who threw the tea into the water, says :
" ' Nay, gentlemen, I take no sides with these peti-
tioners. I disapprove their object, but they have rights
under the Constitution, and they ask me to assert these
rights here in their behalf, and I do so. I regret to
give you offense. I more than regret the fury you
manifest; but I can not swerve from the performance
of a duty which I feel that I owe to the Constitution
and to the rights of a fellow-citizen, however injudi-
ciously asserted.' In this light I regard the course
of Mr. Adams, that has recently brought upon him so
much opprobrium. Thus viewing it, I deem it my
duty, as I feel it my privilege^ to express my opinion in
relation to it. Were I a member of Congress I should
be glad to stand by Mr. Adams in the contest in which
Charles Hammond. 67
he IS engaged. Regardless who are the petitioners, or
what the object, if the one be respectful, and Congress
can have power over the other, I would never shrink
from their presentation, or be driven, unless by brute
force, from maintaining the right to present them."
Mr. Adams acknowledged the help he had received
in this letter, the chirography of which is so cramped as
to require to be written out before it could be publicly
read :
Adams to Hammond.
' Washington, March 2^^ ^^837.
Dear Sir :
In the severe trial through which I was destined to
pass, during the session of Congress now closed,
nothing occurred more cheering and encouraging to me
than the notices taken of the debates in your paper, and
your friendly letter of the i6th of February.
The abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia,
in the purpose of the petitioners for it, is a step towards
the abolition throughout the Union of the Institution
of Domestic Slavery — and indeed throughout the wor|d.
The object is noble — the motive pure — but the under-
taking of such tremenddus magnitude, difficulty, and
danger, that I shrink from the contemplation of it, and
much more from any personal agency in promoting it.
I have abstained, sometimes perhaps too pertinaciously
abstained, from all participation in measures leading to
that conflict for life and death between Freedom and
Slavery^ through which I have not yet been able to see
how this Union could ultimately be preserved from
passing. While the people of the Slave-holding States
68 Charles Hammond.
professed the speculative opinions upon the subject of
slavery, of which Mr. Jefferson was the principal pro-
mulgator, I had flattered myself that slavery was in this
Union gradually perishing with a marasmus, and that
its dissolution and interment might be left to those of
whose constitutions it formed a part. This hope I was
encouraged to entertain by the continual progress of the
spirit of emancipation, manifested by the abolition of
the African slave trade, spreading all over Europe, and
enacted by our own Congress, even before I thought
they were authorized by the Constitution of the United
States to exercise that legislative power ; by the earn-
estness with which Great Britain was pursuing the policy
of emancipation, and by the co-operation, apparently
cordial, which our government under slave-holding
Presidents, was yielding to that policy. But the conse-
quences of the emancipation by Great Britain of all her
slaves in the West Indies, with the abolition of slavery
in all the new South American Republics, on the one
hand, and of the Southampton insurrection, and the
subsequent debates in the Legislature of Virginia on
the other, have gone far towards bringing my hopes to
a pause. Since then, the spirit of universal emancipa-
tion has been ripening into a religious principle, fortified
with unanswerable logic, stimulated by the fervor of
conscience, and armed with the irrepressible energies of
martyrdom. On the other hand slavery, driven from
her strongholds of power, has changed her tone and be-
come a reasoner. Professor Dew, of William and
Mary College, Virginia, Chancellor Harper, and Gov-
ernor McDuffie, of South Carolina, have become the
founders of a new school of political morality for Re-
Charles Hammond. 69
publics founded upon the Declaration of Independence,
and the unalienable rights of man. Their first princi-
ple is that the negro is an inferior race, neither pos-
sessing nor entitled to the rights of man, but born for
servitude, and destined to it as long as this globe shall
last. That this degradation of the African black, was
intended by the Creator, for the express benefit of the
white Anglo-Saxon^ for his temporal and spiritual im-
provement in wisdom, virtue, and especially freedom,
and that your negro-driver is the only man upon earth
who understands and practices the true principles of
liberty.
These doctrines, with the atrocious aggravations ot
oppression in the recent sharpening of the Draconian
black code of our Southern States, with their demands
upon the free States to deliver up their citizens to their
revenge, and upon Congress to strangle the circulation
of free thought by the mails, have, I confess, moved
my indignation, and sometimes provoked me to think
it time to try their temper in turn. Yet, so strong has
been the current of popular feeling in all the free States,
to support the slavery of the South, and against the
Abolitionists, that when I found myself almost the only
man in the House who dared ever to present their peti-
tions, they crowded upon me in such multitudes, that
for merely presenting them I brought all the resent-
ments of the South upon me without even a prospect
of support from my own constituents, representing as
I did, a district where the abolition cause is in special
disfavor. The articles in your paper were almost my
only support in the House, and the blind fury of the
yo Charles Hammond.
nullification party which took the lead for the South in
in the House broke them down there.
Presidential electioneering, remote as well as present,
makes up a false issue against the Abolitionists, in all
the free States, where alone they are permitted even to
exist. For the first time since the existence of the Con-
stitution of the United States, the election of a Presi-
dent has turned exclusively upon the slavery and
abolition conflict. It is the only point upon which the
new President has declared his fixed and irrevocable de-
termination in advance. Is not our whole political
system irresistibly tending to turn upon that hinge
alone ? I am deeply apprehensive that it is.
I took the pen only to thank you for the articles in
your Gazette, on my trial, and for your kind letter;
and tender you my respectful salutations and good
wishes.
J. Q. ADAMS.
(Charles Hammond, Esq., Cincinnati, O.)
The lateness of the hour warns me to bring my address
to a close. I pass by the subsequent discussions in
which Mr. Adams and Mr. Hammond are concerned,
and turn to a new scene, in which Henry Clay is the
central figure.
"What a loud-roaring, loose and empty matter,'*
says Carlyle, " is this tornado of vociferation which
men call ' Public Opinion ! ' "
True. But we have seen wha,t tremendous power it
had in these dark days, and how only a very few refused
to be silent. It presses Mr, Clay so hard that he con-
sents to come to the front as the apologist and defender
Charles Hammond. 71
of the Southern view. The hope of the Presidency is,
alas ! greater than the love of truth and the aspiration
to do right in the sight of God.
Mr. Hammond is called on to publicly criticise his
old. friend, which he does fearlessly and most thoroughly
in a series of nine editorials. He is in feeble health;
the beckonings from the Silent Land are now discerni-
ble, and he can leave his house but seldom. All of his
strength is husbanded to perform a few duties of deep
concernment to others and to his country, which he has
loved with such fervid, unselfish patriotism ; and this
protest against the utterances of his life-long friend is
one of them. The editorials appeared at intervals dur-
ing a period of two months immediately following Mr.
Clay's speech.
It would be a vain task to attempt to describe these
articles which embrace the best thoughts of the patriot
whose light is nearly out. Mr. Clay quickly heard of
them, and in a touching note, from Washington, asked
his old friend to send him copies as they appeared.
Towards the close, Hammond, in a tone of sadness,
considers the effect of the influence of the great name
of his friend, now used freely by the enemies of the
Constitution — the old Constitution of freedom as they
once both read it — but he warns him that even this will
suffice only for a season: that the South are seeking to
[j crush out rights founded upon divine law that will
surely be vindicated in the future.
^ "I say the opponents of slavery must be heard. The
4 great question of human liberty in this land can not be
decided by the denunciation of masters, the accommo-
dations of trade, or the impulsive violence of infuri-
f.=r'^-
72 Charles Hammond.
ated men. Mr. Clay himself can not effect this. The
effort he has made, strong as it is, must fail in compro-
mitting to his views the slavery antagonists of the land.
Their passive deference to his behests, can not be pressed
too far."
" Has all discretion," asked Hammond, on another
occasion, "deserted the owners of slaves? Do they
suppose that blood liable to be heated flows in no veins
but their own ? One day they must learn otherwise."
With this warning, and the light of this prophecy
streaming into the future, I close this very imperfect
record of the life-work of Charles Hammond, who, for
over forty years, was one of the Republic's ablest, most
unselfish, and most faithful sons, and a witness to the
spirit and principles of government as established by
the Fathers.
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NOV 1 2 1936