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felt obliged to sustain the court. Todson went on to Washington, and demanded that Mr. Adams should reinstate him. He was told to make out his case, and show where the court had erred or acted from prejudice, and his wish would be complied with; but as he was unable to do this he told the President he would give him his choice between renomination and assassination. Although Mr. Adams now declined to hold any further intercourse with him, he still haunted the "Executive Mansion," and finally got an opportunity to tell the President that it was all a joke about the assassination, but that he must give him money to bear his expenses in getting away from Washington.

Only a year before another army chap, Captain Angus, had threatened the life of Secretary Southard on a refusal to restore him to a position he had disgraced. About the close of this year the intolerant General Jackson took Mr. Southard up for a criticism of his conduct at New Orleans, made at a dinner where all the eaters were supposed to be "gentlemen." Some letters passed between them, which were characteristically coarse and domineering on the part of General Jackson, in the last of which the General, considering that he had fallen into the hands of a man below his own metal, announced that the correspondence was closed.

CHAPTER XXII.

THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE-FIRST SESSION OF THE TWENTIETH TERM OF CONGRESS-TARIFF OF 1828

WHOSE ACT WAS IT? WHO SHALL BE

FIRST? AN EVIL PICTURE.

HE first elections for Congress under Mr. Adams

THE

had now taken place, and had generally received unusual attention. The Presidential canvass had begun on the part of General Jackson and his friends the day of the election of Mr. Adams in the House. And this Congressional election was to give the signal to future events. It was simply a contest for and against the Administration; or, which amounted to the same thing, for Adams and Jackson. This election would show how far the country supported the Administration, and to a great extent would indicate the result of the race for the Presidency in 1828. It was a bitter contest, and resulted unfavorably to the Administration. In New England the elections generally sustained the President, as they did in Ohio, Indiana, and two slave States, Louisiana and Delaware. New Jersey also reversed her former position of opposition. to support of the Administration.

But the general result placed both Houses of Congress in strong opposition. This state of affairs became too apparent on the organization in December, 1827. John W. Taylor, the former Speaker of the

House, the Administration candidate for re-election, was defeated by the Jacksonian, Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, in a vote of 104 against 94, with 7 scattering votes. Mr. Calhoun, as President of the Senate, had long ago shown his disposition towards the Administration. All the committees were now oraganized on the principle of resistance and obstruction, Mr. Stevenson somehow yielding far enough to his sense of honor and justice to place Edward Everett, a supporter of Mr. Adams, as chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. In other words, in the business organization of Congress a course had been taken which would render all chances of beneficial legislation nugatory, and make that body the best possible electioneering organ. With the majority in Congress the election of General Jackson, and thereby the advancement of their own interests, was of paramount importance, and stood above all other considerations. In this unpropitious and before unknown state of affairs Mr. Adams sent to Congress his

THIRD ANNUAL MESSAGE.

December 8, 1827.

TO THE SENATE AND HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE UNITED STATES:A revolution of the seasons has nearly been completed since the representatives of the people and the States of this Union were last assembled at this place, to deliberate and to act upon the common important interests of their constituents. In that interval the never-slumbering eye of a wise and beneficent Providence has continued its guardian care over the welfare of our beloved country; the blessing of health has continued generally to prevail throughout the land; the blessing of peace with our brethren of the human race has been enjoyed without interruption; internal quiet has left our fellow-citizens in the full enjoyment of all their rights, and in the free exercise of all their

faculties, to pursue the impulse of their nature, and the obligation of their duty in the improvement of their own condition; the productions of the soil, the exchanges of commerce, the vivifying labors of human industry, have combined to mingle in our cup a portion of enjoyment as large and liberal as the indulgence of Heaven has, perhaps, ever granted to the imperfect state of man upon earth; and, as the purest of human felicity consists in its participation with others, it is no small addition to the sum of our national happiness at this time, that peace and prosperity prevail to a degree seldom experienced over the whole habitable globe; presenting, though as yet with painful exceptions, a foretaste of that blessed period of promise, when the lion shall lie down with the lamb, and wars shall be no more. To preserve, to improve, and to perpetuate the sources, and to direct in their most effective channels the streams which contribute to the public weal, is the purpose for which government was instituted. Objects of deep importance to the welfare of the Union are constantly recurring to demand the attention of the Federal Legislature, and they call with accumulated interest at the first meeting of the two Houses, after their periodical renovation. To present to their consideration, from time to time, subjects in which the interests of the Nation are most deeply involved, and for the regulation of which the legislative will is alone competent, is a duty prescribed by the Constitution, to the performance of which the first meeting of the new Congress is a period eminently appropriate, and which it is now my purpose to discharge.

Our relations of friendship with the other nations of the earth, political and commercial, have been preserved unimpaired; and the opportunities to improve them have been cultivated with anxious and unremitting attention. A negotiation upon subjects of high and delicate interest with the Government of Great Britain has terminated in the adjustment of some of the questions at issue, upon satisfactory terms, and the postponement of others for future discussion and agreement. The purposes of the convention concluded at St. Petersburg, on the 12th day of July, 1822, under the mediation of the late Emperor Alexander, have been carried into effect by a subsequent convention, concluded at London, on the 13th of November, 1826, the ratifications of which were exchanged at that place on the 6th day of February last. A copy of the proclamation issued on the 19th day of March last, publishing this convention, is herewith communicated to Con

gress. The sum of twelve hundred and four thousand nine hundred and sixty dollars, therein stipulated to be paid to the claimants of indemnity under the first article of the Treaty of Ghent, has been duly received; and the commission instituted, conformably to the act of Congress of the 2d of March last, for the distribution of the indemnity to the persons entitled to receive it, are now in session, and approaching the consummation of their labors. This final disposal of one of the most painful topics of collision between the United States and Great Britain, not only affords an occasion of gratulation to ourselves, but has had the happiest effect in promoting a friendly disposition, and in softening asperities upon other objects of discussion. Nor ought it to pass without the tribute of a frank and cordial acknowledgment of the magnanimity with which an honorable nation, by the reparation of their own wrongs, achieves a triumph more glorious than any field of blood can ever bestow.

The conventions of 3d July, 1815, and of 20th October, 1818, will expire, by their own limitation, on the 20th October, 1828. These have regulated the direct commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain, upon terms of the most perfect reciprocity; and they affected a temporary compromise of the respective rights and claims to territory westward of the Rocky Mountains. These arrangements have been continued for an indefinite period of time, after the expiration of the abovementioned conventions; leaving each party the liberty of terminating them by giving twelve months notice to the other. The radical principle of all commercial intercourse between independent nations is the mutual interest of both parties. It is the vital spirit of trade itself; nor can it be reconciled to the nature of man, or to the primary laws of human society, that any traffic should long be willingly pursued, of which all the advantages are on one side, and all the burdens on the other. Treaties of commerce have been found, by experience, to be among the most effective instruments for promoting peace and harmony between nations whose interests, exclusively considered on either side, are brought into frequent collisions by competition. In framing such treaties, it is the duty of each party, not simply to urge with unyielding pertinacity that which suits its own interests, but to concede liberally to that which is adapted to the interest of the other. To accomplish this, little more is generally required than a simple observance of the rule of reciprocity; and

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