guished men towards him. Previously to his election, he caused the calumnies of Mr. Edwards, who accused Mr. Crawford of mismanagement in the treasury-department, to be inserted in the public papers then at his command. This was done in terms full of suspicion in regard to Crawford. At the same time he endeavoured, by all possible means, to prevent the recall of the calumniator, who was on his way to Mexico. The new President had the magnanimity, as it was called by his party, to offer the Secretaryship of the Treasury to the very person whom he had not long before represented as an object of public suspicion, and in whose broken state of health and ruined hopes he had the greatest share. Crawford, in cold and dignified terms, declined the intended honour of serving under him in his former capacity, intimating in a rather unequivocal manner, that he would not have any connexion with the administration of Adams.

The same office was subsequently offered to Mr. Clinton, Governor of New York, who refused it in a still colder and almost contemptuous manner, quite in that lofty and cutting tone which Adams himself is so fond of employing." He values too highly the confidence of the people

of the State of New York, who elected him to the first magistracy in their gift, to exchange it for a place under the administration of Adams." The nation is quiet, and exhibits not the least symptom of disorder, and even the most furious partisans of Jackson are silent after his own example.

The only public paper which encouraged revolutionary movements (the Columbian Observer), was in a short time silenced, and discontinued by the most ardent friends of Jackson.

*

The American citizen has inherited from his English ancestors, the respect due to the existing authorities and to himself. It is self-esteem which prevents him from degrading in the eyes of the world the first Magistrate, although forced upon him by the unprecedented faithlessness of his representatives. But this does not hinder him from venting the feelings of his aversion on every opportunity. Last year a steam-boat was launched from the wharfs at Pittsburgh; she was destined to run between that place and New Orleans, and was to start immediately on her first trip. Thousands of people were collecting on the bank of the Ohio (Monongehela); trunks, barrels, and bales, lay ready for embarkation; the passengers

were going to enter their names; the public attention was in suspense, and only waited for the last act of this interesting scene. At length the veil was removed from the bust placed at the head of the vessel, and the name of the steamboat appeared in letters of gold a yard long. In less than five minutes, not a spectator, not a passenger, not a trunk, not a barrel, not a bale, was to be seen without uttering a word, the silent multitude had disappeared. The name of the steam-boat was Lady Adams, her bust, an elegant piece of carving in princely costume with a diadem, was proudly displayed at the head of the vessel. The owner, who had a few days previously arrived from the south-west, and thought to give the good people of Pittsburgh an agreeable surprise, found himself wofully disappointed, and he replaced the elegant figure by that of the martial-whiskered General Caffee; and then only did passengers, bales, and barrels return, though not in half the number they had before presented themselves.

CHAPTER IV.

The Ministry of State-Clay, Secretary of State-Southard, Secretary of the Navy-Rush, Secretary of the Treasury -Barbour, Secretary of War-Marshall, Chief Justice -The Message of the President.

THE first measures of a new President are, his message to the Senate, the House of Representatives and the nation,-the next the composition of his Cabinet.

The nation had now little doubt respecting the proceedings at Washington, and spoke freely its sentiments, intimating, that it would regard the nomination of Mr. Clay to the office of Secretary of State, as an unquestionable proof of the truth of the accusations to which we have alluded, more especially as the character of Clay was so ́diametrically opposite to that of Adams, their ́enmity, till the week previously to the election, so notorious, and Clay, notwithstanding his talents, the last person upon whom Adams, if unfettered, would have fixed his choice. Regard for public opinion, and the offended feelings of

the people, must necessarily have instigated Mr. Adams to another choice, if he had been at liberty; but the Secretaryship of State was the price stipulated for the Presidency, and Mr. Clay thus became first minister.

In his earlier life this gentleman was a lawyer in Kentucky, and he was afterwards chosen for his oratorical talents as representative for that State in Congress. In this capacity he distinguished himself by a nervous, a natural, and a practical eloquence-ad hominem. A quick penetration, and a self-possession which scarcely anything could disturb, procured him influence, and a daring presumption common to the Kentuckians, gave him preponderance. Without classical education, he knows how to assail the weak part of human nature in a truly singular way. At an early period of his public life he voted against the interest of his constituents. After his return from Washington, he met everywhere with a cold reception. As if nothing had happened, he mingled with his neighbours: no one spoke to him; he was shunned by all. Approaching an old friend of his, a respectable Kentucky farmer, he wished him a good day"I thank you," was the reply. "How d'ye you