Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-04-08


WHEN General Jackson was placed III the gre
sidentia chair of the United States, the pay 'ot'
and statesmen of the country, who hau oeel op,
posed to his election did console theiWe'e'
with the hone, that regard for his Own ia'he
m;ohtinduce him to call to his cabinet, the ~iss,'
and best men among us who had been frieaup |
to his advancement to that high station.
rected by the councils of such men, his aaihp-
istration might take character. not adSerseFo
the oreatinterests and institutions, long fosteFu
and established in the country. How sadly tFy
were disappointed, is well known; nor mas E"e
of many of the most Jealous ana
upright of his friends, been less srieVouS. us
cabinet was so selected and arranged. thar the
whole power and influence Of the PRESIDENT mas
been brought under the councils, and mtg the
control of the Secretary of State. This na' mas
exerted his managing capacities in such IN
tripues. as to have either brought every oths man
in the cabinet into his schemes, or to haze en-
Guided him from the confidence OF the President.
The second officer of the government has by the
friends of the Secretary, as he admits, out oy
himself. as all men believe, been driven INTO
omen hostility with the first: while MIR. Van Bu-
rem. securely sheltered behind the name OF Gen.
Jackson. and the Presidential character, Ike IT.
tie Teucer behind the shield of Ajas lelamon'
discharges his arrows at the naked nd masnani-
nous bosom OF his great political a''ersary. In
deed the President has little confrn IN the ad-
ministration so little, that uPon me great cues
ton Of reelection to that hish(ofhce, when,
when free from the control of adviement, he mas
always declined, his own priYte secretary
without consulting him, has writtn letter to a
leading member of the Pennsylvania Legislature
assuring him that the President vpuld be highly
gratiGed if any body would nomimte him Tor re-
election. Who has such an intefat in tins re-
election as Martin Van Buren,: anil what private
Secretary, of what other President of the United
States, would, without consulting HIM, have
dared to write such letter: Sp in truth de-
tanning you without necessity: fir ''you all do
knows this man; his willy genur, his crooked
counsels, his Machiavean prirfiples These
principles heretofore planted anil forced into
Growth. in the political hot beds d Albany, have
been, bv hun. transplanted into the open expo
sure at Washington, and are now aourishing in
the invigorating sunshine of tie Presidential
palace. Is the nation likely to receive healing
from their leaves? Let us inquile
First Of all, how has the SECRETARY managed
our foreign relations, and to vha good purpose.
either of economy, interest, or national honor!
Nearly all our foreign Minister'S jim Europe, have
been recalled; but if they have been replaced by
better, much better men. and our interests there
by advanced to an amount,-esual to the enor-
nous cost of these removals and appointments,
the people may have no cause OF complaint. 1t
is said that France has appointed Commissioners
to ascertain the amount of spaations on Amer.
can commerce aud navigation, committed by her
cruisers, during the revolutionary government
This, so far as it indicates spirit of remunera-
ton, is well; but it can lead to nothing which
has not long been known as matter of record,
both to the government of France. and in the
Department of State at Washington. These
spoiations were done by order of Napoleon, and
by his corsairs, the high seas, and in the sight
of all nations. The Ocean blazed with the con-
flasraton of our ships. That military Despot
commanded these atrocities to be perpetrated,
that he might compel US to unite with him, IN his
crusade, against the nations Of the earth. Ever
since the final abdication of this man, the people
of France have been DESTROYS of doing us justice,
but they contend that they have an unadjusted
claim against us, under the Louisiana treaty OF
cession. Under that treaty. right OF entry, IN
TO all the ports of that State, was forever secuf-
ed to them, on the terms OF the most favored ma
ton. This right, as they hold, was by they pur-
chased, and a valuable consideration pav Tor it,
in the cession of that territory; apt accord
Union, if other nations purchased right OF en-
try into those ports, by grating recproca
right of entry into their ports, to American ships,
France was under no Obligation to grant such re-
c;nroc;,v for such ahght of entry; because she
had ALREADY purch,sed it by the cession, and had
it secured to he/ty treaty. Our government
has always codended against this construction,
and denied dis right to France; and in cores
nondenc, between Mr.. Adams when Secretary
IF state. and the French Minister, then near the
limited States, the French construction of that
treaty was ably contested, and TIE American con-
structon as ably supported. l.still remains un-
settled, and until adjusted, or waved by France,
all commissioners. appointed By either, or both
can make no final progress in set
Ting the claims of American merchants on the
French government. What time will ever come
more propitious than that which has for the last
six months been passing, for ou government to
institute an able and efficient mission to meet
plenipotentiaries on the part Of France, for the
settlement of this great nation;l question, and
for the removal of this only obstacle between
American merchants. and ther long delayed
rights of remuneration? Neve5will the French
people, hereafter, be more anxi,us to concillate
Al. -,.t Ct,4o will To-