Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-11-06

tons, that ne C0ulQ not recognize ITO Poii"Ne>'
identity in their descriptions. There were ma
nv persons now here present, who had known
him longest and best; who had had the Dest OPP
portunities of understanding his character ms
weaknesses, his failings,-f you please, MS
FAULTS persons, to whom he had, at times, $1,000
in political opposition: he trusted-]uoglng iroIr
their treatment of him even in the height OF
that oppostion-that they had founo IN nun
some redeeming qualities-and he was mistaK-
en- ifthey had been able to discover his likeness
in the portraits ofhim that had recently been ex-
bibited. He was however, happy TO ma, tnat
as vet no moral guilt had been imputed 10 ms
conduct in private life-and with that remarka-
BILE exemption he ought perhaps, TO be content
But. he said, he was confident, that nothing ne
had ever sdone-nothing, certainly, which he
had done, or was expected to do, in the Senate
had made him the object Of so much and such
-yirulent abuse as had lately been heaped upon
him. Until lately, indeed, he had not imagined,
that he could be thought of Importance enoushto
excite such bitter and deadly hostility In any
party: and-it only served to convince him, that
he was honored with an especial share OF zen.
Jackson's displeasure-and that the nomination
of him for the Presidency, had excited the Jeal-
-ousy of the friends Of Mr.. Van Buren,.
He said, that in the course of his short service
i'm the Senate, he had abstaned from personal
reflections, on the President. He had no per-
sonal enmity towards the man, to tempt him TO
fearless examination of his official measures
and conduct, of his dangerous and hitherto I'M
heard Of pretensions to power, OF the monarchl-
cal prerogatives he had claimed and exercised,
belonged to his own place in the public coun-
ellis; he would have been recreant and contempt
ible, if he had avoided the part he took. But
he could say, with conscious truth and slncerl-
ty, that he had been careful not to mpugn, or
even to inquire into, the presidents motives; ne
had been mindful Of the dignity OF the Senate,
mindful of the courtesy due TO the friends oil the
administration there, mindful of the respect due
to the office of the chief magistrate, and, ABOVE
all to the people who elevated him to it. The judi
cious and impartial spectator OF the passing
scenes,-the historian who should write the ac-
count of these times when all false CLOSES have
| been worn off,-posterity which alone could
award the just measure Of praise or blame.
| would find the severest censures OF the personal
character OF the president in the language ana
| conduct of some of those who call themselves
his friends. There were men, calling them
selves his friends-such friends as il had often
been the curse Of men in power TO have-who
were daily manfesting their opinion of his heart
| and understanding; and such an opinion as the
! bitterest Of his enemies might scrupe TO express
| They manifested it, he said, in the modes they
adopt to conciliate or to preserve his favour
they manifested it, in the gross and fulsome
| adulaton with which they always approach him
such adulation, indeed, as might disgust an
eastern despot-they manifested it, in that foul
abuse in that vindictive, rancorous, ruthless
persecution Of every man whom they suppose
to be an object Of his dislike, by which they
were ambitious to signalize their devotion 10
the great and best" He knew, he said, that
flattery so timed as to seem unprecedented. so
suited to circumstances as not to be ootruslve
so measured as to wear the appearance OF sin
cerity-we imagined, well timed, happily turn
ed hattery, though il had never been known to
proceed from real friend might be, and had
often been. addressed by men of sense to men
of sense in power, and might be, as it often had
been, successful in conciliating their favor
But gross and fulsome fiattery, oficiously OBJ
truded, without regard to truth or probability,
time or circumstance could only serve to evince
that the fatterer has ends of his own to accom-
plish, and holds the understanding OF him to
whom his batteries are addressed, in contempt.
For instance-those who persisted in the effort
to persuade Gen. Jackson, that he is the hero OF
two wars, directly contrary to the known truth
of history; those who compared him IN wisdom
and virtue to Washington, and in genius 10 DO
naparte; the man who told him. that it was no.
nor enough for him 10 have served under such
q chief at the same time that he was openly as
spring to be his successor; the man, who wrote
a letter, with obvious intent that it should be
shown to him, intimating that assumption OF I'M
constitutional power by him, would be only per-
nicious as setting an example which his success,
sors might plead in justification of their miscon-
Notwithstanding, that if such patriotism, wis
dom and moderation as bis, could be always at
the helm of state the Executive might safely be
exempted from the restraints of law or consti-
tution-especially. if this same man should be
known to have entertained and maintained the
opinion, that the person thus lauded, was grossly
Ignorant rash, and utterly destitute of the virtue
of moderaton such fatterers as these, he said,
not only exhibited their own characters to the
eyes of all men Of common discernment, but
evinced, more distinctly than they could by any
sarcasm the mind is capable Of conceiving, their
real opinion that the man of their idoatry is the
vainest of the vain, and the weakest of the weak.
And those who watch the workings of the pas
sions of pan in power, not to aay, but to
crafty them; who pursue with relentless malice
every man whoincurs his displeasure, with or
without cause; who are prompt to hunt down,
without discrimination, all the objects of his re-
sentiment, to invent or circulate the vilest calum-
MES against them, to load them with popular
odium, and to offer them as victims to appease
his wrath-and, especially, those that prosecute
x,;t me- who entertain the