The Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1834-184?, 1844-07-18
I NO. 80.

aAOA1 IL A00 O&A0 oALCh6 IL lAAAC AA4Ll III
provement men; and it was mainly by their
aid that he was made a prominent candidate
in 1924, and actually elected in 1923. Had
the friends Of the Bank, the internal improve
ment system, and the tariff, ~foresee his poll
cy in 1924, he could not possibly have OBJ
tanned votes enough in the United States 10
have carried him into the House of Repre-
sentatives as a candidate for election. His
intentions on all these subjects were studi-
ously concealed, pending his election; and
when they were finally disclosed, they ex-
hibited that generalship in politics for which
he was deservedly distinguished. He killed
off the Institutions of the country IN detail,
always selecting The weakest FIRST, destroy
ing that with the aid of the friends Of the
others, before he ventured to announce any
hostility TO the latter; and never attacking
the strongest until the friends of weaker
measures, which had been yictimized, be-
came powerless. His first attack was on
the internal improvement system, and aliho'
it was quite a favorite with most of bis nor
then and and western supporters, on the day
his veto on the MaysvilIe road bill was sent
to Congress; yet three weeks afterwards it.
had scarcely a friend IN his party. The lit
tie remnant who dared TO demonstrate against
the veto were Immediately prescribed, and
turned out Of his political church. 'sUcale-
gon pro1imus drdet." The Banks turn
came next. His determined hostility 10 that
was disclosed Immediately after he found
himself successful in the destruction of the
improvement system, and not before. s.The
Genera" said his friend, Felix Grundy, one
Iday to me, "is a sportsman who must always
have his. cock in the pit.' He had tried his
apprentice hand on the internal improve
ments; and although, while he was a menl-2
Der Of the Senate Of the United States, he
had, by all his votes, carried that system 10
the most extravaganza extent, and won golden
opinions, by the latitude of his CONSTITUTIONAL
construction, among his dupes in the west;
yethe crushed the whole oft so elfectually
at a single blow, after he became Presidents
that its friends lost all influence with his ai-a
lgantic party. Emboldened by this success,
by the eclat which the enemies Of internal
Improvements bestowed upon him from all
] quarters, he sought new laurels Of the same
: kind in a new field; and although, at no PERI
cd before his election, had he even ventur-
4 ed to whisper his hostilitytoihe Bank altho'i
e during the whole period of his service in the
;, Senate of the United States, when ifhe had
haTbored any hostility 10 the Bank on the
/ GROUND OF us unconstItutIonality or dangerous
e tendency to our libe critics, bis oath of fidelity
e as a Senator ought 10 have compelled him
: TO disclose it, he never breathed a word
n against il; yet as soon as he had got rid Of
e the internal improvements, he declared war
: against the Bank, and effeetually crlshedth
too. J [4-b 80 1salf2a c.
True it is that the Pennsylvania Legisla-l
lure, by a unanimous vote, had shortly be-
fore declared for the Bank. Did not his
I party friends in that body, Immediately after
! hearing the news Of the Veto. wheel into the
party line, and unite in all his denunciat;ons
Of that Institution? True it is that George
! NJ. Dallas, the present Democratic candidate
for the Vice Presidency, was the fathero{ the
bank bill; was the man entrusted with the
memorial of the bank itself, was the chair
). man Of the committee to which that memo-
e rial was referred was the very man who re-
ported the bill, voted for it, and spoke forit
through all its stages. Did he not vote with
his brother Senator from Pennsylvania, who
voted in the same way, turn about within "a
few days after the veto, and denounce the
" bank? Who does not renember the predie-
1t lions, at the time of that Veto, that there
o would be a great desertien from the Presi-
q uOht . Pdiy III consequence u tnub uOt, anu
IS who has forgotten thatnearly all those who
e talked londest in his party in favor of the
Bank were whipped in and became clamer-
d Gus against it, and as soon as his Veto APP
peared? He vetoed the Bank bill in July,
1882, and as we have already seen, within
m six months after that he made war on the tar
IF if. Can any reasonable man doubt what
would have been its fate ifHenry Clay, with
IS all the affection ola parent for the protect
r i've policy, had not reseued,i it from destruc-
o ton by The. compromise act of the 2do
d March, 1888? But for the interposition of
IS Mr.. Clay the passage, of the bill reporledby
J. the Commute of Ways and Means in the
House, would, at no very distant day, have
IS been inevitable. What might have been the
v fate of the nion,I leave others to conjecture.
) My business now is with the Tariff alone and
| conine myselfto that. salQss1s as8 I'd
Il Henry Clay was at the head of the com
!. mittee which repurted the compromise act,
v James K. Polk, of Tennessee, the present
@ rival for the Presidency, was, at the tail in
IN the Committee of Ways and Means, in The
: House which reported the bill TO which /
il have referred. To understand Mr.. Polk, it
II is now necessary TO understand that bil.-
I Although he was the last named member on
70 that Committee, and in the rear of the col
,e umn which attacked the Tariff, there was no
if more thorough going, no more denunciato-
ry enemy of the protective policy than James
K. Polk But let us try him, by the bli
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