The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1845-04-29

A 4
after his election as Vice Pre- ~ """e
he was staying at Browns h H' g.
the Executive session Of ~ ".''
confirm General Hanison's n..nsn's ~ n''
Cabinet, Tor the purpose ol( IN .ss,....,,
er or not he would vote on ,I., $50
Bank OF the United Stal case uaa' sta'',i ~
should be proposed by . az ~, A. Tv
brought 10 a tie in the We, anu 'na' W. W.
sure:
aNv bouthall delivered INC your
message, requesting '"a ,s,S ~ - 49,
rooms :, Rrawo. shortly after the lnsagura
lion OF G.as,.I Frson You will have already
received Is,'a h me on that subject, which
had fsI, II nv TO address to you, before | re-
eered your N should have done 'hi, be-
for h,,s To- 1uliar circumstances and eonsders-
ton, xhich occur to all. You very well know,
ar ,bs, -, You seemed To hesitate $ TO Offering
me mi, m which had been rendered 10 me by
Gso,r.l b 500 on the third day after his inaugu-
ration Al made no professions OF friendship 10
you an fdsubt not that, even now, my motives, 40
doing ~ SIMPLE act Of justice to you, will be misrs-
prass "a During the various consultations as TO the
gsots hea who were To constitute the Cabinet Of
q. Harrison the name Of the most intimate friend
an II have in the world, Colonel William Z. Pres,
~ WIS presented to General Harrison by most Of
~ Wings of the South, for tho Navy Department
Zee, many OF the most aistingl sAsd members Of the
Whg party, knowing the close intimacy between
Colonel Preston aud myself, came TO me and said,
iAIi u Colonel PreaoH taken from the se,sais The
vote ac Bank question: would 10 ne aud that
you ood certainly gspe your casting pote, Vice Pre-
sidenl against stsoh institution. therefore called
upon you, IN company with Mr. Bolts, Of Virginia,
and introduced the subject Of Bank, 30 TO draw
from you your opinions, and thus remove the only
objection which had been could be made to the
appointment Of Colonel p.
Whilst could not have voted for a Bank myself,
from constitutional scruplcs, | have never doubted
the benehcent effects Of such institution. |
therefore, some what long conversation with you
presented many OF the arguments which were used
by the advocates Of the constitutiooaly Of such
Institution. esnaoi wo,o repeat all Asi you said ba
knor that rsry posstive eoartetson sf upon my
mind thai you could pots against Baak and sad 10
Mr. Bots uh<n ps isf your
Immediately called upon Colonel Preston, and
communicated to him all that had passed between
you and myself and said to him that If he intended
to vote for Bank, that thought he ought TO cous,
der very deliberately whether, in such state OF
things, Il would be proper for him to leave the Sc
nate. He Immediately Gas was informed) author
lied friend TO say TO General Harrison that he beg
god that place IN the Cabinet might not be offered
him. .-
death Of General Harrison, and when Il was a mat
ter of general speculation what course you would
take on the Bank question, ia all my conversations
with my friends, told them Of this iniervieso, and
pressed the opinion that you toouid not sanction act
sstalAshiag Bank cf1i0M important notifications,
rhieh sincerely hoped rOo,sn be conceded BY tie Hhy
party r..I
am, dear sir, with sincere respect and esteem,
Your friend and obodient servant,
w. THOMPSON.
To the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,
Fellow-citizens, the evidence have furnish
ed you is Wing epidence, and is drawn from
the sources furnished by the oracles Of the
Whig party. The fact is, then, that the sue
cession of the Vice President did not alter the
position of that party as TO the Bank question,
and did not release them from their plighted
word that the establishment of such an insitu-
ton was not contem plated, and not desired by
them, in the election OF General Harrison.
How, then, can they be justified in raising the
question, like another Phoenix, from the ashes
wherein its doom tcas irrerocabiy fred"
and attempting to fill the country again with its
pestilential exhalatons2 Upon what princi-
pies OF faith, and honor, and consistency, as
party, did they act2 These are questions
which they cannot answer. But these gen
tlemen have most happy faculty Of relieving
themselves OF charges by making charges, and
OF answering questions by asking questions.
They desire to know "why il was that Mr..
"Tyler sustained Henry Clay at Harrisburg, if
che was so entirely opposed to Bank as the
"facts would seem to show?" | might reply
after their own manner TO this inquiry, by ask
ing, in return, "why was it, if the party and
country desir Bank in 1910, did they not
''select Henry Clay at Harrisburg2" have
no wish, however, to meet the charge in this
manner. | will meet it full in the face. Ihold
in my hand letter, in Mr.. Clay's own hand
w DAFT ho
fore the Harrisburg Convention assembled,
which shall furnish my response. The circum-
stances under which this letter was written rem
der 1t peculiarly interesting. Those circum-
stances are these. Mr.. Tyler, feeling parlcu-
larry anxious to know, before he went to Har-
Tlsbury as delegate, the opinions and views of
Mr.. Clay upon various questions addressed TO
him In reference thereto a communication and
to this communication the letter | have is the
reply. Speaking of the various elements OF the
Wing party, and the points of disagreement
between them, Mr.. Clay says: +" We disagree
about obsolete questions Of policy, and make
that disagreement available to prevent our uni
ting in wrestling the Constitution from the
. hands OF men who have put them into its v-
ing vtals." What questions of policy, fellow
cltlzens, were absolute at that time, but Bank,
whose doom, to use their own language, was
" irrerocabiy tred," and which they did not
desire to see "repiped'-but Tariff, which
had been settled forever by the " Compromise,
that blessed family compact which had saved
the Union," as they declared in the address of
ls35--and Internal Improvements, which had
been abandoned after the distribution of the
surplus revenue, and cleft entirely with the
States 2" What other questions than these
had agitated the country since the war? See
how exactly this declaration Of Mr.. Clay &C
cords with the address of 1899. That address
says; nh
"Al idea of ehartering National Bank has been
relnqushed by its former most ardent advocates as
inerpsdent and unnecessary in the present and future
monetary condition OF the country.
The Tariff 10 settled by the terms of the Com
promise act Of 1885, unless il shall be suspended or
political purposes by those who affect to dread the
establishment of high protective duties These du-
ties are, indeed, no longer necessary--the stability