Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-01-22

money and her name to an Observatory which
seems quite as provocative of strife as Val
Buren's nomination. Marcy was poor de
batter; Dudley was no debater at ALL Marcy's
extraordinary administrative talents did MOI
enable him to cope with the great orators ir
in the Senate; and he gladly assumed the CUB
ernatorial chair of New York, surrenderine
his Senatorial seat to Silas Wright aaa.a-
We must also pass over; with the 7faintest
illusions, the South Carolina nullifying ordin.
ance, was never intended to be put in force,
and Gen. Jackson's counter proclamation, not
| one line of which he was ever. suspected oi
| writing; and those twin Congressional meas,
ures, the Force bill, )" and the ''Tariff Com.
promise" designed to compel Carolina to pay
her sugar duties, and to sweeten the compuls-
ion by the prospective ruin of the New-Eng-
land manufacturer all which questions
kindled controversies whose fires yet burn.
The passage of a bill rechartering the Uni
ted States. Bank and its veto by the President
and the tumult which followed, and the re-
election of jackson, and the brawle soon af-
ter on the floor of the Senate between Clay
and Benton, when each gave the other the lie,
and used language which would disgrace a
put house-are not all these thines written
in the Thirty Years View!" = 7E 2
During these stormy times many renowned
party chiefs gathered in. the Senate Though
Hayne, Holmes and Livingston has left the
Chamber, the coming in of Clay, Calhoun,
Grundy, Dallas, Buchanan, ,Jno. Davis, Wright,
Tallmadge, Leigh, Rives, Southland, Mangum,
Preston, Forsyth, Poindexter, Crittenden,
Ewing, Walker and Hill enabled the Senate
to still more imperiously dominate Congress
sional proceedings during Jackson's last term.
By the by, it was Hill, that introduced into
Congress that worst of nuisances, the read
ing of manuscript essays-a nuisance which
continues unabated, and grows more noxious
with every season. a., H.. S.. -.
In the Autumnof 1888 jackson removed
Duane because Duane would not +" remove
the deposits" from the United States Bank !;
and he appointed Taney in his place because
he would. This was the boldest act ever ven
tured upon even by jackson. The Secretary
who did his bidding was, two years afterward,
rewarded with the ermine so long worn by
the illustrious Marshall. ...- -
The Bank War I" now ragged furiously on
all sides, the Senate Chamber being the prin-'
cipal field of combat. Calhoun had descend
ed to the floor, and Van Buren presided in
his place. The union of Clay, Calhoun and
Webster was ikened to the conspiracy of
Caesar, Pompey and Crassus. They were
called the "Triumvirate" Clay offered his
famous resolutions denouncing the removal of
the deposits. The debate was of surprising
interest. Infammatory public meetings, held
even on Sunday, there being mo Sabbaths in
revolutionary times''- long rolls of memorials
the visit ofnumerous committees to Wash
ington-the fulminations of the Press-the
resolutions of State Legislatures, stimulated
the Senatorial combatants. Clay's roud crest
lowered high over the field like the plume of
Henry Of Navarro at the battle of Ivry. AS
usual, he was imperious and brilliant, while
Webster was argumentative and majestic
Benton learned and dogmatic Wright logic
al and dignified. Woodbury. statistical and
respectful. But Calhoun! stung by Jack
sons preference for Van Barren, and driven
to the opposition by his Proclamation, he
hissed out throughout compressed lips his
scathing anathemas of the President and his
protege. After three months debate, the
resolutions were adopted. Then followed the
celebrated Protest of jackson against the
Senatorial proceedings. No sooner was the
paper laid on the Secretary's desk, than "Old
Poins," Gas the galleries used to call Poindex
ter made motion that it be not received
The debate now broke forth afresfl: and, after
raging with rare violence three weeks, reso-
lutions strongly condemning the Protests were
adopted. tits Webster's speech against the
Protest that contains the graphic figure where
he speaks of our revolutionary fathers con-
tending against "a power which had dotted
over the surface of the whole globe with her
possessions and military posts, whose morn
ing drum-beat, following the sun, and keep
ing company with the hours, circles the earth
with one continuous and unbroken strain of
the martial airs of England"
During these turbulent months, the Hero
of the Hermitage coursed up and down the
White House, roaring and cbafng like Gagged
lion; while he::of Undertook presided over the
gladiators with visage as placid and pulse as
even as when walking among his lindens on
the banks of the Hudson.
On the adoption of Clay's resolutions, Ben
ton offered his famous :" expunging resolu-
ton, giving notice that he should continue to
offer it till it passed, or he ceased to be SEN
ator. After two or three warm debates on
this resolution in different years, he called it
up for final action in January, 1887. Calhoun
and Clay uttered severe phillpics against it.
Webster read solemn protest against
it. Other Senators protracted the heated
discussions far into the night. The lobbies,
galleries, and floor were crowded with excited
spectators. The question put was-the reso-
luton was adopted. The manuscript journal
of the Senate was procured. The Secretary
proceeded to draw black lines around the OBJ
noxious resolutions of Clay. A storm Of his
ses, groans and execrations burst from the
galleries. Benton, shouting like bedlamite,
demanded that the ''Bank ruffians'' be brought
to the bar. Order was finally restored The
Secretary finished the work by writing the
word "Expunged across the resolutions.
And there it stands to this day, mem
ento of the fanaticism of party and the per-
sistency of Benton. The world knows the
sequel. jackson triumphed over the Bank,
for the people on that question went with
him.
This renowned Bank War; is still famil
craven on the public memory are its chief in
cidents, that they seem as fresh as the events
of Yesterday. The chamber that witnessed
when the assault upon the Executive, led by
the naughty Clay, was resisted by the indom-
liable Benton-Greek meeting Greek in the
arena. As the eye falls on the familiar scene
of the combat, with its pent-up walls, its
,nlSn, Harrow uoiHe, iCS Sienuea, eAeu'ai Soi
iery, its euriously variegated pillars, one fan
cies he hears the sonorous eloquence Of the
great Kentuckian, resounding through the
Chamber and reverbating along the passages
leading to the forum while the vigorous
logic and defiant tones Of the bold Missourian
seem to smite upon the ear. The field where
the opposing forces were marshaled, and the
attack made and repulsed-the very spots
where the leaders in the struggle stood-the
seats on which they rested in the pauses ol
the fight-all these remain unchanged. But
the chief combatants Where are they p
Clay, Benton, Calhoun, Webster, Clayton,
Grundy, Wright, Woodbury., Forsyth, South
ard, Holmes Gone mot from the Senate
only, but from earth. And jackson and Bid
die, whose names were rallying cries for
hostile parties. wrangling like Shylock and