New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1862-01-20
VOLUME XIV. =
Asn 0rleaus 1ailp Grsstsrt.
MONDAY MORNING, JANUARY %, 1852. :
DEATH OF JOHN TYLER.


MONDAY MORNING, JANUARY 20, 1852.
DEATH oF-JoHN TYLER.
The telegraph brings intelligence of the death
of John Tyler, ex.president of the United States
1ta member of the Provisional Congress at the time
of his death, and member elect to the Permanent
Congress which organizes on tire 22d of February.
Mr.. Tyler was one Of the few statesmen con.
nected with the heroic days Of the old Republic
who lived to see its decline and fall and to witness
the establishment of the new Confederacy of the
South. He was very nearly eighty years old-and
for fifty years, off and on, he was in the public SER
vice. He was twice elected Governor of Virginia !;
he served in the Senate of the United States for a
great many years, with LittIeton Waller Tazewell
as his colleague at one time, and Benjamin Watkins
Leigh at another. He was elected Vice President,
and by the death of Gen. Harrison became Presi-
dent He also served in the lower House of Con-
| gress and frequently in the Legislature Of Vir-
| gnia-being elected to the latter body several
times after he had been Governor of the State and
| Senator. He was member of the last Virginia
| Convention; and member elect to the Congress-.
1 In short, whenever the people of Virginia have
called on Mr.. Tyler for his services, no matter in
what capacity, he always. obeyed the summons
I
nation in which he was held. After he had been
President of the United States, he accepted an
appointment of Overseer of the Public Road in the
county in which be lived, and faithfully discharged
the duties of the position.
| 1t was not love of office which made Mr.. Tyler
accept all the positions that were given him-for,
with the exception of an anxiety to be elected
President in 1874, we do not believe John Tyler
| ato5a off II
people from simple sense of duty and patriotism.
| He did desire reelection to the Presidency, or
rather an election to an office which he had sue
ceeded to by the death of President Harrison.
And this was natural, under the circumstances
for he had had breach with the party that elected
him, and was obnoxious to the leaders of the other
party, and he desired the people to pass upon the
acts of his Administration, that he might receive
| the verdict of the great popular jury 1t was
natural, too, that he should desire another term,
whereby he might fully carry out the measures of
his Administration, and illustrate the principles of
his political life. In this he was defeated, but he
retired to his estate in Virginia without murmur,
where he has lived ever since, taking no part in
the party politics of the day agitated by none of
the excitements of the hour, peacefully pursuing
the quiet walks of agriculture and literature and
content to let history tell of his acts and pass upon
| their merits. All political anmosty to him had
long died out in Virginia. He was elected to the
Convention and to Congress by constituencies
largely Wing in sentiment, according to the old
classification Of parties and in the last election he
was warmly supported by the Richmond Wing, a
paper which opposed him bitterly when he was
President. In the serenity Of old age he discarded
everything of party passion Or resentment and
srr1l uI,,n,
| same thing.
| Nor was Mr.. Tyler SO inconsistent as in the eX-
citement of the moment, he was accused of being.
When the Wing party and himself quarreled, it
was like NEST other quarrels-that is, neither side
was free from blame. 1t is undeniabe that Har-
rison and Tyler were elected, not SO much on any
distinctive principles as on the general corruption,
rottenness and prodigacy of the Van Buren, Admin.
lstrauon. The people wanted change, and they
elected the Whig ticket. To all of the measures
proposed by the Wings at the extra session in
| lS4l, Mr.. Tyler gave his assent, except to the
scheme of a National Bank-and against this he
! was pledged by his former declarations and votes
| He was thrown into the Wing ranks, as SO many
| others were, by opposition to the Federal policy
| OF Gen. Jackson. His record as a States Rights
| Republican he kept clear through all of his long
| tuatons of party he was thrown into political fel-
| lowship with the one faction or the other. Take
the case of any politician who served so long in
public station there are few who will not exhibit
| more and greater Inconsistencies than John Tyler
did. distinguished Wing who was in Washing
| ton all the summer of Al, when the quarrel was
| raging the fiercest, wrote home at the time a
| private letter, in which he said, "Mr. Tyler is
| more sinned against than sinning.'
He was twice married. His first wife died while
| he was President, leaving him five children
| Robert Tyler, who was driven from his residence
| in Philadelphia last year by the mob there, on
! account of his Southern sentiments and is now
Register of the Treasury at Rchmond-John
Tyler, Jr., now an officer in the Confederate Army,
stationed at Mobile-and three daughters, one of
whom married James Semple, of the Navy, another
an Episcopal clergyman in Maryland, and another
MIR. Waller, of Virginia. one of whose sons a boy
of fifteen years, fought heroically at the battle
of Leesburg Mr.. Tyler's second wife was Miss
Gardiner, of New York, in whose society and that
of their children the venerable Ex.President has
been spending the evening of his days at his
plantation in Charles City County, and his beauti-
full villa near Old Point, until he was called to
serve the people in the late Convention of Virginia.
| That villa has been seized and desecrated by the
Vandals of the North, in common with everything
else in the lower part of the Yorktown peninsula
| Mr.. Tyler was a gentleman of what is called the
old Virginia type, dignified but affabe of impos-
ing presence, rare conversationsst, kind hearted,
generous and charitable in thought as we'll as in
| deed, His Cabinet, when he was President, CON
sisted of some of the abest men in the country
Webster, Calhoun, Abel P. Upshur, Legare, John
| Y. Mason, and others scarcely less distinguished.
Such men would not have gone into the Cabinet of
bad man, or an unpatriotic one. No. John
| Tyler may have committed errors, as every one
has, but that he meant well for his country, we
sincerely believe. And may he rest in peace.
| MUSICAL SoIREE AT MADAME DEsRAYAuxs INsTI-
TUTIoN.-The young ladies of Madame Desrayauxs
Institute intend giving, on the evening of Thurs
day next, musical soree for the benefit of the
| Louisiana volunteers, and most brilliant and
| agreeable affair may be expected, for among the
| pupils of that popular school there are many
| whose musical talents and acrniramantc ara for