The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-01-18
General JacksOn's Earlier and Later
Opinions.

OplnlOnS,
From the World.
The Tribune evades our arguments, and makes
a suporiuous addition to the lnnumerable illus
trations it has given of its Characteristic want
of precision. We dealt with the Coleman letter
as an argument, remarking incidentally that it
could have no weight as authority, since General
Jackson subsequently changed his opinion. 1t
is evident, however, that the Tribune attaches
Importance to it chiefly as authority for the
letter merely repeats the stock arguments of the
protectionsts, long ago trite. The fact that
General Jackson came, in a few years after
wards, to perceive their tallacy, makes it absurd
to invoke his name as lending any support to
the protectionist cause. We called the views eX-
pressed by General Jackson in the Coleman
letter (as he himself afterwards considered them)
crude and immature.
To this the Tribune replies that they must have
been the mature views OF his ripest Judgment,
since General Jackson was, at that time, fifty
seven years of age! AS ii the maturity OF
mans judgment on any gl0en question depended
on his age at the time OF forming it, and not on
the completeness OF his investigation. What
woul0 be thought OF a writer who should quote
from Sir Robert Peeps speeches in favor OF the
Corn Laws, made in Parliament at the age OF
fitty-seven, as evidence of Peels mature opinions
on that subject, III the face of the fact that the
Corn Laws were afterwards repealed under his
premiership and by his efforts The Tribune
toms letter to British officer in IVA, to prove
that Washington (then forty. four, and in the
maturity of his faculhes) ought to be ranked by
posterity as an opponent OF American indie
pendeDce.
The Irabune, as if it had a glmmering con-
sciousness of the absurdity of this argument,
supports it by statement still more remarkable.
We quote:-
To which we answer General Jackson over
tifty.seVen years old when he wrote this letter. He
had been prisoner OF war more than forty years
years before. Napoleon Bonaparte born two years
after him, had run his memorable career and died
three years before If General JackSon's opinions
on the tarIh question were "crCde" when he was
ttty-seven years old, 1t is most unlikely that they
ever became mature" And IN fact, though party
eXigencies somewhat mooIied his attitude in after
years there evidence and probability,
that he ever renounced the opinions set forth In this
letter.
Supposing the editor of the Tribune to be
rather misintormed than insinCere (Which is the
more charitable view, he figures before the
country as one Of the hardest blunderers that
ever haZarded ransom assertions in print. The
two things on which he values himself are poll
tcal economy and American history: but though
he has tumble of ideas on both, he seldom puts
his pen to paper without proving that he has nc
exact knowledge OF either. The want OF early
discipline or an inconiglble elooseness OF thought
renders him incapable ot precision. IN Jne
presidential election OF 1928, the great issue was
the tariff; John Quincy Adams, supported by
Henry Clay, being the tariff, and Andreg Jack
son, the antl-prOtecJlOnlSl5' CanuluaIe' III 1907
the tariff and the bank were the two leading
issues; Henry Clay being the candidate OF the
bank-taTif party and Jackson of the opposite.
What a consummate political hYpocrlte General
jackson must have been, If, as the IFt6uht
alleges, he never renounced the proteCuOnlSt
! opinions he held in 1924!
1t may seem superfuous TO add positive proofs
! 10 the irresistible presumption founded on
| General JacksOn's leadership OF the anti-tarlf
! party during the whole period Of his presi
! dcncy; but willingness to coniound charla
| tan and "bray him in o mortar" leads us tc
! present an array of evidence which would b(
! unnecessary If we were dealing, not with
! crocher-breeder, but man Of sound Judgment
! Wlll the Tribune concede that Mr. Bancrott II
! the peer Of ITS editor in knowledge OF American
! history Here is what Bancroft says (Allscel
lanies, page 467) OF General Jackson's revised
! opinions on the tariff question =
The discharge of the public debt brought with it
| great reduction OF the public burdens ana Dfought
! Of necessity, INTO view, the question how lar Ame
| Tica should follow of chOlce, the old restrictive
policy OF high duties under which Europe had op
pressed Amenca; or how lar sne should rely upoi
her own freedom, enterprise, and power, ueSn
the competition seeking the markets, ana receiving
the products OF the world
The mind of jackson on this subject reasone
clearly, and without passion. In the abuses OF IN
system of revenue by excessive impOsts. he saw eYl
which the pub ic mind would remedy; ana lhcllnln
with the whole weight OF hls energetic nature 10 IN
side OF revenue duties he made MS earnest Out iran
quil appeal to the judgment OF the people
Letting this extract from Bancroft pass TO
what itmav be worth lin our opinion, very little
we proceed to cite more decisive authorities
Either Daniel Webster was, or the editor OF tn
Iri6une Is 1--WE keep to our charitable hypothesl
or his honestly an egregious blunderer an
lgnoramus. In his speech at Worcester lsee a
',Nofks, vol ii, Just previous 10 the presluehIii