The Baltimore County union., 1884-01-12
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
LETTER FROM HARTFORD COUNTY.
A Review of the History Of the Demo-
cratic Party-Continued.
BELAIR, MD, January 81

the last annual message of President jackson, a
paper that caused great stir both in and out Of
Congress- and to which shall give some atten
tion at this time.
He commenced his message in those words:
addressing to you the last annual message shall
ever present to the Congress of the United States,
&c." and closes by saying" Before concluding
this paper, think it due to the various executive
departments to bear testimony to their prosperous
condition, and to the ability and integrity with
which they have been conducted"
When this message was read to Congress Mr..
Wise, of Va, offered the following resolution:
" Resolued, That so mu3h of the Presidents
message as relates to the condition of the various
executive departments, the ability and integrity
with which they have been conducted, the vigilent
and faithful discharge of the public business in
all of them, and the causes OF complaint from
any quarter, at the manner in which they have
fulfilled the objects of their creation, be referred
to q select committee, &C., &c.
The presentation of this resolution gave rise to
a lengthy warm debate, in which the friends of
the administration objected to its adoption, and
Messrs Wise and Peyton adv0catedit. Mr.. Wise
said" Sir, this paper is the last annual message
of Andrew Jackson. What should the last
nual message of Andrew Jackson have been
Who is he? what has he been? The answer to
this question ought to determine what this last
act Of his of it's kind should have been.
"
the times of his country's travail for indepen-
dence - + s. He was ambitious of fame and
as long as mankind shall continue to bestow more
liberal appauses on their distrOyers than on their
benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever
be the vice of the most exalted characters. II !" =
So it was, he was buoyed up in the affections OF
the sovereign people. Has he done wrong? He
was popular. Has he done worse than wrong
He was popular and he the President who
could do no wrong in whom popularity was Joined
with power and patronage. Has ruthless pro
scriptipn for opinions sake turned faithful pub
lie servants out of their impoyments and snatched
from the mouths of their families their bread?
We are told the President ordere their removals,
and the people had sanctioned prescription. Has
favoritism filled the vacancies which prescription
has made with the servie tools of party to do
the bidding of power? We are told that the Pres
ident had need of his own friends, and that the
peope have sanctioned the maxim, " that to the
victors belong the spOils." y Has the
independence of Congress been totally destroyed
By corrupt bribes and the power of appointing
membe to office? We are told that the repre-
sentatives OF the people are selected to do the
will of the President, and that the people have
sanctioned the creed that there can he no treason
to the country so long as there is fidelity to the
party" Has the President assumed the respon
siblity," seized the custody and the control OF
the public money in defiance of all law and pre-
csdent, and placed them in the hands of traitor,
and perjmred knare? We are told that the
monster bank was his enemy, and that the peo-
ple have sanctioned the union of the purse and
the sword. IS Have the expenditures of
his administration increased and grown enormous
ly beyond all example, from 10 millions to 30
millions, without q cent of public debt to pay
We are told that the President is the best judge
of the wants of the country. Have thousands
and hundreds of thousands been expended on
east rooms and gravel walks, and all the regalla
of a palace in fact, for republican officer In
form? We are told that the Presidents court
should be as splendid as any kings. i .
The last message of such a President to such
people should have been the farewell of father
to his children. Why is it? What is it! 1t is
what it is because IL is not the message at all Of
Andrea Jackson"
Mr. Wise goes on to say that the President and
his Prime Ministers had been on an electioneer-
ing tour, and that on their return to the seat OF
government the President was taken sick and
had been confined to his bed ever since, and was
entirely incapacitated from attending to the die
tatipe of message and that his kitchen cabinet
had written it. His account of the Presidents
electioneerng trip is very amusing. He says
81 am told that they carried him about like
lion for a show, and made him roar like lion.
ghes.hssa .rctiirris nrepared fnrhim. A-erowd
rooms, no matter which, and some "village poll
tician' of "the party" would inquire What
think you. General of such mani" In loud
tone" He is traitor, sir" "What think you
of another, General?" " He is liar, sir J"
What of another?" "He is black cockade
federaIist!" "But, General, what think you of
Mr. (the first time Reuben was ever called Mister
Reuben NJ. Whitney? 2" There is no just cause
of complaint against NJ. Whitney, sir he is as
true patriot as ever was they are all liars who
accuse him of aught wrong, and the official doc
uments prove them to be so." He then asks
"what is it? The tcorst as well as the last annual
message which Andrew Jackson ever sent had
like to have said ever lUrote-tO both houses OF
Congress. Its vanity and egotsm, its sophisti-
cal nonsense. showing its dupcity to foreign
power, and concealing its real policy from our
seves-its low, ad coptandum arguments, ad
dressed to all the prejudices of ignorance and pas
sion. to Justify the most shameless attacks upon
the currency for the vile purposes of licensed
depredators on the public lands-its garing false
hoods as to the most important facts of trade.
currency, banks of deposit and finance u
its impudent boast of tn intelligence and patri-
otism of the successor, whom executive patronage
and dctation have succeeded in electing-its shall
low political economy--its demagoguism-lt
ranking venom Of party spirit-its grovelling
moral sentiment--are all equalled only by its
false certificate an chief to to the prosperous con-
dition of all the various executive departments,
to " the ability and integri'y'-mark the 'oord-
with which they have been conducted. and to the
fact of the Presidents belief, " that there is No
lust cause of complaint from any quarter, at the
manner in which they have fulfilled the objects OF
their creation"
Mr.. Peyton, of Tenn, in reply to some remarks
of Mr.. Pierce, of Rhode Island. asked the ques
ton" did the President write the paragraph in
his message, laudatory of these officers which the
gentleman himself admits is unusual in such a
document and which | am sure has no precedent
or parallel? No sir, not one word OF 1T, and he
does not know at this moment, that-it is there
Did Andrew Jackson write this sweeping certii
cate of moral character for these gentlemen? Nc
sir, no; I plead non est fdctum. 1t is not his
deed. They have fraudulently smuggled it into
his message to evade scrutiny into their conduct.
"The gentleman from Rhode Island
calls upon us to take the bull by the horns,' tc
move an impeachment against the President al
opce"-says that he is accountable for the acts
of his Ministers, and any attack upon them is, In
effect, an impeachment of him." This is strange
doctrine to me- sir. We wish to rope these calves
and drag them bleating as they go from the treas
ury, for they have been sucking too long already
and the gentleman says" no, take the bull by
the horns.'" Move an impeachment against the
President, indeed He accountable, criminahy
accouutabie for the want of integrity ON the part
of his Ministers! Was there ever anything more
impudent than this? Because Gen. Jackson is a
patriot, does IL IOUOW LnaC heuDeH W. w ultuey ls
anything but what the world knows him to he
a base, dishonest thief and scoundrel? Because
Gen. jackson is an honest man, does it follow that
Amos Kendall, and all the other hirelings," as
he calls them, are honest too? This, sir, is the
doctrine of the party-the doctrine of men into
whose hands the government of the country has
fallen. No sir, they have crowded and
huddled together under the mantle of Gen. Jack
son, until that is not broad enough to cover them.
You may accidentally get a glimpse of Vans bald
pate popped out here, Amos sharpe face there,
Felix's red eyes yonder, Bair's shank at one place
and Reuben's pockets filled with treasury receipts
at another; and now, sir, we have the gentleman
from Rhode Island squealing around like an old
pig, for whom there is no teat, hunting place to
crawl in at. Now, sir, what we wish is to strip
the Jackson mantle off these gentleman, and LET
them stand up for themselves" # 81
think, sir, it is time for this course of things to
cease 1t is time for the people to know some
thing of the conduct of those in whose hands
the public business is entrusted, and who really
administe. the government. They have been be.
hind Gen. Jackson long enough l was present
when Mr.. Van Buren, took his position there. II
was striking display of that paternal care which
the President has extended over Mr.. Van Buren,
In the spring of 1884, the President, Mr.. Var