Year: 1879

to the list Of eminent which form the record
of the time. and it happened that he to close
his Congressional career at the same time with Mr.
Cushing-the one as leader of the House
in the Twenty-seventh Congress and the other
as the leader of the administration revolt.
The wings had majority in the Senate and
elected whg Speaker and whig Clerk in the House
with ease, but still there complete organiza.
tion for many days. At last Mr.. Cushing endcavored
to push Legislation, without committees and without
rules appealing to the majority the friends OF the
administration to come TO the of the country
and organize the House. The gist Of his appeal was
in these words"I appeal to the wing party to the
friends of the administration--andI recognize but
one, and that is the administration of John Tyler
that is the and recognize other in
the United States ut this time" At the very outset
h sr =, 20 the recomend
atoms of the Presidents Message, and it was to this
Mr. Gushing referred in saying that he recognized only
the administration of John Tyler. But Tyler was as
anxious for break with the whig party as the whig
party was dcsrous of breaking with the President.
When the rupture finally came Gushing was the
champion of the administration, the ssachusetts
Representative ustifying the President i'll his veto OF
the National Bank bill and appealing to the wings to
sustain the Executive But the whig party went with
Mr.. Clay and the whig Congress and against Mr..
Gushing and the "whig President"


CUSHING AND THE TYLER ADMINISTRATION.


The natural result of the break between the whig
Congress and the President was the resignation OF
the Presidents whis Caoinst In the concentration
Cushing Secretary Of the Treasury but the part
Gushing had taken in the Presidents behalf and the
extreme warmth OF his championship of the Execu-
tive made him distasteful to the Senate that
the nomination rejected. His rejection
was the result OF mere party rancor-a mere
his fidelity the President simply because
he had earned it, 1t true there in his conduct
detection to the whig party but however the wings
may have hated the treason it political de-
fection after all. There was more cause for his
Secretary of the Treasury than there would have
have been for the impeachment of the President. 1t
is true he had voted tor every bill the President had
vetoed and defended the vetoes afterwards but it is
equally true that the entire party would have done
the thing if it had not been regarded desira
BILE that the party should be put in opposition to the
administration. The thing happened in some
degree under Fillmore's administration. and during
Johnson's Presidency Seward repeated the rote OF
Webster under Tyler, and Raymond and other pure
minded republicans were willing to accept part like
that which Cushing played in lc41. But Cushing was
not man to smart under the lash OF the party whip,
and Tyler not President to let faithful cham
pion go unrewarded


THE MISSION TO CHINA.


Accordingly the mission to China, not yet agreed
upon, but under consideration, became very impOr-
.tant the Presidential eyes before the close of tue
Twenty Congress. The object of this mis-
sion was to open the way for future intercourse be-
tween the United States and China This was not
very important object at that time, and the mission
was not conceded without struggc-a struggle that
was all the more bitter as 1t was believed Mr. Cush-
ing would get the appointment. The democrats not
only opposed the bill as loose and latitudinous but
the mission itself as unnecessary, while the wings
were determined that no Minister should be APP
pointed without the consent OF the Senatein other
words that Mr. Gushing should not be appointed at
all. The President in dilemma. He was
anxious, indeed he was determined, to appoint
Caleb Cushing: but Gushing a men,
ber of Congress and could not be legally
appointed till after the final adjournment, and
even then his appointment would scarcely be legal,
for this was new Office just created by an act of
Congress- which specially provided that Minister
to China should be appointed without the consent OF
the Senate The office was not vacancy to be tenn
porarily filed during the recess but Nj. Tyler de-
termined SO to regard it. This was all the more
necessary in the Presidents eyes since it was clear to
him that II he waited till the assembling Of the
Twenty y-eighth Congress to make the appointment
the nomination of Gushing would not be confirmed
Nothing more clearly shows the extreme partisan
ship Of the time for we might suppose that the
Senate would have relented sufficiently to confirm
him. if for no other reason because Clay's friends
might well rejoice at getting Tylers champion out
of the country and far out of harms way Neither
Tyler Gushing disposed TO make the test, and
the latter sailed on his mission Ill May, 1H43 He
barked from Washington on the new steam frieate
Missouri and was accompanied by the frigae Brandy
wine the sloop-of-war st. Louis and the brig Perry
1t a formidable squadron for peace mission and
it met with delays and disasters or every kind In
coming up to Washington to take the Minister
board the Missouri an oyster bank and fifteen
of her crew were drowned She ordered crafty
Mr.. Cushings eyes with sight of the coasts OF the
Mediterranean and land him in the kingdom OF the
Pharaohg, but she took fire at Gibraltar and
burned UP. Thence Mr.. Gushing conpelledt to go
Bombay in British vessels and when he reached that
port the Brandywne alone was there, the St. Louis
and the Perry being detained at the Cape of Good
Hope. Making the best OF circumstances the Min
lister smiled in the frsate to the nearest port to Can
tSn where he spent considerable time in futile
efforts reach Pekin with the consent the Chinese
authorities. Ii he had arrived in the country with
the squadron intact his state papers show that he
would certainly have sailed up the Piho nearly
possible to the doors of the imperial palace. As it
was q commissioner was sent to sign a commercial
treaty witl him. and so there was excuse for an
American squadron entering the rivers CT China.
Nlr. Cushing treaty was ratified; but tho proceed
ings his nomination remain Senatorial secret,
the injunction OF secrecy never having been removed


AGAIN AT NEwBuEypoEr-rBE sfExIcAs WAR.


Upon Mr.. Gushing s return from the China mission
he again settled ill Newburyport and soon resumed
his peculiar functions of representing that ancient
town in the Legislature During the session OF ls4T
he became conspicuous advocate OF the Mexican
war-a policy to which the dominant party in the
state was extremely hostile on the ground that il was
a war undertaken in behalf OF slavery This feeling
was strong that the Legislature refused to equip
the New England regiment Of volunteers which had
been raised for the campaign. when Mr.. Cushing
came forward and borrowed the required money in
State his personal security. 1t grace
full act, say the least and should have disarned
had the contrary effect however OF provoking them.
especially Mr.. Gushing made col
onel OF the regiment and accompanied it 70
Mexico. One OF the most remarkable satircs in the
English language-James Russell Lowells '.Biglow
Papers-was the result of the controversy. In this
work Mr.. Gushing is satirizcd without mercy A
specimen OF the way in which Mr.. Cushing was be-
laborcd is found in one OF Mr.. d. Sawins letters,
who after discovering that the Mexicans aint much
different from wut We be- goes on to say


An here air ascros gin em thir domnions
Ass,en EN- ea c.iee ses under our , eagles pinons
An walk him Spanish clean right out all his homes an
Wal IL cos seem Gurus way but then hooraw for
IL must be right tor Caleb it's reg lar Apgo.swxon


Colonel Cushing's regiment was attached 10 the
army under General Taylor, and its commanding
officer afterward made brigadicr general.
While still in Mexico General Gushing nominated
by the democratic party tor Governor OF Massachu-
setts; but he of course, defeated 1t during
this canvass that Mr. Lowell's famous lines in the
"Biglow Papers" so often quoted by Mr.. Cushing's
enemies first appeared IN print. This the stanza
with the most gall in it,


General G. is u drcnle smart man;


Hes ben on all sides that give places Delf


But nsistcncy still wuz "a part " mis- plan:


Hcs ben true TO one party, an that is himself.


So John +.


Robinson lie


Sea he shall vote Cor General G.


But after all General .Cushing's only political
offence was in helping whig President TO oppose
whig Congress, and il is at least doubtful question
whether he separated from his party or his party
from him.