USA > Indiana > Early Indiana trials: and sketches. Reminiscences > Part 18
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188
EARLY INDIANA TRIALS.
THOMAS H. BENTON.
COL. BENTON has been so long identified with the history of the country, as a public man, a Senator and Author, that I will be excused for making this sketch brief, referring the reader to the published works of the Col. for the history of his public acts. To say that Col. Benton was among the first men in the nation is only what is universally conceded to him. I served in the Senate of the United States six years with him, and enjoyed his intimacy during my entire term. In person Col. Benton was large, and powerfully made, above the ordinary hight, decp expanded chest, broad square shoulders, large head, high prominent forehead, thin short whiskers, wide mouth, projecting chin, large nose, blue eyes well set, inclined to baldness, hair brown and thin on his head. As a speaker the Col. was strong, clear, forcible, imperative, seldom persuasive, never submissive, sometimes eloquent. He always spoke like a man conscious of his facts, and he was seldom or never mistaken, as he spoke with the documents before him, to which he often referred, and by which he would stand corrected, but in no other way. His iron will was indomitable, like all great men he succumbed to neither friend nor foe. Col. Benton was well qualified for a military commander. He scorned to play second to any man. He gave his opinions in debate frankly, openly and fearlessly, main- taining them with a firmness, sometimes called obstinacy, if he stood alone. On one occasion in Executive Session, Mr. Tyler had nominated a Democrat to a land-office, the nomination was announced. Col. Benton never whispered when he spoke from his chair but it was so loud that I could hear him on the opposite side of the chamber. Mr. Walker was soliciting the Col. to vote for the nominee, it was supposed that the vote would be close, the Whig Senators not being remarkably partial to Mr. Tyler's nominations just at that time. Col. Benton whispered " A Democrat, and the nominee of John Tyler, so much the worse, it is bad enough for Tyler to send us a Whig without qualifiea- tions, hut to send us such a Democrat, is too bad." " I vote no." The nominee was rejected. The Col. constituted within himself his own dynasty. He was one of the most laborious men in the Senate, never idle, always writing with his books upon his desk, and his documents under his table. He seldom took part in the common debates, but as seldom permitted any important question to leave the Senate until he was heard. He never made a specch without documentary prepara- tion, and always addressed the Senate fortified with the documents to sustain him. His printed speeches under his own supervision, wher ever they are, will be found stuffed with the proof to sustain his
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COL. BENTON.
positions. Unlike Mr. Calhoun, he was never satisfied with his own declamations merely, it was not enough for him to say " I say it is so." But " here are the documents to prove it." I always listened to the Col. with much interest. I thought him often very eloquent, still his was the eloquence that held the undivided attention of the Senate, but not of that exciting character that fills the galleries, and crowds the aisles with ladies. It has been said of Col. Benton, that he was on too good terms with himself; that may have been his fault, but if so, he shared it with the most of the other distinguished Senators. No Western man will ever doubt that Col. Benton was true as steel to Western iuterests ; indeed, if he had that fault, it was not one for which I could censure him. He may have loved his own West but too well, a failing common to Western Senators. I must refer the reader to his own " Thirty Years " for his political views, and his speeches on the many subjects before the Senate, giving here an extract from one of them, merely to show the character of his mind, and style of his pen.
EXTRACT FROM A SPEECH OF MR. BENTON.
"To make this clear, it is necessary to refresh our minds with some recollections of the Mexican Revolution, a subject which has been referred to by the speakers in a manner which would seem to indicate great ignorance on their part. I know that many look at the events of Iguala, in February, 1821, as the beginning of the Revolution. Nonsense, Mr. President, that event was at the end of the Revolution, which had commenced eleven years before. It began on the 15th day of September, in the year 1810, and in the manner which had been foretold by Gen. (then Lieutenant) Pike, four years before. It began with the lower orders of the hierarchy, with the native clergy, all condemned to wear out their lives in curacies while the princely endowments of the great dioceses were bestowed upon exotics imported from old Spain. The Revolution began in this class, the native and the lower clergy, and never did popular movements have a more marked, a more imposing, a more grand, or a more auspicious commencement. It burst at once, without premonition, like a bla- zing comet on the view of the world. It was on Sunday, the 15th day of September, 1810, that the curate Hidalgo, in the village of Dolores, in the province of Guanaxauto, at the close of the celebra- tion of the high mass and after having preached a sermon in favor of Independence, issued from the door of his parish church, the crucifix in his hand, the standard of revolt borne before him, and calling upon the children of Mexico to follow him; and never, since the days of Peter the hermit, was a call so auswered. The congregation followed,
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the village followed, the parish followed. Cities, towns, provinces followed the crucifix of the curate, and crushing all resistance, a mass of 70,000 men appeared on the hills which overlooked the city of Montezuma, and which, since the days of Cortez, had never beheld an army with banners. The brave curate, with that instinct of generalship which knows when to leave old rules behind, was for instant attack ; and, if he had done so, in three hours the city was his, and the Revolution at an end; but a fatal delay of three days was allowed. Treason had penetrated his camp. The Viceroy had sent traitors to whisper in every ear the impossibility of the undertaking, that the priest was no general and would be whipped, that he could not take the city, and that himself and followers would all be ruined. Bribes followed, and treason and corruption dissolved in three days the patriotic army which no force could resist, and which was on the point of giving liberty and independence to its country. But the Revolution did not stop. The brave curate earried it on till he was killed, and statues have been erected to his memory. Other leaders appeared. The patriots kept the field, or rather the mountains, and at the end of eleven years the events of Iguala put an end to the contest. It had been a struggle, not between the mother country and the colony, but between the different classes of the Mexican population, the native against the European. These two classes, in the persons of their chief's, united at Iguula, joined their arms together, proclaimed the independence of their country, and from that day (21st February, 1821) the Revolution was terminated, the independent government was established, and the power of Spain had ceased forever. The plan of Iguala, of which Iturbide was the hero, was the work of united Mexicans. It was the union of Mexicans in the cause of inde- pendence, and both declared and established independence. It was a great act in itself, putting an end to the Revolution of Mexico, but was speedily followed by another aet putting the seal upon it. This was the treaty of Cordova conelnded on the 24th of August of the same year, in which the extinction of the Spanish power in Mexico, and the estab- lishment of its independence was formally and fully acknowledged by the Spanish king's representative in the Viceroyalty of Mexico. There is a Spanish copy of this important act in our Congress Library, but in the haste of the moment, I have not been able to find it, I only find a copy in French. I find it in the appendix to the memoires of the some-time Emperor Iturbide, among the vouchers of which the French call pieces justificatives."
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JAMES BUCHANAN.
JAMES BUCHANAN.
I NEED not say, that these are not intended for biographies, they are mere sketches, of persons, incidents and things, and assume no higher grounds. James Buchanan, the subject of this sketch, has been so long among the most prominent of the distinguished men of the United States, and so recently filled so large a space in the public eye, that it may seem to some that I might pass him by in these remi- niscenees ; I can not do so, my mind's eye is upon the distinguished men with whom I was associated during a term of six years in the Senate of the United States. I know no party lines in these sketches, nor am I governed in the least by the opinions of others, I am record- ing my own. I speak of Mr. Buchanan as a Senator, his official transactions in the high places he has filled at home and abroad, are before the nation, and will go down as a part of the history of the country to posterity. I served six years with Mr. Buchanan : I was most fortunate in getting a seat directly between him and Silas Wright of New York, and consequently in becoming intimate with both these distinguished Senators, which was never inter- rupted a moment by our political positions; besides being a native of eastern Pennsylvania, it was but natural that my position should be very agreeable socially, to me.
Mr. Buchanan in person is tall and strongly built. IIe was the largest Senator of the body during the time he served his State, and is now the largest man that has filled the Presidential chair since Gen. Washington ; his head is well proportioned to his body, his forehead is broad and high, his eye rather sunken, his hair twenty years ago was well silvered o'er with grey, it is now white as snow. He carried his head leaning to one shoulder. I have seen that some writer speaks of this as owing to his eyes, but I think it is an acquired inclination of the head from some physical cause. As a debater, Mr. Buchanan stood high, among the first, perhaps not the very first. Mr. Clay, Mr. Calhoun and Mr. Webster by common consent, in point of eloquence and power, seemed to occupy the very first position in that body of great men ; still it was very difficult for me to see the difference between that trio and Mr. Buchanan, Silas Wright and Mr. Benton. Mr. Buchanan always spoke well, sometimes eloquently, his mind was stored with faets, his preparation was always commensurate with the importance of his subject, and he never spoke unless he was prepared, as he often told me; he believes in preparation, as essential to success. I have heard him again and again, when he seemed to speak off-hand, upon the impulse of the moment, but before he closed, he gave con-
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elusive evidence that he was drawing from previous preparation. He was always familiar, gentlemanly and courteous, yet not obsequious. I recollect on one occasion, Mr. Dickens (Boz) sat on the side sofa, immediately behind our seats. Senators from all parts of the cham- ber were pressing forward to take the distinguished English writer by the hand. Mr. Buchanan sat writing, I asked him why he did not rush forward like the rest. " I am in no hurry, let the time come itself and the occasion be suitable." On another occasion, there sat behind us a red-faced, red-eyed, small man, evidently dissipated. Mr. Bu- chanan asked me if I knew him. " Certainly I do, so do you, as you voted for him yesterday as our charge to Texas." " I voted for him? you must be mistaken ; if you are not, I say that if ever I get to be President of the United States, which I do not expect to be, I never will send any one abroad to represent this Government, without seeing him, and approving his personal appearance." During the personal debate between Mr. Clay and Mr. Calhoun that turned upon the consis- tency of Mr. Calhoun as a politician and states-right man, Mr. Calhoun had been struggling all day with accumulated facts, against his consist- eney, in the hands of his adroit and powerful competitor. As he rose the last time, to reply to Mr. Clay, Mr. Buchanan turning his eye to me, " What a fool Calhoun is, to labour to prove his consistency through life. I should think myself a great dunce if I was not wiser to day than I was twenty years ago." For the purpose of placing Mr. Bu- chanan before the reader, as to his style as a debater, I select an extract from his reply to Mr. Clay, on the veto question, delivered in the Sen- ate of the United States on the 2nd of February, 1842.
" Sir, the Senator from Kentucky, in one of those beautiful passages which always abound in his speeches, has drawn a glowing picture of the isolated condition of kings, whose ears the voice of public opinion is never permitted to reach, and he has compared their con- dition in this particular, with that of the President of the United States. Here too, he said, the Chief Magistrate occupied an isolated station, where the voice of his country and the cries of its distress could not reach his ear. Bnt is there any justice in this comparison ? Such a picture may be true to the life when drawn for a European monarch, but it has no application whatever to a President of the United States. He, sir, is no more than the first citizen of the free Republic. No form is required in approaching his person, which can prevent the humblest of his fellow-citizens from communicating with him. In approaching him, a freeman of this land is not compelled to decorate himself in fantastic robes or adopt any particular form of dress, such as the court etiquette of Europe requires. The President
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JAMES BUCHANAN.
intermingles freely with his fellow-citizens and hears the opinion of all. The publie press attacks him-political parties in and out of Congress assail him, and the thunders of the Senator's own denunciatory eloquence are reverberated from the Capitol, and reach the White House before its incumbent can lay his head upon his pil- low. His every act is subjected to the severest scrutiny, and he reads in the newspapers of the day, the decrees of public opinion. Indeed it is the privilege of every hody to assail him. To contend that such a Chief Magistrate is isolated from the people, is to base an argu- ment upon mere fancy, and not upon facts. No sir, the President of the United States is more directly before the people, and more immediately responsible to the people, than any other department of our Government. Woe be to that President who shall ever affect to withdraw from the publie eye and seclude himself in the recesses of the Executive Mansion."
EXTRACT FROM HIS SPEECH,
ON Mr. Walker's amendment to the loan bill. " I hope the Senate will pardon me for a word of disgression. Thanks to the all-pervad- ing arrogance and injustice of England, each portion of our Union has now a separate just cause of quarrel against that nation peculiarly ealeulated to arouse its feelings of indignation. We have the North- eastern Boundary question, the Carolina question, the Creole question, the Northwestern Boundary question, and above all, the right of search. Should we be forced into war in the present state of the controversy, we shall be a united people, and the war will be conducted with all our energies, physical and moral. In the present attitude of our affairs, I say, then, let us settle all of these questions, or none. All or none, ought to be our motto. If we insist on going to war, we could not desire a more favorable state of the questions than exists at present between the two nations. If all these questions except one should be adjusted, we shall be in as much danger of war from the single one which may remain, as we are at present, while we would incur the risk of destroying that union and harmony among the people of this country, which is the surest presage of success and victory. On all the questions in dispute between the two nations, except the right of search, I would concede much to avoid war and to restore our friendly relations provided they can all be adjusted. It is my firm conviction that it is due to this country, and to its tranquillity and prosperity, that all these questions should be settled together. All or none, I again repeat ; without this, you weaken your own strength- you play into the hand of your adversary-you destroy to some extent
13
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EARLY INDIANA TRIALS.
the unanimity of your people ;- and, when at last you may be compelled to go to war, you will commence the contest with divided counsels and interests. I trust and hope that all these agitating questions may be settled. I should gladly review cach one of them, but I feel that at the present moment it would be discourteous toward the distinguished stranger (Lord Ashburton), whom England has deputed to negociate upon them. I would not say a word which could by possibility interfere with the negociation.
" I hope he has come among us bearing the olive branch of honor- able peace. If he has, there is no man in this country more ready to welcome his arrival than myself."
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195
SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.
SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.
AN intimacy for years in the Senate between the subject of this sketeh and myself, enables me to speak of him as his high position deserves. Samuel L. Southard was long New Jersey's favorite son. He held the highest offices within the power of the State and people to confer upon him. Governor, Supreme Judge, United States Senator. He was made Secretary of the Navy by Mr. Monroe, when quite a young man, and was eontinned by Mr. Adams through his administra- tion. I became acquainted with Mr. Southard in the Senate. At the session after the death of General Harrison and the constitutional elevation of Mr. Tyler to the Executive chair, Mr. Southard was elected president pro tem of the Senate and served as such until his death, with occasional absence on account of his last illness. In person he was under the common hight, stout built, expanded chest, dark hair falling carelessly over his neek, high, retreating forehead, eyes dark and piercing, long, straight nose, wide mouth, projecting chin. His manners in private cireles, were gentlemanly, courteous and easy. He was an accomplished scholar, and ranked with the finest speakers of the Senate. His voice was elear, musical, and full toned. His eloquence was of the impassioned, impressive character, sometimes lofty and sublime, often argumentative, always clear and distinct. He seldom took part in the small debates, never spoke without preparation, and was always heard by the Senate with marked attention. As a presiding officer Mr. Southard gave entire satisfaction, prompt, impartial in his decisions, courteous and pleasant to all. He was a great favorite in the body. As we saw him sinking under his protracted disease the sympathy of the whole body was enlisted. The circumstances of Mr. Southard were far from being easy; although mil- lions had been subject to his control, not a misapplied dollar ever tarnish- ed his fair fame. During the time I was with him in the Senate he made many able speeches upon important subjects. I never had any special conversation with him on the subject, but judging from one of his speeches on the land question, he was a strong American. I only knew him as a Whig. Under the rules of the Senate the president is authorized to substitute a presiding officer, day by day, in ease of sickness. It was understood by the Senate that Mr. Southard desired the priviledge of substituting a Senator to preside during his illness, and on the 22d. of April, 1842, I was requested by his son to visit his father in the room of the Vice-President. I found Mr. Southard lying on the sofa, very weak, barely able to rise. As I entered he made known his business, requested me to preside during his illness. I
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agreed to do so, the Senate consenting. He then handed me a note that he had prepared, which I copy here to show the form he adopted.
" HON. O. H. SMITH.
DEAR SIR-Increased indisposition will prevent me from attending the meeting of the Senate this morning, and I therefore request, that you will perform the duties of the chair. Very respectfully
WASHINGTON, April 22d., 1842. SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD."
The indisposition of Mr. Southard increased daily, and by similar appointments I continued to preside, with the approbation of the Senate, up to the 11th. of May, 1842, when I received my last note from him.
" HON. O. H. SMITH.
DEAR SIR-Being worse indisposed than I was yesterday, I find that I am unable to attend the Senate this morning, and must therefore request that you will preside for the day. I am respectfully
WASHINGTON, May 11th., 1842. SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD."
Mr. Southard passed rapidly away. His death was announced in both Houses, and appropriate ceremonies took place. I was present in the House of Representatives, when the melancholy announcement was made, and appropriate resolutions proposed by the Representatives of the State of New Jersey. The resolutions were read; when I saw rising from his seat the venerable form of John Quincy Adams, his head bald to his ears, his thin white hair scarcely covering the back of his head, addressing the chair. " I rise Mr. Speaker to second the resolutions :" his lips quivered, his tongue faltered, his voice failed, the tears trickled down his furrowed cheeks, he stood motionless like a statue : the House caught the feeling, and in a second there was not a dry eye in the Hall. Mr. Southard had been associated with Mr. Adams in both Monroe's and his own Cabinet, their friendship was deep and abiding. The rush of feeling passed off, Mr. Adams became composed, and delivered one of the most beautiful and thrilling addresses I ever heard ; brief, sublime, beautiful, such a eulogy as none but Mr. Adams could conceive. Mr. Mangum was elected the successor of Mr. Southard, and acted as president pro tem until a Vice-President was elected and qualified.
EXTRACT FROM HIS SPEECH ON THE LAND BILL.
THEN came the Federal Constitution which created the Union ; and what does it teach ? Its first words are, " We the people of the Uni-
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SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD.
ted States." Who were they? They were the citizens of the United States. The honorable Senator from South Carolina, said he would like to hear a definition of what a citizen is. I have no skill at defi- nitions ; but I think I can describe who are, and who are not, citizens. At the time the Constitution was adopted, the People of the States formed it. The mere holding of land, did not constitute a man a citizen, or one of the People of the States. A State may, if she pleases, allow an alien to take land, and hold and transmit it by her laws, and yet he may not be a citizen of the State, or of the United States, he must go beyond that. The moment you allow a man the power to vote, the moment you give him power to vote in the political government, you make him a citizen - one of the People. We need not go back to Rome on this matter. The man who possesses political power, united to the common rights of person and property, is your citizen. He must owe his allegiance here, be subject to all duties, possess all rights, or he can not be a citizen with us. The language, " We the People of the United States," meant such, and none others. They formed their Government for themselves - not for Englishmen or Frenchmen - but for themselves alone, and such as they chose to admit, upon terms which they should, in their joint capacity pre- scribe. The power to prescribe these they could not leave to the States. Would you have Maryland say to New Jersey, you shall receive this man because I have made him a citizen ? There was, therefore, a necessity of some common rule, and the authority to pre- scribe it must be placed somewhere; and it could be placed nowhere but in the common councils ; and accordingly, the Constitution declared that Congress should have the power " to establish a uniform rule of naturalization." Could it be uniform, and yet leave the power to the States? Naturalization is the investing of an alien with the rights and privileges of one who is native-born. That is the whole idea.
When, therefore, the Constitution says that Congress shall have power to establish a uniform rule of naturalization, it means this, and this only : Congress shall prescribe the terms on which a foreigner, an alien, shall be admitted to the rights of a native- be one of " We the People." Can there be a uniform rule, unless it is prescribed by some common central power, and by that alone? There obviously can not. The very object to be attained, requires that the power should be vested exclusively in one body, in the Federal Government. I hold, therefore, the Constitution of Illinois and so much of the Con- stitution of Michigan, as undertakes to admit foreigners to citizenship, to be null and void-a violation of the compact. We entered into the Union on certain terms and conditions, relative to representation,
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