ance of an American envoy, with credentials to the tyrant Iturbide, might aid him in riveting the chains of despotism upon a country which of right ought to be free." But a short time afterwards, the Mexican emperor resigned his throne, and fled in disgrace from a country, which his usurpation had so nearly ruined.

The Presidential canvass in 1824, was conducted with considerable spirit, and when it is recollected, that there were four candidates in the field, all of them talented, all of them possessing great personal popularity, it will not be deemed a matter of surprise, that no choice was effected. Jackson received a plurality of votes, but the election devolving on the House of Representatives, John Quincy Adams was elected President, under circumstances, well calculated to excite suspicions of corruption.

In October 1825, Jackson was again nominated to the Presidency, by an almost unanimous vote of the Tennessee Legislature. He soon after resigned his seat in the United States' Senate.

The democratic party throughout the nation, disgusted with the manner of Mr. Adams' election, and dissatisfied with the measures which marked the commencement of his administration, no sooner saw the name of Jackson announced, a second time, as a candidate for the Presidency, than they rallied to his support. Jackson's pru. dent course during the canvass of 1824, the remembrance of his eminent public services, and the general circulation of an opinion, that a corrupt combination had defeated his election in the House, all conspired to render him popular with the people. In conducting this Presidential campaign, Mr. Adams was supposed to possess great advantages. The patronage of government wielded by the skilful hand of Mr. Clay, and a corrupt and subsidized press, were instruments of power, which it was sup

posed, would be amply sufficient, to sustain Mr. Adams, against all opposition.

The contest was conducted with a degree of bitterness almost unparalleled. The public acts, and even the private character, of both candidates were severely criticised. Jackson in particular, was held up before the community, as a monster capable of the most horrid cruelties, and guilty of violating every principle of virtue and humanity. The good sense of the community, was alike proof to the influence of the government, and the slanders of its advocates. After a full comparison of the merits of the opposing candidates, and a candid examination of the principles upon which they were supported, the people of the United States, in the Autumn of 1828, elected Jackson to the Presidency by a majority larger than the whole number of votes received by his oppo

nent.

After entering upon the duties of his office, General Jackson, in December 1829, presented his first message to the Representatives of the nation, a paper which by the talents it exhibited and the correct sentiments it advanced, gained very general approbation.

Finding a large share of the public trusts, throughout, the whole country, monopolized by his political opponents, he removed several individuals from offices which they had held under Mr. Adams, and supplied their places with his political friends. Common justice, indeed, required that the majority, by whose suffrages he had been elevated to the head of the government, should have at least an equal share in its administration. Considerable excitement was naturally raised against the President on account of these removals. Individuals from whom they had taken situations of profit and honor, discovered in them sure indications of approaching "despotism," and there were not wanting those, who considered it a most

pathetic circumstance, that many individuals had "grown grey" in the very offices, from which they had been irreverently removed by General Jackson.

The first four years of Jackson's administration, were distinguished for public measures, of great and general interest. Our commerce, manufactures and agriculture; our domestic policy and our foreign relations, were constantly the subjects, both of Legislative and Executive action. With a degree of independence, highly honorable to his character, General Jackson turned his attention to the correction of evils, which under former administrations, had corrupted our legislation, and which, in the opinion of many of our wisest statesmen, threatened to undermine the foundations of the Constitution. The Tariff, was by his recommendation so reduced as to place the great interests of the nation upon a more equal footing. The great system of internal improvement, which contemplated the imposition of an enormous tax upon the whole country, for the construction of roads through some of its parts, was arrested by the Veto on the Maysville road bill. The removal of the Georgia Indians, the extension of the facilities of the Post-Office department, and the Veto on the bill for re-chartering the United States' Bank, were among the measures which distinguished the first four years of Jackson's administration.

Many of these measures, were made the subject of bitter complaint. The reduction of the Tariff, it was predicted, would ruin our manufactures; the overthrow of the system of internal improvements, depopulate the West. The policy of the President toward the Georgia Indians, was stigmatized as cruel and unjust, and his exercise of his constitutional right of Veto, against the Bank bill, was denounced as an act, at once, ruinous to the interests, and even dangerous to the liberties of the country.

Notwithstanding these clamors, however, the great majority of the American people, calmly decided on the character of the political events, passing before them, and at the Presidential election in the Autumn of 1832, though opposed with great spirit, Jackson was re-elected, receiving more than three fourths of the electoral votes.

The excitement of the election was scarcely past, when a portion of the citizens of South Carolina raised the standard of nullification. For a while the cloud of sedition lowered in the southern sky, like the dark forerunner of a tempest, threatening to shake our republican institutions to their foundation. Under the firm and judicious administration of Jackson, however, the cloud was dispelled, and the most dangerous crisis in the history of the Union past away, leaving our country unstained with blood and unscathed with harm.

Soon after the happy termination of the difficulties between South Carolina and the Union, and early in the summer of 1833, General Jackson, accompanied by Mr. Van Buren, and two members of his cabinet, made a northern tour. Wherever he went, he was received with the most distinguished tokens of respect. Faction itself, forgot its bitterness on the occasion, and all parties united in welcoming and honoring the man, whose judicious policy, had done so much to save the country from the horrors of a civil war.

The removal of the government deposites from the United States' Bank, took place in October 1833. This measure created a very general excitement. It was bitterly denounced by the enemies of the President, as the cause of the pressure which followed it, but which his friends ascribed to the designing operations of the Bank itself. The opposition was revived by a subject of censure so new; its press predicted a speedy revolution of parties; and its leaders in the Senate of the Nation, wil

ling to forward such a result, by holding up the President to public reprobation, inscribed a solemn resolution on their Journals, declaring, that in his course in relation to this subject," he had assumed upon himself authority and power, not conferred by the Constitution and Laws but derogatory to both."

The removal of the deposites, however, bitterly as it was denounced by the enemies of the Administration, was approved by his friends, the temporary excitement raised on the subject reacted upon its authors and public sentiment throughout the country, condemned the resolution of the Senate, as an insult to the President, wantonly and causelessly offered. The day is probably not far distant, when the Senate itself, will echo the voice of the people, and the resolution above alluded to, in accordance with a motion of Mr. Benton, "will be encircled with lines as black as its own injustice" and "EXPUNGED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE."

In managing the foreign relations of the country, Jackson has been eminently successful. His reputation for unyielding energy and unwavering justice, as well known abroad as at home, has carried with it the assurance, that he would ask nothing but right and submit to nothing wrong. As a natural consequence, our claims on foreign powers have been respected, our grievances removed, aud our national character elevated. Our flag is every where a protection from insult, and our commerce finds welcome and security in every port. The WestIndia trade has been restored to us-we have received indemnity for the aggressions of Brazil and Denmark, and last of all France-after twenty years delay-after retir ing upon her offended honor to escape from her obligations, has at length been induced by the firmness of the President, to render us full satisfaction for her former outrages on our commerce.