$16,657,669, with a large amount not ascertained. So notorious was the abandonment by the friends of the Administration, when they came into power, of the principles professed by them on this point while in opposition, that the Retrenchment Committee and its report were denounced as an imposition, on the floor of Congress, at the last session, by a gentleman second to no other among the opponents of the late Administration.

Finally, a general process of reformation was vaguely promised, as among the benefits to be effected by overturning the former administration. In the inaugural message this greatly abused expression was adopted, and it was declared, that "the task of reform was inscribed by the recent demonstration of public sentiment, on the list of executive duties." How that task was performed, in reference to the only thing specified in the message, the abusive interference of the General Government in elections, we have already seen. The word was soon explained, by the executive practice, to mean removing political opponents from office. Although Congress was advised by the President, for grounds stated by him, to limit the duration of all offices to four years, his own among the rest; he has perceived the application of these reasons neither to his own case nor that of any of his friends; and the word "Reform," and the thing, which it has been made to mean, have at last become the jest and scorn of the People.

In this way have the promises, under which the present Administration came into power, been fulfilled. Nor is it less notorious, that those anticipations of danger and evil formed and expressed by the friends of the last Administration, have been more than realized.

It was foretold that the sacred authority of law, which forms the great practical distinction between a free government and a despotism, would cease to be the rule of the Administration. On the first question, which presented itself, that of our relations with the Indian tribes, a law substantially coeval with the government, and re-enacted in its present form thirty years ago, was avowedly disregarded by the President. In like manner, the long list of treaties, a part of the law of the land, most of which were entered into by the United States for a valuable consideration, were set at nought by the Administration, the United States keeping the consideration, while they deprive the Indians of the benefit. Since the last

cancy in the place of the Chief Justice of that Court, to be filled by a successor who will carry on the war against the Constitution, within the very citadel of its strength,- this Convention wants words to express its feelings-of anxiety and apprehension.

It was predicted that if the late Administration should be prostrated, it would be succeeded by a system of personal detraction and violence, and a reign of terror. The anticipations on this subject have been more than fulfilled. The presses called into being by the patronage, or enjoying the countenance of the Government, have reached a point of ferocity and virulence before unexampled. Individual and private character is avowedly assailed as the means of political annoyance; and falsehoods the most gross and infamous are systematically fabricated and circulated against all persons who dare to raise their voices, in Congress or out of it, against the abuses of the Administration. Nor has the system of intimidation stopped here. At the last session of Congress, the most strenuous, persevering and substantially successful efforts were made by the friends of the Administration to screen from punishment the author of a violent assault upon a member of the House of Representatives. The same majority refused to take cognizance of a challenge sent to another member, for having offered a question to be proposed by the House to a witness at its bar; and on the same day on which the subject was contemptuously dismissed by the majority, an attempt was made to shoot down another member upon the steps of the Capitol. After all these acts of violence, it was still found impossible to obtain even a Committee of Inquiry into the extent of the measures of menace, violence, and bloodshed, which had been resorted to, to suppress the freedom of debate and overawe the two houses of Congress. Although these occurrences had fully demonstrated, that it was at the peril of his life that any member of Congress should boldly discharge his duty as an opponent of the Administration, not a press in its interest was heard to raise its voice against the system of menace and bloodshed. On the contrary, the acts of violence alluded to were justified, palliated, or excused.

In a word, it was predicted that the Union itself would be jeoparded in the principles and practice of the existing Administration. The fulfilment of this apprehension is but too visibly presented to us. At the time when the present Chief

Magistrate came into office, the Georgia question was at its crisis. That State had unfortunately thrown itself into unconstitutional and illegal opposition to the General Government, in the execution of the laws and treaties in favor of the Indians. But the firmness of the last Administration and the presence of two or three companies of United States troops (marched into the disturbed district at the request of Georgia) had proved amply sufficient to protect these dependent tribes. On the accession of the present Chief Magistrate, this ground was abandoned-the troops of the United States before long withdrawn, Ministers of the Gospel, sent by actual permission of the Government and partly at its expense, thrown into a felon's jail, and the right of Georgia to nullify the laws and treaties expressly admitted. Encouraged by the success of this disastrous experiment, another State has taken the field against the supremacy of the laws, and pleads the example of Georgia as the precedent and justification. It is true, that no direct countenance has been given in words by the present Administration, to the policy of South Carolina. But the late Veto Message represents it as the natural consequence of what it stigmatises as improvident legislation. The fatal and pregnant error was committed, when the State of Georgia was allowed to set the law at defiance; and this Convention has yet to learn to what good purpose theoretical nullification is countenanced in Georgia.

But without enlarging on this point, the whole tone of the Administration is against the Union. An extravagant and ill-considered declamation on State rights, belonging only to a low order of partizan prints, characterizes several of its state papers; all the 'institutions and principles which act as the bonds and guards of the Union have been assailed; exploded doctrines and prejudices hostile to the Union have been revived; the Bank prostrated; the Court disregarded and threatened; the Senate menaced with the reduction of its term to two years; the House of Representatives vilified; both branches set at nought by the unheard-of multiplication of Vetos; every thing, in short, attempted, which has the effect to resolve the Union into jealous and discordant elements, and by destroying all the other functions of the General Government, to concentrate its remaining powers in the hands of the Executive.

The effects of this warfare upon the principles of the Union

on the part of those whose sworn and constitutional duty it is to defend it, are but too evident in the daily growing despondency of patriotic men. The permanency of our institutions, which but a few years since was considered beyond the reach of danger, is a topic now of contemplation, as familiar as it is painful. A distressing conviction gains strength, that the Government of the country is in the hands of its enemies, and that great and indefinite but fatal changes are hanging over us.

But with all these inauspicious predictions which have been but too fully verified, it was foretold that the combinations which had brought the present Administration into power would dissolve as speedily as they had been formed; and that the eyes of the people would eventually be opened to the delusion under which they had labored. Although no person who feels any reliance upon the intelligence and patriotism of the community could doubt that such would be the result, it must be admitted that, for a while, the prospect was gloomy of its seasonable accomplishment. But it has been brought about sooner than could have been anticipated. One entire section of the party which raised the present Chief Magistrate to the Chair, disgusted by personal grievances, of a character the most extraordinary and offensive, was soon repelled from the support of the Administration. But the changes which are to prove decisive of the election are those which have taken place and are going on in the great States of New York, Pennsyl vania, and Ohio. New York was but equally divided in 1828. A small decrease of the strength then enlisted in support of the present Chief Magistrate is all that was required to turn the scale. The most extensive disaffection is known to have taken place—and that State will unquestionably be found in opposition. The vote of Ohio was given to the present incumbent in 1828, by a slender majority, and since that period she has elected a National Republican Chief Magistrate, and a large majority of members of Congress, opposed to the Administration. The understanding that has been happily effected between its opponents makes it all but certain that it will be left in a minority. The state of Pennsylvania supported Gen. Jackson by an overwhelming vote. It must be admited that a change sufficiently extensive to produce an opposite result was scarcely to be expected. But the warfare waged upon the cause of internal improvement, the equivocal policy on the subject of manufactures, and the prostration of the Bank

have shaken the Administration to the centre. It is confidently believed that a cordial union between the opponents of the Administration in that State, will ensure its defeat. The preparatory elections amply authorize this expectation. It is unnecessary to say, that the loss of these States-of any two of them-of New York alone, is the loss of the election.

The limits of this Address do not permit the Convention to go into great detail on the subject of the election, but it is believed that the following general statements may be received with confidence :

It is well known that in the Presidential election of 1828, notwithstanding the large majority of electoral votes by which the chief magistrate was chosen, his majority of popular votes in the aggregate, exceeded those cast for Mr. Adams in a proportion of less than 6 to 5. It is equally well known, that a change of less than twelve thousand votes in five States, choosing sixty electors, would have taken those States from Gen. Jackson and have given them to Mr. Adams, who, in that event, would have been re-elected by a majority of twenty-five votes. These facts are stated to correct the prevalent, but very erroneous impression, that the present Chief Magistrate was the choice of an overwhelming majority of the people. They also in like manner show how small a decrease of strength must prevent his re-election. Whether the opponents of his administration are not perfectly reasonable in saying that he has lost the confidence of the People, not in a slight but in a very great degree, may be fearlessly submitted to the decision of all candid men.

When we look at the individual States, we find every thing to gratify and encourage us. The auspicious result of the late election in Maine authorizes a confident hope that that powerful State will redeem herself from her thraldom. The people of that State, as well as of Massachusetts, have reasons, in some degree peculiar to themselves, for seeking a change in the Administration. The extraordinary manner in which the affair of the North-Eastern boundary of the Union has been conducted, has brought into jeopardy a territory nearly as large as the Commonwealth, the joint property of the two States. But the neglect of the President to sign the bill for the payment of interest on the sums of money advanced for military services, in the last war, is an act of still more astonishing usurpation. By this arbitrary act, the people of