gress at the opening of the session, had dwindled down before its close into feeble and inefficient minorities. What rendered the conduct of the Executive more deserving of notice, he had already approved the "Cumberland Bill," and another referring to the improvement of rivers and harbors, both of which belonged to the general principle of improvements by the General Government.

The committee in the House to which was referred so much of the President's message as related to internal improvements, reported, February, 1831, through Mr. Hemphill, a friend of the Administration, adverse to the views of the Executive. On a careful review of past legislation, the committee conclusively proved the commitment of the Government to that policy. The nationality of bills vetoed at the last session was above question. Following a rigid review of the message, the committee reported the following resolve: "That it is expedient that the General Government should continue to prosecute internal improvements by direct appropriations of money, or by subscriptions for stock, in companies incorporated in the respective States."

On the heel of this report, an act passed "making additional appropriations for the improvements of certain harbors, and removing obstructions from the mouths of certain rivers," by large majorities; in the House by a vote of 136 to 53; in the Senate, 28 to 6. An act for improving public roads, &c., also passed by large majorities. Whether regarding these bills free from objections or yielding to the popular expression in their favor, the President gave them his approval.

The Executive thus yielding to public opinion expressed in Congress, and the decisive votes given in both Houses, seemed to permanently establish the policy of internal improvements. We shall find, however, a few

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years later, the party which had just given the system so emphatic an indorsement, repudiating the same, and making hostility thereto a cardinal feature in its platform of principles.

GEN. JACKSON AND MR. CALHOUN.

Personal quarrels of political leaders and aspirants only merit attention as such contest affects the principles and biases the action of parties. Mr. Calhoun issued a pamphlet, March, 1831, addressed to the people of the United States, explanatory of the causes of difficulty existing between himself and General Jackson, and as an exposition of the attempt to effect his "political destruction," by creating a disaffection between himself and the President. Mr. Van Buren-then Secretary of Statewas the alleged instigator, and certain letters of Mr. Crawford the means by which this end was to be effected. This disagreement was based ostensibly on the conduct of General Jackson in the Seminole war.

The alienation of feeling between the President and a large number of his early supporters, in consequence of his dispute with the Vice-President, had existed some months before it became generally known; and, notwithstanding an angry and acrimonious correspondence had been carried on between the President and Vice-President in reference to the Seminole war, appearances were preserved, and the Administration received the support of the Vice-President in the Senate, by whose casting vote some of the executive nominations were confirmed. Notwithstanding strenuous efforts were made to prevent it, this correspondence was published shortly after the adjournment of Congress.

This step determined the division among the friends

of the Administration. As the influence of the Vice-President predominated in the Southern States, and he was not without friends in the Middle States, his appeals began to have a damaging effect upon the Administration. This influence was augmented by a conviction that the Executive was controlled by improper influences.

These indications immediately becoming known at Washington, it was determined to reorganize the Cabinet, in order, if possible, to effect a re-union of the party until after the approaching general election.

Contrary to the practice of his predecessors, the President decided to hold no Cabinet councils; in consequence of this plan, no course of policy was marked out by the concurrent deliberation of those officers. It was charged by the opposition, but denied by the friends of the President, that his opinions were influenced, and appointments to office secured, through the instrumentality of a self-constituted combination, which received the name of the "Kitchen Cabinet." This body was said to be composed of under officers of the Government.

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The insuperable difficulties that stood in the way union of the different elements of the dominant party upon a successor to General Jackson, rendered his nomination a very important consideration. This was favored by Mr. Van Buren, who, as it was well known, expected finally to succeed Gen. Jackson in the Presidency. It is more than probable that the friends of Mr. Calhoun looked to him as the successor of the present incumbent, inasmuch as General Jackson had repeatedly expressed his opinion that the President should not hold his office for more than one term; he had recommended a constitutional amendment to that effect. He, however, yielded in 1831, to the solicitation of his friends, and consented to be a candidate for re-election.

THE PRESIDENT AND CABINET.

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CABINET RESIGNATIONS.

At this crisis the country was astonished by the information announced on the 20th of April, 1831, through the official journals, that the cabinet ministers of the President had resigned. The public mind was on the qui vive to learn the cause of this movement. The letters of the resigning members served to inflame rather than to satisfy. Mr. Eaton, at first, assigned no reason. Mr. Van Buren, April 11th, assigned as a reason for his resignation, that circumstances beyond his control had presented him before the public as a candidate for the succession to the Presidency, and that the injurious effects necessarily resulting from a cabinet minister's holding that relation to the country, had left him only the alternative of retiring from the Administration, or of submitting to a self-disfranchisement hardly reconcilable with propriety and self-respect. This was considered a singular reason, inasmuch as Mr. Van Buren had not been formally nominated as a candidate, nor, passing beyond the election of 1832, would that of 1836 become fraught with immediate interest.

The remaining cabinet officers, excepting the Postmaster-General, resigned, and a complete reorganization was effected, late in the summer of 1831, in the appointment of the following:

Edward Livingston, of La., Secretary of State; Louis McLane, of Del., Secretary of the Treasury; Lewis Cass, of Ohio, Secretary of War; Levi Woodbury, of N. H., Secretary of the Navy; R. B. Taney, of Md., Attorney-General.

This Cabinet was superior in every respect to its predecessor. The causes of whose dissolution, much discussed at the time, possess very little interest to the student of politics or the general reader. We have omitted the

lengthy correspondence-the exposé of Mr. Calhoun and the paper of General Jackson-long withheld from the public, but recently published by Col. Benton in his "Thirty Years." Touching the main question, we find our own views succinctly expressed by another. "The statements and testimony of the parties are so directly contradictory, as to be irreconcilable with the honesty and veracity of all concerned in this affair; and yet, after the lapse of twenty-five years, when the public judgment is far less influenced by personal predilections, it would, perhaps, be as unsafe to fix the guilt upon any particular individual, as it was at the time of the controversy. The integrity so generally conceded to Mr. Calhoun, during a long public career, as well as the correctness of his private life, has been considered by his friends as sufficient to shield him even from a suspicion of falsehood; and yet, whatever may be the facts of the case, it will scarcely be alleged that the correspondence, on the whole, is sufficient to sustain his charges against General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren."

The first presidential term of General Jackson was now drawing to a close, and active measures were being taken for the approaching election.

The party in opposition to General Jackson's second election, rallied under the name of "National Republicans," and was composed principally of the friends of the late Administration and those who had opposed Mr. Adams, but were now dissatisfied with the course of General Jackson, excepting the friends of the Vice-President, who formed a distinct section of the opposition.

The "National Republicans "-the title assumed by the opponents of the Administration,-favored the nomination of Henry Clay for the Presidency. He was ac cordingly nominated by the Legislatures of several States,